Missouri Wagoner: A Song History

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"Missouri Wagoner" should not be confused with the much better-known breakdown "Wagoner," which is often called "Tennessee Wagoner." Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam II lists them as two tunes, "Wagoner" and "Wagoner, Missouri," and our "Wagoner" page covers the familiar one.[1] The distinction is not new. Lloyd Shaw's Cowboy Dances is a collection of western square dances first printed in 1939, and its 1950 revised edition includes the fiddler "Dad" Eads's list of favorite tunes. That list names "Tennessee Wagoner" and "Missouri Wagoner" side by side as two pieces.[2]

Pencil and watercolor sketch of covered wagons camped on the plains beside a long bluff

Daniel A. Jenks, Camp 23rd Arkansas River, drawing made on an overland journey along the Santa Fe Trail, 1859. Library of Congress. No known restrictions.

Missouri fiddlers also play the familiar tune, under its Tennessee name. Collector Bob Christeson recorded "Tennessee Wagoner" in 1948 from Bill Driver of Miller County, in central Missouri.[3] Tapes in the Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association collection include "Tennessee Wagoner" by Bob Walters and by Cyril Stinnett, along with recordings under a different title, "Drunken Wagoner."[4] Beyond these points, the sources consulted here do not describe the melody of "Missouri Wagoner," name the fiddler it came from, or record its early history, so its origin is left open on this page.

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Sources

  1. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".
  2. Internet Archive: Lloyd Shaw, "Cowboy Dances: A Collection of Western Square Dances" (Caxton, rev. ed. 1950).
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Tennessee Wagoner".
  4. State Historical Society of Missouri: "Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association Collection (C3715)".