Take a behind the scenes look at some film of Diamond Teeth Mary’s first recording session in probably 40 years when we took her and a bunch of people to Morrisound Studios. In the middle of it all, the great bluesman Little Eddie Kirkland showed up and grabbed his guitar and a microphone to join her for a couple of tunes. He remembered, a half century back, the medicine show coming to his small town, when he was a boy, and peering under the tent as she sang with the Irwin C. Miller Brownskin Models. What a great moment that was. Also in the studio that day was Don Trubey on drums, Mickey Serenty on harp, Diddy Wah Diddy on sax and Don Dean Sr. on bass.

Take a behind the scenes look at some film of Diamond Teeth Mary's first recording session in probably 40 years when we took her and a bunch of people to Mor...

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It is my pleasure to welcome one of the nation’s top folklorists and folklore administrators Peggy Bulger to the Florida Folk Show Podcast. Peggy’s career began in Florida when she was named Florida’s State Folk Arts Coordinator in 1975, a year later she became the administrator of the Florida Folklife Program for 13 years. Bulger left in 1989 to work 10 years as the Folk Arts Director and Senior Program Officer for the Southern Arts Federation in Atlanta. In 1999, she was named director of Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center – only the second person to hold that post since the Center’s creation in 1976 (Florida folklorist Alan Jabbour was the founding director). Bulger retired from her position as Director of the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress on December 31, 2011. I met Peggy when she first came to Florida and traveled with her to visit a few folklore legends. As she put together the state’s first Folklore directory and have followed her career ever since. In fact, she was the one who first told me about Mary Smith McClain – the legendary Diamond Teeth Mary. Since Mary was in Bradenton and I was in St. Pete, Peggy asked me if I would give Mary a ride to White Springs to perform in the Florida Folk Festival.

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Diamond Teeth Mary had a band that included just about every blues musician in St. Petersburg. One weekend in 1982, when Mary was a young 81, we traveled to West Palm Beach to the Actor’s Workshop and Repertory Theatre to perform. That night her band was The Stompers featuring Erik Hokkanen on guitar, Mike Leach on Bass, Tommy Bell on drums and Lisa Coopersmith on sax. She brought along several of her “mojos,” a small bag of incense, trinkets for protection, giving one to the driver of each car in our caravan. It was a heck of a show as you will see in a podcast coming right up.

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In honor of her birthday (August 27) the Florida Folk Show Podcast presents Diamond Teeth Mary McClain's Friday night performance at the 1997 Florida Folk Festival. She is joined by Liz Pennock on piano and Dr. Blues on guitar.

Inside a mobile studio on the banks of the Suwannee River during the 1997 Florida Folk Festival the legendary Diamond Teeth Mary McClain sat down with Liz Pennock to record "Old Folks at Home." This was Mary's last known studio recording, she was 96 at the time. Inside the studio Leslie Gaines interviewed Mary and filmed some of the recording session. Pete has boxes of Leslie's old Betacam tapes from the 1997 Florida Folk Festival that Tim is digitizing. Included among those tapes, and presented here for the first time, is that interview with Diamond Teeth Mary and two alternate takes from the "Old Folks at Home" recording session.

This episode of the Florida Folk Show podcast is all about storytelling. It features some great segments including Chief Jim Billie telling the Seminole legend of the Kissimmee River, Will McLean telling the story of the massacre that started the First Seminole War, Chubby Wise explaining his role in writing Orange Blossom Special, and much more. We hope you enjoy these uniquely Florida stories and songs.