Otis Howard Dec. 17, 1887 – Dec. 31, 1981
Idaho Old Time Fiddler
Otis came with his family to Pine, Idaho in 1899 by wagon train from Colorado. The trip took two years since they had to work manual labor by day and play fiddle and banjo by night for their livelihood.
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Otis carved out a hard life of freighting, logging and mining around the gold camps of Atlanta and Rocky Bar. He supplemented his income by fiddling at countless bars and dances. He is shown here with his wife Sadie in the 1920s. |
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This photo from around 1926 at the Evans Ranch near Pine, Idaho shows Otis driving a “Fresno” scraper. His daughter Olive is riding in the back. Otis drove the last horse-drawn freighter out of the Rocky Bar gold camp.
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Otis Howard strongly influenced countless Idaho fiddlers in the first half of the 1900s. He is shown here with his banjo in this 1960s vintage photo with Bob Otto (accordian), Alan Rice (lower right on fiddle) and some unidentified fiddlers. |
This photo, likely from the 1940s, shows Otis playing his banjo at an Idaho jam session. The location and identity of the other musicians are unknown.
This photo from the Minidoka County News shows the top five fiddlers at the 1962 Idaho State Fiddle Championship in Gooding. All are Weiser contest legends. Left to right they are Jim Widner, Otis Howard, Mannie Shaw, Alan Rice and Dave Frisbee. Dave finished fifth on fiddle and played rhythm guitar
for the top four contestants.
for the top four contestants.
As part of the Idaho Territory Centennial celebration, a busload of Idaho Old Time Fiddlers represented Idaho at the Worlds Fair in Seattle in May, 1962. They are shown above at their sendoff at the Idaho state capitol. They played at the Opera House for over 1000 people. Otis played two of his original fiddle tunes at the event.
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This photo shows some of the forty four Worlds Fair-bound Idaho fiddlers at their bus that seated only forty one. Three simultaneous jam sessions were running non-stop on the bus. Otis, Dave and many other Weiser contest founding members made the trip. |
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This is the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair official photo of the Idaho Old Time Fiddlers. In a single picture, it shows many of the key Idaho old time fiddlers of the early and mid 1900s.
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Otis Howard strongly impacted three generations of Idaho fiddlers. He was a charter member of the Idaho Old Time Fiddlers association. He was an important figure in the early years of the Weiser national fiddle contest. He won the senior division in 1963 at age 75. |
Otis Howard is buried in the Paul, Idaho cemetery. His gravestone beautifully captures two of the most important parts of his life: the Idaho mountains and fiddling.
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Three Original Songs by Otis Howard
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The Otis Howard/Dave Frisbee Recordings
In January, 1963 at his home in Emmett, Dave Frisbee made a reel to reel recording of Otis Howard playing dozens of fiddle tunes. The recording includes a number of original schottisches, waltzes and hoedowns written by Otis. Dave backed up Otis on rhythm guitar. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive set of recordings ever made of a true early Idaho Old Time Fiddler. Gary Eller and Rue Frisbee recently digitized this tape and issued a CD containing 29 fiddle tracks.
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This CD contains 29 fiddle tunes played in 1963 by Otis Howard with guitar backup by Dave Frisbee. Includes a booklet with photos and text about the lives of Otis and Dave. This work is part of the Idaho Songs Project described at sites.google.com/view/idaho-songs/early-idaho-songs. |
Slideshow designed by Gary Eller
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Idaho Songs Project
Gary Eller |
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