About Bill Peterson and the Origins of Missouri Valley Music
I received a grant in 2001 from the South Dakota Arts Council to study Missouri Valley fiddling with Dwight Lamb. Once a month I would travel to Onawa, Iowa and learn tunes from Dwight and also listen to home recordings of the master fiddlers that he had learned from. Dwight had been recording fiddlers since the early 1950s and has a huge collection of wonderful Midwestern fiddlers.
Dwight had recorded two CDs for Rounder Records “North American Heritage” series of fiddle recordings. Rounder was planning to release a double CD of Bob Walters from Dwight’s collection, but never released it. We contacted Mark Wilson, who was in charge of the project, and he got Rounder to send us the masters. Rounder gave us permission to release the recording on our newly formed label, Missouri Valley Music. I received two grants in 2009 to record Missouri Valley fiddle tunes, one from the South Dakota Arts Council and the other from the Bush Foundation. We have 8 projects released so far and hope to have more in the future.
I have been playing fiddle with the Sioux Falls Ceili Band for over 30 years and also have an old time band called the “Sergeant Creek Stringband.” I also have put together a show called “Dance to the Fiddle” which features readings from Midwestern literature, dancing and fiddling.