The Fiddle Club of the World will try out a new meeting space on Sunday, October 24 at 6:30 pm when we gather in the back room of the Atlantic Bar & Grill, 5062 N. Lincoln Avenue. There’s a wooden floor and ample space to run a few squares in a square dance. What a great coincidence that our featured guest for October is Vesta Johnson, who in her 80 plus years has played for hundreds of dances in her home state of Missouri.

Vesta played her first dance at age 9 in Linn County, Missouri. She moved to the St. Louis area to raise her family, and in the 1960s, after her kids were grown, she started playing again for contests, dances and fiddle socials. A lot of younger players give credit to Vesta’s patient support and tutelage. One of those younger players, her grandson Steve Hall, will accompany her in Chicago.

Vesta appeared on two seminal anthologies of Missiouri fiddle music, I’m Old But I’m Awfully Tough (from the early 1970s) and Now That’s a Good Tune (from 1989). In the ’90s, she recorded two albums for the Marimac label of Crown Point, Indiana, Down Home Rag and Blue Flame. At a recent appearance at the University of Chicago Folk Festival, she was able to hawk two CDs produced by her grandson, Steve Hall.

Here are some samples of her playing over the years . . .

She Oughta Been a Lady


Old Parnell


Hog House Rag


Click here to register. Dues for this meeting are $15.

Beginning January 1, it will be possible to pay yearly dues and be able to enjoy all Fiddle Club of the World events at a significantly reduced rate. Also, enrolling in a “Fiddleship” allows you to support regular presentations of traditional fiddle music.

Upcoming Fiddle Club of the World meetings:
Nov. 21 – Kenny Stone is the featured guest (meeting to start at 5:30)
Dec. 12 – jam session
Jan. 16 – featured guest to be announced soon
Feb. 20 – featured guest to be announced soon

Paul Tyler, convener
Chicago Chapter