FREE FOLK CONCERTS CELEBRATE PARK ANNIVERSARY

The 75th anniversary of Missouri State Parks will be celebrated with two concerts by traditional Missouri folk musicians Cathy Barton and David Para.

The first performance will take place at the new amphitheater in the Trail of Tears State Park on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The second concert will be held at Bollinger Mill State Historic Site in Burfordville Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

Both of the free 90-minute outdoor concerts are sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Jack Smoot, historic site administrator at Bollinger Mill, said: "I have seen them in concert, and they have a good rapport with the audience."

Barton and Para, multi-instrumentalists from Boonville, are one of the most popular and well-traveled folk acts in the Missouri and Ozark region.

Barton has mastered the ukelele, mountain and hammered dulcimers, autoharp and banjo, which she plays in the old-time frailing style.

Twice, she has won the Tennessee State Old-Time Banjo Championship, and Roy Acuff has called her his "favorite banjo player."

While earning college and graduate degrees in humanities and folklore, Barton took time to tour with Ramona (Mrs. Grandpa) Jones. She also made guest appearances on "Hee Haw" and the "Grand Ole Opry."

Bill Furry of the Illinois Times said Para is an excellent guitarist, and his smooth, tasteful accompaniments and vocal harmonies have helped make this husband-and-wife duo one of the most refreshing acts on the folk circuit today.

Ever since Para met Barton in her hometown of Columbia, they have built their repertoire to include both instrumental and vocal arrangements.

They have cultivated three major influences: traditional tunes from Missouri and the Ozarks, old-time and early country, and contemporary folk music.

Barton's first album, "Moving' On Down the River," backed by Para and others, was released by Biscuit City Records in 1979 and received excellent reviews for a first effort.

Para and Barton produced their second album, "Ballad of the Boonslick," in 1982 and met with greater acclaim.

The release in 1986 of their first album for Folk Legacy Records, "On a Day Like Today," also was a special achievement.

Finally, they joined with Sandy and Caroline Paton, proprietors for Folk Legacy Records, to produce an album of lesser known Christmas songs and tunes, "T'Was On a Night Like This."

This album was selected by the American Library Association as a Notable Children's Recording for 1991.

"We love traditional music and we're going to try to keep bringing it to people," Barton said. "It needs an audience."

For more information on the folk music concerts, call 334-1711 or 243-4591.