Alva McNeely never really thought of it as a scholarly activity when he was a youth teaching himself to play guitar, violin and mandolin by listening to records and the radio.
However, he’ll be the featured performer during the Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture, to be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday by John Kendrick in the Special Collections Department at Axe Library, Pittsburg State University. The lecture, open free to the public, is held each year in memory of the late DeGruson, a poet, local historian and former curator of Special Collections at Axe Library.
Kendrick will discuss the work of Carson Robison, an Oswego native who credited with being a pioneer of country music and played a role in the development of “Home on the Range,” the Kansas state song.
Some of Robison’s original recordings will be played, but McNeely will perform several works.
The longtime Pittsburg resident was born Jan. 17, 1930 at Morgan Camp, Mo.
“That was a coal camp just over the state line, near Mindenmines, Mo.,” McNeely said. “We always just claimed Minden, because Morgan Camp wasn’t on the maps.”
He likes many types of music, but grew up with country music, and it’s still his favorite.
“I particularly liked Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash and Red Foley,” he said. “There were lots of them I really enjoyed and tried to do their music.”
In 1947 he went into the U.S. Army Medical Corps, spending most of his time at Valley Forge Hospital in Pennsylvania. After he got out, he made a very important purchase.
“I used some money I’d accumulated to buy my first guitar, a Gibson Flat Top,” McNeely said. “I still have it and play it every day. It shows some wear, but it’s not as bad as Willie Nelson’s guitar. There are no holes in it yet.”
He and a friend “bummed around” the country for about a year, then McNeely settled down.
“I did some carpentry work, and was employed by Dickey Clay for 17 years or so,” he said. “My last five years of work was as a custodian at Pittsburg Middle School. I retired in 1992.”
But McNeely has never retired from music. He plays twice a month at the music and dance nights at the Homer Cole Community Center.
“I’ve been doing that since right after the building went up,” he said. “I haven’t missed many times, except when the weather canceled it. We’ve got good crowds and good music.”
McNeely also plays at a weekly Monday night dance in Fort Scott.
“I’ve been doing that over 15 years,” he said.
A member of the Marmaton Chapter, Kansas Old Time Fiddlers and Pickers, he serves on the organizations state board.
“We’ve got over 17 chapters in Kansas,” he said.
He and his wife, Virginia, celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary on June 9, 2009. They have four children, all of whom play or have played music.
Over the years McNeely has heard of John Kendrick, a singer, poet and one of the founders of the annual Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Fort Scott.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him before now, and I’m looking forward to this,” McNeely said. “John offered to help with the performing Thursday, and I told him to keep his guitar handy. I think this program is going to be all right.”
PITTSBURG —
