I suppose I’ve worn every hat in the Mad Hatter’s shop. Currently, I ply the oars as a musician, folklorist, historian, teacher, writer, and photographer. (Plus, there’s all the other stuff I did that they never caught me at.)

I’ll develop this web page in terms of my work in three areas of focus:

1. Musicians in French-speaking Southwestern Louisiana
2.  Among the Tarahumara and Mexican and communities in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, and
3. As a part of the “Folk Music Revival” in the Western United States, especially including The Golden Toad, Dr. Humbead’s New Tranquillity String Band and Medicine Show, and  The Louisiana Playboys.

I’ve set the round table for you with articles, journal extracts, interviews, field recordings, photographs, memoirs, and anecdotes. Hit the tab for WRITINGS and soon you’ll meet some of the eminent Bohemians I have caroused with: Danny Poullard, Dennis McGee, Wade Frugé, Dewey Balfa, Sue Draheim, Kenny Hall, Joe Cooley, Kevin Keegan, Robert Thomas, Don Brown, William Wintersole, Glenn Ohrlin, and more.  They’ll be glad to see you. (I also hope to interview  Jeanie McClerie and Ken Keppler, Delilah Lewis, Christina “Buffy” Larkin.)

Peckish? Hungry? Starving? It’s on me. Sit down and dig in.

William Alfred Spires Curriculum Vita

Education.
Yes.

Post Master of Arts: 20+ Units in Historical Archeology and Cultural Resource Management, Sonoma State University

1990. Master of Arts in History, California State University, Sonoma.
Master of Arts Thesis Thesis: “ ‘To Convey the Small Pox to the Indians’: An Historical Controversy Re-examined.”

1988. Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude and With Distinction in Anthropology, California State University, Sonoma.
Senior Thesis, (based on fieldwork): “Tarahumara Violins and Violinists of Mexico’s Sierra Madre.”)

Academic Experience

COURSES TAUGHT:

ANTHROPOLOGY
Cultural Anthropology
Introduction to American Folklore and Folklife
Cajun and Creole Folk Music
Introduction to Folklore
Magic, Witchcraft and Healing
Folklore, Magic and Healing
Corridos y Canciones: Survey of Mexican folk and Vernacular Music
Native American Cultures

HISTORY
History of Mexico
United States History to 1877
United States History 1877 to Present
History of World Civilization to 1500
History of Western Civilization to 1678
History of Western Civilization from 1678
History of Women and Social Change
Race, Ethnicity and Gender in American Culture

ETHNIC STUDIES
African American History to 1837
African Amerian History 1837 to Present

Selected Presentations and Publications

PUBLICATIONS, LECTURES, WORKSHOPS, EXHIBITS, AND PAPERS PRESENTED

1995-2012 Annual Presentations and Workshops on Vernacular Music, Sierra Music and Art Institute, Fresno, California

2012: “Border, Ballad, And Bard: Boundary Lore From Edward Longshanks To
Ciudad Juarez” Alumnus Keynote Address, Student Research Conference, Sonoma State University

2012b: “A Musical Salute to Charles Dickens: The Street Music of Dickens’ London”

2021c:  “Musical Holdouts of Colby Street:  Formation and Legacy of an Old Time Music Community” Paper delivered to the American Studies Association annual meeting, San Juan, Puerto

2009: “The Anthropology of Food” Anthropology Forum, Santa Rosa Junior College

2007. “Listening to the Voices of the Dust Bowl: Music from the Todd – Sonkin Collection. [Social Science Roundtable Living New Deal” Series. Santa Rosa Junior College

2003 Wood, Skin and Strings: Musical Instruments of the Lute Family. Jesse Peter Museum,Santa Rosa Junior College. September 30- December 17, 2003.

2002. [September] “Stringed Instruments of the from Africa, Asia and the Americas.” Exhibit of artifacts and photographs at Plover Library, Santa Rosa Junior College. (Catalog in preparation).

2002. “Kate Chopin’s Nights in Acadie.” Work of Literary Merit Lecture, Santa Rosa Junior College

1998. Contributions to Encyclopedia Of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Paul Oliver, Editor. Columbia University Press, London and New York .

