Oral History Interview with Otis Stogner

Interview Summary

Old man log house, played music together, got from Pen Vandiver

Pen sold the violin because the scroll of the neck had been broken when he was thrown from a mule

Pierce repaired music instruments and guns, he swapped Uncle Pen his violin for the one Stogner know owns

Stogner and his brother Vernon swapped and gave $15 dollars. brother died at 21 and Otis kept the fiddle

Stogner brothers had good country band, played all night picnic Horse Branch Olaton, Rosine, start at 6 o'clock in the afternoon, play until 2 or 3 in the morning

Vernon died in 1936, played violin and Clifford played the bass fiddle, Otis played mandolin, and Carson Autrey played the guitar

Paul Wilson played 5 string guitar, their band initially had no name

The band became known as the Three Musketeers when they dropped down to three band members

Violin Case shows name of band and inscribed with “Horse Branch High School, 1933”

Did not buy because Pen's violin Pierce told them whose fiddle it was

Pierce Repaired guns and instruments and lived in a log house

Pierce and his son Myron charged a minimum fee, since the businesses was his sole source of income

Played the violin pretty well, Myron played the guitar

Pierce played regular violin tunes

Stogner knew a hundred fiddle tunes when he began playing the fiddle

Stogner played fiddle for a bit after brother died.

Paul Wilson, Carson Autrey and one other band member learned how to play older styles of music, such as the Waltz and square dancing music

Herman Alvey played a lot of older tunes on the violin

Discussion about preservation of musical traditions in western KY

Description of the fiddle’s condition when Stogner purchased it

Herman Alvey took violin to Louisville and had the scroll fixed, sometime after 1947 had keys put in

Brother played violin at Western. won everything, people came from all over

Sometimes he caught a ride to play at the dances, but most of the time they walked.

Passed a hat around and often averaged $3 a piece a night

Played at Bill Hatler's place, large crowds, average about the same

Stopped played in 1936 when his brother died

Took music lessons under Melvin Kassinger, but the lessons did not help and he continued to play by ear

Typically accompanied by three people

Wanted to go to Evansville and play on the radio

Did not go back to play very often, since it made him nervous and it was difficult to travel and back forth

Played on WGBF back in 1938 or 1939, also had an older car that was not very reliable

Herman Alvey would like to have Uncle Pen’s fiddle, but Stogner does not want to sell it

Tex Atchison played the fiddle, Herman Alvey has played a few times

Veda (Otis’s wife) found picture of Tex playing the fiddle

Tex tried to give Veda his books but she did not want them

Tex continued to receive lots of royalty checks from movie appearances until his death

Veda worked at the post office until he died

Story about Stogner, Veda, Tex, and clothes

Veda was a tomboy and she met Otis while playing baseball

Rattle snake rattler in the fiddle, Pierce said it was in there to make the sound better

Stogner did not put the snake’s raddle back in the fiddle

Fiddle also has certificate of authenticity

Myron Pierce signed in front of Boise Taylor, details of purchase agreement

The Stogners attended the funeral of one of Bill Monroe’s brothers, Speedy Monroe

The couple saw Bill Monroe at the funeral home

Stogner was going to give Bill the violin, but he was not interested

General comments about the Mount Pleasant area; Tex Atchison is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Music was the only form of entertainment

Veda's brother Charlie Carson Hines, played the violin

Carson Autrey played the guitar, and Paul Wilson played 5 string banjo

One of Stogner’s brothers was a talented violin player

Discussion of the quality of musicians’ work over the years

Vernon won many contests over the years

Veda's brother played the violin by ear

Charlie Carson lost a finger and one of his thumbs and could no longer play

Both Stogners grew up in the tradition of grand Christian church singing

The couple attended the Fairview School

Kassinger ran a singing school, which usually ran four or five nights a week, but went up to every night at certain times

Kassinger would go from church to church and probably covered the same material in each church

Discussion of Sam Crowder and Lova Leisure’s interview about the Mt. Pleasant community, Sam wanted to talk about quartets

Stogner's singing school no music except for a tuning fork

Otis says singing school did not effect his band, in the older days more young people danced, today not many people in the community dance

Music dying out because of aging population and many people moved out of the area looking for work

Chris Geary is also involved in the local music scene

In the past people got together because they had no other place to go, rolled back the

carpet and danced, young and old

Many women were very ill due to a lack of access to medical care

Discussion of depressed women

Many families left the area to seek employment elsewhere

Stogner simply wanted to leave the area and live somewhere else

Stogner’s father had hammer mill, but Otis wanted to make his own way

Stogner lived in area until 1945, and the area had experienced many changes by the time he came returned

Veda's brother Elvis Hines has a good memory, Veda will talk to him about participating in this project

Veda was born in Hell’s Neck, Ohio County, her father ran a store

School in the area was called Red Hill, local church has since been torn down, unsure of denomination

Otis met Veda at Hell's Neck

Veda comes from a family of eleven, with five siblings still living and has a large extended family

Flossie Wilson Hines married Veda's brother Wavy

Gertrude Barbour Raley and James and Homer are the children of Otis’s sister