The Ballad of Fiddling Tom Freeman is a riveting portrait of a forgotten America, drawn from the handwritten memoirs of a bootlegger, fiddler, and chronicler of life in Bug Tussle, Alabama, in the first half of the twentieth century. Today, rural voices are often drowned out by polished narratives, but this book resurrects the unfiltered perspective of a man who lived through—and candidly documented—the chaos and violence in his home place as he shared stories of the large close-knit families who lived there.

Joyce H. Cauthen served as director of the Alabama Folklife Association from 2000 to 2010. An expert on folk music traditions in Alabama, she is the author of With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow: A History of Old-Time Fiddling In Alabama, Out of Whole Cloth: The Life of Bettye Kimbrell, and Benjamin Lloyd’s Hymn Book.

Be sure also to check out the Fiddling Tom Freeman Collection in the Southern Music Research Center’s online archive for more about this unforgettable character and his music. The collection was developed in collaboration with Cauthen as a supplement to the book and can be viewed here: https://www.southernmusicresearch.org/collections/show/63

This program will feature readings from the book, music by The Whistlebees, and refreshments.