Barney Hartline
As a child, Barney Hartline used to practice being a radio personality on a low-powered AM station that his dad, who was a radio repairman in the Marine Corps, had built for him.
“I found out if I connected the antenna of my little radio station to the phone lines, people could hear me for blocks around instead of just inside the house. That is until my dad picked up the station several blocks away on his car radio one time,” recalls Hartline. “It was my first introduction to the subject of the FCC and how they could put people in jail for running illegally overpowered radio stations!!”
Today Hartline is heard for miles around rather than just inside the house. Hartline’s mother, who patiently listened to those early broadcasts, today is a fan of “Your Folk Connection,” the show Hartline hosts along with Terry Wright and Jim Hickam and which is broadcast on perfectly legal public radio stations.
Hartline graduated from Cape Central High School in 1965 and from Southeast Missouri State University in 1969 with a degree in chemistry. In the 1960s, folk music was played on top-40 radio. Folk music sing-a-longs at a local pizza parlor were very popular with Southeast students in those days. Hartline played in the Golden Eagles Marching Band in college and remembers one half-time when he and all of the band members who could play guitar led the football crowd in a round of folk music.
“Those days got me hooked on contemporary folk music,” recalls Hartline.
It was not until he met co-host Jim Hickam some years later that he was introduced to the traditional roots of folk music. Hickam was a sixth grade teacher and had Hartline’s son in class. Hartline soon was invited to jam sessions where Hickam often performed some of the old folk tune classics. Eventually Terry Wright joined the jam sessions and to this day, the three play together both in Saturday night jam sessions and in public performances. The trio, along with friends who often join their performances, are known as “The Shade Tree Folk Company.”
In 1995, the three decided someone should approach KRCU Radio about producing a local folk music show.
“And then we decided we were somebody,” says Hartline. When he traveled to St. Louis on weekly business trips, Hartline said he noticed how popular local folk programs had become in metro St. Louis. These shows often featured local musicians and Hartline wanted that for Cape Girardeau.
“To me, that’s what public radio is all about. It serves an audience that has been slighted by top-40 radio and gives excellent artists who do not fit that format a chance to be heard,” says Hartline.
The weekly radio show and playing music are Hartline’s hobbies.
“Some people fish, and others play golf for a hobby. One of my hobbies is doing the ‘Your Folk Connection’ radio show,” says Hartline. Hartline is gratified by the financial and moral support the show has received from listeners and folk musicians alike.
Hartline says, “I think I speak for the other folk guys when I say the show will be around as long as there is an audience which appreciates what we are doing.”
Jim Hickam
Among my earliest memories is sprawling on the floor in front of the big radio listening to the Grand Ol' Opry and hearing the music of old-time string bands with all the colorful characters who made up the Opry cast. In early high school days, I discovered Burl Ives, Josh White, Harry Belafonte and Lonnie Donegan. The rhythm and blues being played by Gene Nobles and John R., disc jockies of the time, broadened my musical horizons. The sudden prominence of the Kingston Trio, Ian and Sylvia, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and so many more of the folk performers of that era fueled my growing appreciation of music. The fiddle playing of my grandfather and uncle made a big impression on me. These varied sources served to expand my musical tastes beyond the early rock and country being played on radio.
Somewhere in my late high school years, I bought an old banjo and later a guitar. I was shown how to tune the banjo to an open G and a few chords by my uncle. And when the guitar came along, I lowered the pitch of the little E string and could play what little I knew on the first four strings of the guitar, too. I never figured out how Uncle Dave Macon of Opry fame played his banjo, but I developed a style of playing that some people, not wishing to hurt my feelings, have called "unusual."
In 1965, I met a most uncommon man named Ralph "Bones" Gentry. His hospitality to me and many others brought a whole host of pickers and singers together. Among the many, Terry Wright and Barney Hartline came to play and sing. We three formed a trio called "The Shade Tree Folk Company" and played harvest festivals and state parks. We decided to approach the local public radio station, KRCU, about starting a folk music program. To our surprise and consternation, they said, "Sure, why not?" and "Why don't you guys do it?"
And so "Your Folk Connection" was born. We play a wide variety of music loosely described as folk. The regular listener will quickly discover that each of us brings a selection of music to the program based on our own unique tastes. We feature live interviews with artists and sponsor concerts with some of the leading folkies as they pass through our area.
We owe much to a number of people. David and Suzie Walls of Steele, Mo., for introducing us to many of the singer/song writers; Judy Domeny Bowen for introducing us to Cathy Barton and David Para and their friend, Bob Dyer; the afore-mentioned Paras for introducing us to the many performers who have played at their Big Muddy Folk Festival; and to the station manager, Greg Petrowich, for allowing three complete novices to conduct our program in our own blundering manner.
Terry Wright
Terry Wright, at a mere half century, is the youngest member of the "Your Folk Connection" trio. He's a lifetime resident of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and is a 30-year veteran as a communication technician for the local phone company. He is married to his lovely wife, Janie, and has two daughters and one grandson, who is his papa’s biggest fan.
When the folk scare of the early 1960s happened, he was a bit young. He vaguely remembers Peter, Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio because Terry was only 12 years old when the British invasion started. So he spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. His dad played in a western swing band, "The Westerners," until he was about 10 years old; so he had a lot of background and interest in music while growing up.
Around 1986, Terry started getting interested in learning and playing the guitar from an uncle that advised him to get a ‘learn how’ book from Kenny Martin at Shivelbine's Music. At that time, he started going to jam sessions around the area. Most of the places he attended played country music. Then his longtime friend, David Giles, invited him to Ralph (Bones) Gentry’s house, and there he met Barney and Jim and a whole lot of other folks. They still played country music, but he was also exposed to folk music, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Out of respect for Bones, the group of players started calling ourselves the "Bones House Band," which consisted of anyone that showed up at Bones’ house. They played at several festivals and such under that name. In 1993, Jim, Barney and Terry formed a group called the "Shadetree Folk Company" and are still playing together under that name. Occasionally, they have invited friends to join them at various venues.
When performing, people would come up and say they really liked what the "Shadetree Folk Company" was performing but questioned what type of music it was. Barney, Jim and Terry were quite surprised that the music was unknown to a lot of listeners. So, in June of 1996, they got the opportunity to expose this type of music to the Southeast Missouri area by starting their own radio show through public radio.
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