Fiddle and Stomp All Night Long

by Larry Morrisey
April 16, 2008

The first thing you notice when watching Jack Magee play is how he moves with his fiddle. If you are used to seeing a fiddler standing stock-still with his eyes closed while playing, Magee's constant motion comes as a surprise. The old Mississippi tunes radiate out of his instrument and seem to settle into his body, causing him to grin, sway and pick up his feet for a quick shuffle. With the support of his band, The Scramblers, he takes on tune after tune, but does not show any drop in energy. And when he sets the fiddle aside, Magee has the same boundless enthusiasm as he talks about the old-time music scene and its tunes.

A native and longtime resident of Magee, Miss., Magee spends his days caring for his neighbors' teeth at his dental practice. However, when he gets home, his fiddle comes out. He and Valley, his banjo-playing wife, frequently invite other acoustic musicians from around the region to their home, where they play for hours.

The Scramblers focus on playing songs recorded by Mississippi-based string bands (small groups featuring fiddle, guitar and other acoustic string instruments) during the 1920s and '30s. While he sometimes plays bluegrass, a later incarnation of acoustic country music, Magee favors the unique group interplay in the older tradition. "Everybody's playing as hard as you can play in old-time," he says, "and you don't stop."

Passion for music is a trait that runs throughout his family. Magee's brother Matthew—guitarist for the Jackson group Wooden Finger—plays multiple instruments ,and their grandmother was a piano player who loved performing hymns. "She couldn't get enough of them, even if you played one all night long," he says. She played with her fiddling brother, Claude Kennedy, in the Six Town Band, a local country group. Magee recalls seeing them perform at local house parties during the 1970s, when he was growing up.

Magee's grandmother recognized his interest in music when Magee was a teenager. "When she found out that I could play by ear—listen to (a song) and play it back—then she moved me in with her when I was 15 years old," he says. He learned some basic tunes on the fiddle while still a teen, but spent more time "hammering around" on guitar. Later he took fiddle lessons while attending Hinds Community College, helping to expand his repertoire of older tunes.

During this same time period, Magee played guitar in a rock band. They would play the standard hit songs at their bar gigs, but he began adding a few fiddle tunes into the shows. "It would make everyone go crazy," Magee recalls. "We were playing Jimmy Buffett, 'Brown Eyed Girl,' and all those (songs). And then we would get the fiddle out and play a couple of hoedowns. … It went to a screaming situation."

Gradually, Magee became more interested in the fiddle and focused his efforts on playing older tunes. The old scratchy recordings of these musicians, including Willie Namour of Carroll County and Enos Canoy from Magee's hometown, have become touchstones for his playing. "(The old) Mississippi fiddlers, they were kind of unpredictable," Magee says. "They've got a little rough edge, but the rhythm is there, and they're solid with it."

The Scramblers–Magee on fiddle, Valley Magee on banjo and bass, Jamie Weems on mandolin, Rob Cater on guitar, and Melody Moody on percussion–converges at the Magee home for regular rehearsals. They are also building a presence in Mississippi, with recent shows at Hal & Mal's, Martin's, The Carroll County Market in Carrollton and the Pickin' and Paddlin' Festival at Jamie Fowler Boyll Park in Jackson.

Magee has learned countless fiddle tunes over the past decade, but continues to work at learning more. Every Friday morning, he comes to Jackson to work with master fiddler Tim Avalon, who has spent several years transcribing Mississippi fiddle tunes for an upcoming book. He and Magee are going through a cache of recently discovered recordings featuring the fiddling of Magee's great uncle Claude. "Some people play golf; we're transcribing old Mississippi tunes," he says.

Just as he can't remain still while he's playing, Magee stays on the move in his search for more fiddle tunes. "There are so many more songs out there," he says. And he'll stay up all night to learn them if he can.

Jack Magee is a featured performer at "Big Yam Potatoes," an old-time fiddle contest and dance on Saturday, May 17, at historic Jefferson College in Washington, Miss. For more information, call Robert Gray at 601-898-8265 or visit BigYamPotato. To hear Magee's music, visit http://www.myspace.com/fiddlingjack.

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