Poland: Warsaw’s Ozark Cigar Box Guitar Festival Draws Crowd

Source from:  Sedalia Democrat 08/09/2018

Sunshine, the scent of barbecue, a breeze from the lake and the sound of blues being played on stringed instruments — one couldn’t ask for a better day for a festival.

The second annual Ozark Cigar Box Guitar Festival began Saturday afternoon and continued Sunday. The festival at Drake Harbor in Warsaw is the brainchild of local business owner Ryan Mackey, and it highlighted the unusual instruments and the musicians who build and play them. According to Benton County Tourism and Recreation, the festival was named by the American Blues Scene as No. 4 of the Top Five Best Blues Festivals in Missouri.

The guitars are made from recyclable materials with the body usually constructed from, as the name implies, an empty cigar box or a iron skillet or even a Chinese checker board. The head and neck of the instrument can be made from broom handles, sticks or even wood slats.

On Saturday, Matthew Ritchie was entertaining visitors at his vendor tent with his band Matthew J’s Ozark Stomp, comprised of himself (guitar), Bill Thompson (harmonica) and Carl Cherrito (percussion), all of Kansas City.

Cherrito noted that the history of the unusual guitar often involved using what one had on hand to build the instrument such as the cigar box, a broom handle and even wire from a cattle fence.

“This one is actually a three-string,” Cherrito said as he pointed to handmade guitars on display. “And, this cord here when he plays it, it will sound like a bass guitar. Basically he’s playing both lines, the bass and the guitar.

“We played in Nashville about a month or so ago for a national act who’s been to 40 countries,” he added. “This group is kind of a rock-a-billy, and we’ve been doing some spiritual songs too, a song called ‘Wade in the Water’ … it’s a beautiful, beautiful song that he will play today too.”

Ritchie said he always wanted to be a musician and music is his passion.

“What I wanted was to do something unique and different,” he said.

Richie added that he wasn’t a builder, but he knew people who could build cigar box guitars for him, so he reached out to friends.

“I knew people who are really, really talented and I could give them my ideas and they would get inspired and want to build something for me,” he said. “So, what I was just playing, it looks like a banjo, but it’s a guitar, it’s a completely unique thing.”

Richie’s guitar was constructed by Mark Kost, with Winston & Fidel of Canada, who made it from a wooden Olivia cigar box along with a maple fretboard and a spruce handle.

“He only made three of those and that was my design,” Richie said. “He actually named that one after me, it’s called the MJ Design. For me, what the interest was, is that I can customize how I want to create the music … which is sort of a mix of country blues and bluegrass and folk music.”

He added that his other band recently won a regional competition in Springfield and they will be going to Memphis to play cigar box guitars for the International Blues Challenge in October.

He noted he enjoyed coming to Warsaw for the festival.

“It’s a beautiful day and it’s really, really cool to answer questions too, for people who are curious about it,” he said. “Hopefully it will inspire somebody.”

Caveman Dave was waiting to play his set Saturday afternoon when he offered reasons why he became involved with cigar box guitars. Dave, also known as David Dougherty of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had recently returned from a gig in Northern California, Oregon and Washington state. He added that he received his catchy moniker for a special reason.

“My first album was a kid’s album called ‘Dinosaurs are Cool,’” he said. “So, I started this pen name, Caveman Dave, and released children’s music. I go to different folk festivals throughout the country, play at pubs, and I’m a cigar box builder and I play guitar.”

Jimmy and Carletta Bennett, of Columbia, said after retirement they have made a hobby of building cigar box guitars. They brought their wares to the festival and were selling the handmade instruments for $150 to $300.

Jimmy laughed and said he couldn’t play the instrument and wasn’t able to even tune it, but he enjoys crafting them.

“It’s just a hobby I picked up,” he explained smiling. “There wasn’t nothin’ else to do. I just do it when I feel like it, and when I don’t feel like it I don’t do nothin.’”

Carletta noted with a grin that when they retired Jimmy didn’t want to take up ballroom dancing so they settled on cigar box building.

“We retired four times, this is our new hobby,” she added. “It’s addictive, it’s like eating popcorn. Well, you see a box, and it’s different than the one you had before, and you think I can fix it this way, and that way. It’s a fun thing and it’s wholesome, it keeps you out of trouble.”

She added that Jimmy does the handy work while she designs and decorates the handles with art such as an ear of corn, an arrowhead or a western-style cattle skull.

Festival visitor Jeff Hudson, of Belton, had just purchased a canjo from vendor Kelly Stillfield, of Maysville. Stillfield makes the banjo-like instrument from tin cans. He also creates cigar box guitars, mandolins, dulcimers and other instruments. Stillfield said he’s been building instruments for eight years and does it as a hobby also.

“It’s a hobby that pays for itself,” he added. “If you play golf it gets expensive, and I can do it in my basement a few hours at a time and, I get to meet people … and all the grandkids have instruments, it’s just a fun thing.”  Enditem