“Hansen has written a masterful study that examines not just a fiddler from Florida, but also the nature of folk festivals, folklore in education programs, public sector work, and the history and culture of Florida. This is a rare book that successfully implicates larger questions by studying the microcosm. A topnotch book. Highly recommended.”
—CHOICE
“Hansen provides a thoughtful, multi-faceted portrait of the life and repertoire of fiddler, storyteller, and retired railroad worker Richard Seaman. . . . [He] crafts his text as a series of closely observed vignettes and character aspects to unfold the story and the significance of a long, rich, and deeply situated life.”
—Journal of Folklore Research
“This work is a good primer for readers interested in performance studies under the umbrella of public folklore. Too often, public folklore work is accused of being under-analyzed and untheoretical, but Gregory Hansen’s A Florida Fiddler, straightforward in its delivery, does an excellent job of weaving his fieldwork in with theoretical approaches, from sociolinguistics to performance theory to tale-typing. . . . This is a valuable examination of the dynamic between a traditional performer and his expressive culture.”
—Western Folklore
“An engaging volume . . . The strategy of looking at regional history from the grassroots out is an excellent approach, and both Richard Seaman as a fiddler-raconteur and Greg Hansen as a scholar make the approach sparkle in its execution.”
—Alan Jabbour, Founding Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress