STORYTELLER RELATES STATE HISTORY AT MILL CONCERT

BURFORDVILLE -- When Bob Dyer sings his songs about wild boys who live in cages and dogs that can predict the outcome of elections, he figures he's teaching Missourians something they might not know about their own history.

Not that Dyer minds if fiction mingles with fact in a good story. He admits he made up most of "The Wild Child of Gooch's Mill," although the Miller really was murdered and the mill was burned down one Halloween night long ago in Cooper County.

As far as he knows, Jim the Wonder Dog must have been the most talented canine in the history of Missouri. "It's been pretty much authenticated," the poker-faced Dyer said of Jim's feats, which he says included following commands in Greek and Italian.

"I guess you just have to decide whether you believe it or not."

Sunday afternoon, Dyer performed some of his songs before an audience of about 75 people and one dog at the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site. He also played Friday at Sam A. Baker State Park and Saturday at Trail of Tears State Park.

The concerts were sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The 54-year-old Dyer was a college English teacher for 15 years. He finally ditched grading freshman papers in favor of writing and performing his own songs about the Boonslick area of Missouri, where he grew up.

Referring to himself as a "songteller," Dyer has put original lyrics to the tunes of traditional folk songs, and sings them in a Burl Ives baritone. Between songs, he provides information about the history of Missouri Indian tribes or riverboats or colorful Civil War veterans like Johnny Whistletrigger.

Some of the songs are based on tall tales told to him by old-timers, others on his own research in libraries and old newspapers.

"I still feel what I do is involved in teaching," he said.

Central Missouri is the focus for most of Dyer's songs because that's where he lives and where his favorite source of material the Missouri River flows. "The river focuses my attention," he said. "It's a key thing for understanding how the state developed."

But he says Southeast Missouri has an equally rich history. He's at work now on a song about the local Rebel commander known as the Swamp Fox.

"Every region of the country ought to have somebody doing this," he says of his vocation.

Most of Dyer's audience on Friday night consisted of children. As he does when he plays at schools, he tailored his program to prompt their participation. "Jim the Wonder Dog" includes spaces for howls.

"Kids are a lot more interested in history if you sing about it rather than talk about it," he said.

Sunday, he taught about the Indians who populated the state the Missouri, a word that meant "people who have big canoes" to the Illinois tribes, and Missouri's predominant tribe, the Osage.

One song is about the place where the Osage, who called themselves "The Little Ones," lived "a place where The Little Ones lived out their dreams."

Dyer is a chronicler as well as teacher. Sunday, he played a new song about the Flood of 1993. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event, the river-wise folklorist sang, that "may just happen again and again and again."