Riverman, singer of traditional songs, publicist, Chamber of Commerce executive.
Stubblefield was born and reared in Enterprise, Oregon, and in this setting he absorbed
materials identifiable with the history and traditional lore of Hell’s Canyon, North
Americas deepest gorge.
After graduating from the University of Idaho, where he had been president of the
student body, he worked for the Spokane, Washington, Chamber of Commerce and for
the American Automobile Association, publicizing Idahos newly completed north-South
highway (US 95) from Weiser to Lewiston. He became publicity manager for Varney Air
Lines, the predecessor of United Air Lines, with head offices in San Francisco. For many
years, he was aviation editor in Washington, DC, for McGraw-Hill. He returned to the
West in 1949 and began operating a fleet of boats and barges through the Snake River
Canyon, serving at the same time as secretary of the Weiser Chamber of Commerce.
Drawing upon his broad acquaintance with traditional music, both instrumental and
vocal, he obtained $150.00 from the Chamber for the establishment of the Northwest
Mountain Fiddlers’ Contest, an annual function that by 1963 had evolved into the present
National Old-Time Fiddlers’ Contest. Held the third full week each June in Weiser, it is
one of the noteworthy festivities in Idaho, drawing participants quite literally from coast
to coast and border to border, with some performers coming from Canada.
While in Washington, DC, Stubblefield recorded sixteen songs for Alan Lomax in the
recording laboratory of the Library of Congress. Rae Korson, head of the Archive of
American Folk-Song there, reported that in April 1938, “Stub” recorded eleven songs,
including “Nelly at the Wake,” “The Farmer’s Curst Wife,” and “Way Out in Idaho,” all
accompanied with guitar. In January 1939, he recorded two unaccompanied songs,
“Bryan O’Lynn” and “Poor Miner,” and three songs accompanied with guitar: “It’s Hard
Times, Boys,” “Taji Buggeroo,” and “The Lowlands Low,” the last one in two versions.
Stubblefield died of cancer December 18, 1960.
Louie W.Attebery