Buck dancer Thomas Maupin joins his grandson Daniel Rothwell, a champion banjo player, in this lively program held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on July 15, 2018. In addition to taking questions, the two show how rhythmic steps can affect the energy, tone, and musical resonance of a performance.

During the Musician Spotlight, Maupin explains how he became interested in buck dancing and flatfoot dancing. He also remembers watching his grandmother dance, with her heels hitting the floor right on top of the music. He emphasizes the singular importance of timing. “The only way you can dance wrong is dance out of time with music,” he says. He offers numerous memories and insights into his life spent as a buck dancer.

Maupin performs with Rothwell, the 2010 National Old-Time Banjo Champion, as well as fiddler Austin Derryberry, guitarist Courtney Williams, and dancers Hillary Klug and Jacob Fennell. Selections include “Sally Ann,” “Leather Britches,” “Roll On Buddy, Roll On” and “Ida Red.”

Winner of the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Award, Thomas Maupin is an accomplished traditional buck dancer from Eagleville, Tennessee. Born in 1938, he grew up in a family of dancers who “traded steps” at local square dances. Maupin has participated in old-time music contests and festivals since the 1970s, winning regional and national championships in buck dancing, clogging, and freestyle dance. In 2009 he accepted the prestigious Trail Blazer Award from the Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival in Murfreesboro, and in 2011 he received the Tennessee Governor’s Folklife Heritage Award.

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