Episode 502: Mareva Linda and Jay Desrosiers (Old Time Music in Illinois)

April 8, 2026·1 hr 7 min·5 clips

Why did they name their dog after Illinois fiddler Noe Beavers, and what does it reveal about old-time music culture?

1. Get Up in the Cool, Cameron DeWitt's podcast about old-time music, features Mareva Linda and Jay Desrosiers in episode 502, recorded at Jake Blunt's home in Providence, Rhode Island. 2. Mareva Linda is an old-time fiddler and festival organizer who apprenticed with Genevieve Harrison Kester in Chicago from 2019 to 2022; Jay Desrosiers is a mandolin and fiddle player originally from Rhode Island who spent years in Chicago's folk music scene. 3. The episode centers on Illinois old-time fiddling as a distinct regional tradition, how both guests came to it through the Chicago folk music community, and what makes specific Illinois tunes and players compelling. 4. The episode opens with 'Jump That Log' from Noah Beavers, identified as Mareva's favorite Illinois fiddler — a player she describes as rhythmically distinctive and rooted partly in Kentucky coal mining culture before he settled in Illinois. 5. Mareva notes that she and Jay named their dog Noe Beavers and plan to name a second dog Ethel Beavers — a Parks and Recreation reference — illustrating how deeply the player is embedded in their musical identity. 6. The hosts discuss calico tunes (tunes played in cross tuning), noting they are relatively uncommon outside Illinois and particularly characteristic of Gary Harrison and Noah Beavers's playing. 7. Jay traces his exposure to Illinois tunes through Old Lazarus's Harp, a Chicago collective of folk musicians including Dan McDonald (also known as Spitzer), Evan Collins, Jeff Yonkus, and Heather Malik, who he describes as 'diggers' seeking out obscure regional material. 8. Mareva's apprenticeship with Genevieve Harrison Kester — Gary Harrison's daughter — over three years in Chicago is identified as the central formative experience for her Illinois fiddling, giving her access to Gary Harrison's repertoire and approach. 9. Steve Rosen, encountered at the Old Town School of Folk Music, is credited by both guests as an early teacher; he taught Jay his first Illinois tune, 'Dog Treat a Possum Up a White Oak Tree.' 10. The episode includes an extended discussion of Byford Tite's Old Shawnee Town — a three-part calico tune gathered by Chirp Smith from Byford Tite — with Cameron noting that the B part currently played was invented by Cliff Harrison, Gary Harrison's nephew, and differs substantially from the original field recording. 11. Mareva's musical background began with folk songs and sea shanties: her mother was a folk singer in Chicago in the 1960s, her grandfather was a pianist and organ player, and her earliest musical memory is rehearsing sea shanties with a group at Montrose Harbor on Lake Michigan. 12. Jay's path to traditional music ran through saxophone, clarinet, classical guitar at Rhode Island College, and an Irish punk band called 'The Crack Was Mighty' — a pun on the Manx/Irish word 'craic' meaning good times — through which a fiddler from Saskatchewan introduced him to Irish and Newfoundland fiddle tunes. 13. Jay describes himself throughout as 'very malleable,' having taken up each instrument on someone else's suggestion, and frames this openness as the quality that made him receptive to old-time music. 14. The turning point for Mareva was a multi-tradition showcase at the Galway Arms, an Irish bar in Chicago, where she first witnessed Old Lazarus's Harp's combination of old-time, cajun, Irish, and blues, describing Dan McDonald's original-but-traditional-sounding songs as the work of a 'time traveler.' 15. Both guests identify the rough-edged, DIY aesthetic of Old Lazarus's Harp as what distinguished it from polished bluegrass and made it accessible to musicians coming from punk and experimental backgrounds. 16. Jay describes the Midwest Sing and Stomp festival (organized by Mareva and Dan) as the first festival where musical diversity felt intentional rather than superficial — citing son jarocho from Chicago's Chicano community, eastern European fiddling from Jovan Mihailovich, and South Side gospel as co-existing with coherent purpose. 17. The Old Town School of Folk Music is discussed as both a foundational institution and the inadvertent catalyst for the independent scene that grew up alongside it — too many people interested in folk music for one institution to absorb. 18. The episode culminates with Mareva's unaccompanied performance of 'Molly Bond' in Eleanor Gibson's Illinois solo style — a version from the New Mules album by Genevieve Harrison Kester and Gary Harrison — in which a ghost appears in a courtroom to exonerate the killer. 19. The tone is warm, densely networked with proper nouns from a specific folk music community, and digressive in a way that reflects how community memory is carried and transmitted in traditional music scenes. 20. Listeners embedded in old-time music or curious about regional American fiddling traditions will find this richly detailed; general audiences unfamiliar with the named players and tunes will need prior context to follow along.

As heard by us

A loose, warm old-time music conversation that turns small musician details into bigger ideas about access and tradition.

This episode settles into a loose, warm pocket of old-time music talk, with Cameron DeWitt guiding Mireva Lindo and Jay DeRogers through Noe Beavers, mandolin, and the old Town School of Folk Music without forcing the pace.

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Why you'd press play

You want Illinois old-time talk anchored by a home-recorded interview and jam in Providence.

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