George Cecil McLeod, Mississippi's Fiddling Senator, and the Modern History of American Fiddling

By Chris Goertzen

Although George Cecil McLeod Jr. has lived most of his seventy-five years within a mile of his birthplace in southern Mississippi, the recent history of American fiddling has come to his doorstep and lives in him. His style, his repertoire, and the occasions for which he has played both offer an intimate window on musical life in a little-researched corner of the Deep South and illustrate general trends in the history of American fiddling during the second half of one tumultuous century and the beginning of the next. I heard him play soon after I moved to Mississippi in the fall of 2000, and have since listened to him whenever I could, performed with him as a second guitar accompanist, and interviewed him repeatedly. In this article, I will first sketch how fiddling has fit into his life, quoting him directly as much as possible. Then I will base an episodic exploration of the nature of southern fiddling—both as music and as vessel for historical fact and cultural values—on four transcriptions from his playing.