On October 22nd, at 3 p.m. the Old Courthouse Museum in Iuka is planning an Old-Time Mississippi Fiddle Concert to raise awareness about two Tishomingo County fiddle players: John Alexander Brown and John Hatcher.
During the height of the Great Depression, both of these men recorded fiddle music for the Works Progress Administration’s Mississippi folk music collection for the Library of Congress. Recording sessions were prearranged, and often several musicians gathered at one central location to meet “the sound wagon.”
John Hatcher was an “orphan boy” raised by his grandfather near Burnsville. Hatcher was a farmer and wood hauler and, for the recordings, was dressed in his Sunday-go-to-meeting suit with his hair neatly parted down the middle. He enjoyed playing at fiddle contests in Corinth and Sheffield, and for some time he played with the Tishomingo County Jamboree Boys on the radio in Jackson, Tennessee. His favorite, however, was playing at local dances and when folks took a break from dancing, Hatcher often sang. In the WPA recordings, Hatcher can be heard singing while John Brown plays “Wolves a-Howling”.
John Alexander Brown, father of 13, was 67 years old when he made his recording. He lived near Mill Creek. According to Albert Ferris, the project’s photographer, when Brown played “music animated his eyes, as he swayed from side to side. His interest, his enthusiasm to everything that he said, and his kindly attitude toward others made him delightful”. The story goes, when the recording wagon arrived in town, Brown was in the field plowing with his team of oxen. He came straight from the field to record so his dress was in sharp contrast to Hatcher. After recording, he said he had to hurry home because he “left his oxen in the field.”
On October 22nd, composer, performer, and music teacher Tim Avalon of Clinton, Mississippi will be performing a concert exclusively featuring songs by Hatcher and Brown. Mr. Avalon launched a career at the age of 13, thanks to his “Aunt Vangie” who gifted him with his first guitar. It was the beginning of a lifelong love-affair with music. Self-taught, he also mastered the banjo and mandolin and began playing professionally while in his teens joining rock and roll and country bands. The fiddle was next on the agenda, which he studied for a couple of years after learning that his grandfather had been an accomplished player. Since that time, Tim’s musical taste has developed to include Celtic, swing, jazz, bluegrass, and old-time.
For the past 40 years, he has been teaching private lessons at the Avalon School for String Instruments, with students ranging in age from 5 years to 90. Many of his students have won contests for the traditional musical forms at the State Fair or in fiddling competitions.  
His awards and honors include state championship at the State Fair for two consecutive years in mandolin, and Mississippi Folk Artist of the Year, 2000. He is also the author of numerous old-time and Celtic tunes and has published a collection of Irish and Old Time Fiddle Tunes, a book of Traditional Music of Mississippi, and The Tim Avalon Alphabet Anthology which includes over 400 original tunes.
This concert will introduce a new exhibit on Hatcher and Brown at the Old Courthouse Museum and bring awareness to an ongoing effort to erect historical markers in honor of these two accomplished musicians.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to our sponsors, Tishomingo County Tourism Council, Nicholas and Adrienne Phillips, The Sparks CPA Firm of Iuka P.C., and Just A Kind Word Florist.
As always, without the support of generous sponsors, as well as our Tishomingo County Board of Supervisors, events such as these would not be possible.
Tickets are $10 per person and are on sale now at the Old Courthouse Museum. To purchase, stop by Wednesday through Friday or call 662-423-3500.