1998b. Invited Address at C.L.Dellums Memorial Statue Unveiling, Oakland, California.

1998c Holding the Fort: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in West Oakland. Produced for the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. A traveling version of this exhibit was shown at over two dozen museums and libraries in California.

1995. “The Quest for Dad Moore: Theme, Place, and the Individual in Historical Archeology.” Presented to Society for California Archeology Annual Meeting, April 1995. Eureka.

1994.”The Career and Contributions of C.L. Dellums: A Labor and Civil Rights Pioneer of Oakland, California,” in Mary Praetzellis, West Oakland; A Place to Start From: Research Design for Historical Archaeology Cypress I 880 Replacement. Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University.

1988.Cajun Music: A Portrait of a People by Ann Allen Savoy. Review in Western Folklore.

1985. “Quatre Vieux Garçons.” Liner notes for Folkways Record FA2633.

1983 “The Musical Legacy of the Balfa Brothers.” Frets Magazine .

1983b “Tarahumara Luthiers of the Sierra Madre.” Frets Magazine.

1983c. “Los Hermanos Chavarria: Trovadores del Amanecer de la Cancion Norte” Folklyric Record GW783.

 

RESEARCH

Stanford University

African American Museum and Library at Oakland

Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Los Angeles Public Library Rare Books and Special Collections (1961–62)

personal study of Restoration Era Mss. published London, c.1720).

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Labor Archives and Research Center, J. Paul Leonard Library, San Francisco State University

 

BONSAI
Yamadori (field collected mountain trees) specializing in California Junipers, trident maple, and hornbeam. Ten years study with Sensei Kathy Shaner + workshops with Master Yatsuo Mitsuya. 
ex-Secretary, Redwood Empire Bonsai Society

 

INVITED EULOGIST (Selected)

Olaf Palm, Artist. Fort Bragg, CA.

William Wintersole, Actor. Hollywood, CA

Robert D. Thomas, Artist and Musician. Preston, CA

Annie Opatz, Anthropologist, Marin County, CA


Morris “Dad” Moore, Railroad Union Organizer. Evergreen Cemetery, Oakland, CA

Michael Shames, Musician, Sacramento Buddhist Church, CA

1. L. Dellums, Union Organizer and Civil rights Leader (Statue Dedication). Oakland, CA.

Rita Weill Byxbe, Ballad singer, folklorist, and musicologist. Emeryville, CA.

 

ARCHIVAL DONATIONS


1.5 feet of paper research on the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, including paper ephemera, interviews, reprints, programs, and music. This material formed the research base for my 1998 museum exhibitionHolding the Fort: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in West Oakland, curated under the auspices for the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. Donated by request from the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina.

 

MARDI GRAS Sound recordings, oral history, and still photography of Mardi Gras as celebrated in French-speaking Southwestern Louisiana. Papers and Collections of Daniel J. Crowley, University of California, Davis.

 

Paper ephemera pertaining to Depression-era Hobo’s Convention, Labor Archives and Research Center, J. Paul Leonard Library, San Francisco State University



 

Selected field recordings of Rarámuri (Tarahumara) ceremonial music made in 1976-1987. Jesse Peter Multicultural Museum, Santa Rosa, CA.

 

Field recordings (40 + hours), photographs, interviews, and paper ephemera relating to violinist and singer Dennis McGee 1893-1989. Deposited at the Center for Louisiana Studies, College of Liberal Arts, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Dedicated to Marc Savoy and accessioned as the William Alfred Spires and Delilah Lee Lewis Collection.

 

 

 

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

Over 500 appearances as a solo artist or in concerts at venues including the University of California Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Art, Wattis Hall of Man at the California Academy of Sciences, the Oakland Art Museum, and the Pacific Film Archive.

Filmed performances as folk musician and as musicologist in “I Hear What You See” by Chris Simon; “Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers” by Les Blank; “Musical Holdouts” by John Cohen; “Part of Our Lives,” by Yasha and Carrie Aginsky

Honors and Awards

ACADEMIC HONORS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Sonoma State University Presidential Scholar with full-tuition scholarship, 1986-1990.

Sonoma State University Anthropology Department Faculty Stipend 1987-1988.

Outstanding Male Graduate, Sonoma State University Educational Support Program, 1988.