In 2024, Springfield musicians Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf were awarded the Library of Congress inaugural Artist in Resonance award. The award enabled the couple to travel to DC to study archival recordings of Ozark folks songs made by ethnomusicologist Sidney Robertson Cowell in 1936 and 1937.
With this support from the Library of Congress, Mark and Cindy as The Creek Rocks also issued a CD, ‘Wonderful Days, Wonderful Country’. The 2026 release features a dozen interpretations of songs originally sung by men and women living in the Ozark Mountains during a time just prior to the ascendance of radio and television.
In summer 2026, I interviewed Mark and Cindy at their home studio outside Springfield, Missouri. They shared their musical origin stories, explained their evolving sound as The Creek Rocks, and talked about what folk music means in a modern world. This podcast blends together that interview, historic Ozark folk songs and modern recordings from The Creek Rocks. I think you’ll like it.
Sidney Robertson Cowell photo credit New York World telegram / Roger Higgins
