Still on the Hill, comprised of Donna Stjerna (L) and Kelly Mulhollan (R) are on the lineup for this years Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS.

Fayetteville, AR — If you have ever seen Still on the Hill perform, one of the adjectives you might attach to them is ‘passionate’. This energetic ‘folkgrass’ duo has graced the stages of the Walnut Valley Festival for several years as main stage performers, hosts of the NewSongs Showcase and as Toucan Jam, their multicultural, tour around the globe performance, for kids.

This year they have a project that they are more passionate about than anything they have tackled so far. For over a decade, Kelly and Donna have been getting back into the Ozark hills, where they hail from, and meeting some of the more ‘colorful’ characters that live there. They have written dozens of songs honoring these folks.

The duo is working with Jones Television on an Arkansas Heritage Grant to help preserve the Ozark culture and these unsung heroes by creating a CD/Booklet and documentary. They will also play 12 free concerts around the state of Arkansas, in the communities where the songs were birthed. All of the sales from the CD/Booklet sold in Arkansas will go to help get banjos, guitars and fiddles to rural, under-served children.

Some of the folks celebrated in song are; Ed Stilley from Hogscald Holler. He makes one-of-a-kind ‘folk-art’ guitars and fiddles that one would have to see to believe. Hand sawn wood, door springs and saw blades mounted inside, braising rod frets, door hinge tailpieces and pork chop bone bridges make these instruments sing! Still on the Hill will be playing a song about Ed on those very instruments in their concerts this year, and they encourage pickers and fiddlers to come up after the show and try them out, it’s truly an experience to play one.

Ed Stilley from Hogscald Holler makes one-of-a-kind folk-art instruments and has made instruments for Still on the Hill.Violet Hensley is a fiddle maker known for putting a rattlesnake rattle in her fiddles because the fiddle is the Devil’s instrument and the rattle would keep him away.

Another character in the project is Violet Hensley from Yellville, Arkansas. Violet carves fiddles and always puts a rattlesnake rattle in each one. She said her Ma told her that the fiddle was the Devil’s instrument and the rattle would keep him away. Violet plays the fiddle on top of her head. Donna says she’s working on that technique but it may take a while. The song they penned for her is called “Devil Snake.”

As passionate amateur historians, Still on the Hill got all fired up when their local librarian told them the story of Willie from Snowball, Arkansas. Apparently right after the Civil War, a young, deaf ex-slave was lost in the hills near Snowball. The story goes that a Confederate soldier on his way home found the tiny boy and raised him to be a fine stone mason. Ironically, she said there is no tombstone for him in the cemetery because he was an ex-slave. The duo went to explore the town of Snowball and wrote the song with that sad ending about the stone mason without his own stone only to find out years later, the town folk of Snowball bought a new stone for Willie with his name on it. Maybe they need to re- write the ending.

Of course there are 14 songs on the upcoming CD and it will be available this year at the Walnut Valley Festival…there’s no way to talk about each and every person in this short article. You will just have to come to one of their shows and get the CD to boot!

In this world of homogenization, where everything from coast to coast looks, sounds and tastes the same, Still on the Hill is passionately serving up a bit of Ozark culture for you to sit back and savor!

One more tidbit. Still on the Hill’s children’s program is usually called Toucan Jam but this year at the Walnut Valley Festival they will be doing a children’s version of their Ozark show. STILL ON THE HILL’S OZARK for KIDS! It will be hand clapping-foot stompin’ fun with lots of interaction. Several kids will even be invited up on stage to be part of an Ozarkestra with scrub boards, pickin’ bows, gourd banjos and other Ozark instruments. Good time for the whole family!

The 37th annual Walnut Valley Festival begins on September 17th in Winfield, Kansas with hands on music workshops and an evening concert of Western music presented by Bill Barwick, Roz Brown, Dave Stamey and the Diamond W Wranglers (formerly known as the Prairie Rose Wranglers). The four stages open September 18th and continue through September 21st.

Advance tickets are on sale now at the Walnut Valley Festival office, 918 Main Street in Winfield, Kansas or by calling 620-221-3250. For more information log on to the festival’s website at www.wvfest.com