In Old Oklahoma was written and produced in honor of the state's centennial in 2007. It has a rich folklore because many of the characters and events happened in the past century. The outlaws, the cowboys, native Americans, actors, oil wells, the Okies, the Dust Bowl. These are all in the memory of the generation before this. The area was wild and unsettled and slowly became tamed and some of the exploits of the heroes are sung about on this cd. Pawnee Bill, Roy Rogers, Kentucky Daisey, Gene Autry, Tom Mix and Lucille Mullhaul, Will Rogers, Woody Guthrie, Jim Thorpe, OA Cargill, Pistol Pete, Belle Starr, Geronimo, Pretty Boy Floyd, The Buffalo Soldiers. All Oklahoma characters. Events include the great land rush, the migration of the Okies, The Trail of Tears, settling the treeless plains and living in dugouts Acie Cargill has been called one of America's best songwriters. This album is contemporary folk music with a lot of Oklahoma influenced western swing. It is Family Friendly The last section of the album is a series of interviews with old-timers remembering the early days of Oklahoma. One of Acie's favorite songs is Mary's Dream based on an actual dream of flying in an old biplane and circling high enough to see the various parts of the state. Acie uses Oklahoma musicians and singers to help him get the effect he wants. He has captured the flavor of early Oklahoma and it's folklore. Some of the pieces are done as monologues on top of musical accompaniement. such as Okies about the many poor people fleeing the land that became uninhabitable because of drought, and Will Rogers, which is based on his actual wit. It ends with an Oklahoma tent revival song Power in the Blood with Floyd and Nadine Morgan. Biography Acie Cargill was born into a musical family. His grandmother was Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill, a noted Kentucky singer of traditional ballads. She was the last of the Tylers, a family noted for being strict preservationists of the musical traditions passed along for many generations from Northern England /Southern Scotland. The tunes that they sung all used primitive scales. They were unique in their area in that they played instruments along with the ballads and the instruments all used special tunings that allowed the ancient tunes to be played without adding obstrusive notes to the performance. Acie knows all those scales and tunings and has been recorded for the Library of Congress, singing some of the old songs he knows and playing the 5 string banjo in the Tyler drop-thumb style. He is considered the living master of this style. The family lived in very secluded areas without electricity and they were not exposed to the newer types of music that swept through the US that featured the piano or the guitar using the 6 string guitar chords that are so prevalent today. In the Tyler music, there are no 3-note chords, just moving modal melodies. Some of this can be heard on Songs and Ballads of Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill, In The Willow Garden, Family Gathering (which featured some of the older Tyler musicians and the remants of the Cargill Brothers’ String Band and Acie playing the banjo as a young boy). His grandfather was Acie Cargill, a fiddler who came to Chicago to play as a fill in musician with the WLS Barn Dance radio show. Many of the old tunes Acie plays were from the elder Acie via his Grandmother Hattie. Acie’s father was an associate of Woody Guthrie and played harmonica in their jam sessions. Acie said his fondest memories were sneaking out of bed and hiding to hear the music they played late into the night when Woody visited. Acie’s mother was a church organist for 65 years and her instructions to him can be heard in the song Dear Mother ( for example, don’t you ever play gospel music in a tavern). It was the exposure to Woody (and also his mother’s playing) that led Acie into learning the chorded guitar styles that he usually plays today in his performances. In public Acie plays folk music, bluegrass, old-time standards, traditional country music, progressive country rock, early rock and roll, old-timey, gospel, and he even played bass for contemporary jazz giants Max Brown and Johnny Frigo. Acie's Oklahoma cousin, the late Henson Cargill, was a national star with his hit song Skip A Rope. And through one of the Tyler women, Acie is related to country giant Willie Nelson. He also is a prolific songwriter and has recorded over 400 of his songs available on the internet. His music has been heard in almost every country in the world and three times he has been put up for grammy nominations for folk music and his albums have been among the most played music on college and public radio folk music programs.