Charles “Gordon” McCann (1931–2026)

Charles “Gordon” McCann, nationally acknowledged as a premiere preservationist of traditional Ozarks fiddle music and other facets of Missouri-Arkansas hill country culture, died on July 17, 2026 at the age of ninety-four.

Gordon McCann was born in Joplin, Missouri but had always lived in Springfield. He graduated from Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) in 1954 and worked in Springfield Blueprint and Photocopy Company—a family business started by his father—after graduation.

In his 40s, Gordon became fascinated with mountain music, especially fiddle tunes, and began attending home music parties and other performances by native musicians, taking along a tape recorder so he could practice the tunes on the guitar at home. His playing skills eventually led him to partner with acclaimed Springfield fiddler Art Galbraith, and for two decades they were popular performers locally, regionally and at music festivals on both the East and West coasts.

Gordon was also interested in regional and folklore, and he developed friendships with folklore collectors Vance Randolph (1892–1980), Max Hunter (1921–1999), and others. He co-authored with Vance Randolph the second volume of Ozark Folklore: An Annotated Bibliography, published in 1987.

In 2007, Gordon donated his recordings of some 400 fiddlers captured on 3,000 hours of tape to Missouri State University’s Meyer Library, where they have been digitized and made available to the public via the internet. In the early 2020s, he began transferring his books and paper archives to the university’s library as well.

Formal public acknowledgements of Gordon’s accomplishments include awards from the Missouri Folk Arts Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Folklore Society, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and an honorary doctorate from Missouri State University bestowed in 2010.

Read more about Gordon’s life and work in his obituary on the Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home website, as well as in this tribute on Springfield Daily Citizen.