Bill Sherburne (1903-1991) claimed that he could hear a tune once, pick up his fiddle and play it. It’s no surprise then that he had an enormous repertoire. He came from a musical family and lived in the fiddle hotbed of Spring Grove, Minnesota. Bill played for barn dances and house parties and at dance halls within a 50-mile radius of Spring Grove. He could play whatever people asked for: Norwegian, American, and popular tunes. In his later years, he became noted for playing dances at the Highlandville Schoolhouse in northeast Iowa.
Beth Rotto learned from Bill Sherburne through an Iowa Arts Council apprenticeship program and has continued to research his music in the Mills Music Library in Madison, Wisconsin. Part of her mission is to carry on the traditional repertoire from Bill Sherburne and the schoolhouse. This session includes learning two tunes and access to a recording of the workshop.
Beth Hoven Rotto is fiddler with the band Foot-Notes and has provided music for hundreds of private and community events for over three decades. These range from Decorah’s Nordic Fest street dances and popular dances at the Highlandville Schoolhouse to a performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.