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'Where his heart was': Former state folklorist Claude Stephenson's life was infused with music
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For many years, one of the most intriguing and entertaining musical events in New Mexico was a potluck party in Claude Stephenson and Zoe Economou鈥檚 South Valley yard.
Zoe, Claude鈥檚 wife, called the gatherings, held late in July, soirees. They endured from the early 1980s until 2018.
You did not have to play a musical instrument to attend, but since Claude was a diverse and talented musician himself, the host of music programs on KUNM radio and served as the state of New Mexico鈥檚 folklorist, many of his friends do play.
They鈥檇 show up at Claude and Zoe鈥檚 house, just west of the Rio Grande, bearing not only salads, casseroles, cakes and pies but guitars, mandolins, fiddles, stand-up basses and banjos.
'Where his heart was': Former state folklorist Claude Stephenson's life was infused with music
鈥淭hose soirees were great,鈥 said Grey Howell, 69, Corrales banjo and fiddle player. 鈥淚t was like going to a family reunion in a summertime party atmosphere. There was lots of food and drink, and we鈥檇 play music for hours and hours. And we talked, if needed.鈥
鈥淭hose parties were legendary,鈥 said Bruce Thomson, 74, a guitar and fiddle player with Albuquerque鈥檚 Adobe Brothers band. 鈥淭here would be a group playing bluegrass, another playing Irish music and another playing old time music. It was very fun. People from all around the state came to those soirees.鈥
The soirees ended after Claude suffered a mini stroke and other medical complications in the fall of 2018. Claude battled through his health problems and resumed playing mandolin, guitar and other instruments at which he was adept, but the soirees were not revived. And then last August, Claude died at age 70.
Now, Zoe has decided that another soiree is merited to give Claude the kind of send off he would have truly appreciated. Friends, many of them with musical instruments, will gather in the big yard near the river on April 28 to celebrate his life.
Musical rootsZoe said Claude grew up in a lot of places because his father was in the Air Force, and he got to New Mexico when his dad was stationed at Alamogordo.
She said musical roots run deep in his family.
鈥淗is great-grandfather on his mom鈥檚 side was on the radio in Pennsylvania with a barn dance kind of show,鈥 she said. 鈥淥ne of the Boyd brothers (of Bill Boyd and his Cowboy Ramblers) married into Claude鈥檚 family on his father鈥檚 side.鈥
Zoe said when Claude was still a teenager, he ran away from home to Philadelphia and landed a job with the vocal soul group Laddie Burke and the Showstoppers, best known for the 1967 hit 鈥淎in鈥檛 Nothing But a Houseparty.鈥
Claude started out on drums but became best known for playing strings 鈥 mandolin and other instruments in the mandolin family, fiddle, acoustic and electric guitar and some banjo. Zoe said Claude always traveled with an instrument, usually the mandolin.
The two met in 1977 at an Albuquerque lounge where Zoe was working. She was trying to teach herself to play mandolin, and Claude was recommended as someone who could help her.
鈥淗e tried to teach me, but I learned pretty quickly that my left hand was not up to the task,鈥 Zoe said. 鈥淧lus, it鈥檚 pretty hard to play in front of someone who is really good.鈥
Other things worked out, however. Claude and Zoe met in January and were a couple by March.
Over the topClaude earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in university studies from the University of New Mexico in 1985 and a master鈥檚 in business administration from UNM in 1987 and a doctorate in American studies from UNM in 2001.
He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the music of New Mexico鈥檚 Matachines dance groups, a topic in which he was well schooled. Claude played violin with a Matachines troupe in Bernalillo.
鈥淗e was a terrific musician,鈥 Thomson said. 鈥淗e could play in so many styles and genres. His main genre was bluegrass, but he was a great Irish musician, played old time music, played some swing, played some jazz and traditional New Mexico music.鈥
Howell plays these days with a bluegrass band called the Duke City Swampcoolers, but over the years he has been in bands such as the Clear Ditch Ramblers, Big River Boys and others.
He met Claude in 1974 when they were playing for different bands at the Golden Inn near Golden, New Mexico.
鈥淭hat was the start of a friendship that lasted over 50 years,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 learned a lot from Claude. He had a huge knowledge of music. The guy knew every song, every tune you could throw at him.
鈥淚 played gigs with him, duos and sometimes trios. When I started playing fiddle, I鈥檇 go sit in with him when he was playing at Alfalfa鈥檚 (a former Albuquerque music club).鈥
Claude played solo gigs at Albuquerque clubs such as Alfalfa鈥檚, Uncle Nasty鈥檚 and Ned鈥檚, and was with bands such as the Big River Boys, Elliott鈥檚 Ramblers and the Sons of Rodan.
Karl Stalnaker, an Albuquerque musician and, until recently, a host of KUNM鈥檚 long-running music program 鈥淭he Home of Happy Feet,鈥 performed often with Claude.
鈥淚 played in some different bands with him,鈥 Stalnaker, 76, said. 鈥淚 played a lot of pick-up gigs with him. We had an Irish band. We had a band 鈥 Dos Equis 鈥 with just the two of us. We did a variety of music, from rock 鈥榥鈥 roll to folk music to country music. We worked a regular job at a bar on Central, across from UNM.鈥
Stalnaker said there really was no one else like Claude.
鈥淗e was a very good musician, an extraordinary mandolin player,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut he could play anything he picked up if he wanted to. And he was over the top, just full of personality.鈥
Stalnaker remembers the time Claude was playing drums with a popular New Mexico act when the bass drum pedal broke.
鈥淢ost drummers would have probably just left the stage and gone outside to smoke,鈥 Stalnaker said. 鈥淏ut not Claude. The show must go on. He never missed a beat. He got down on his knees and was beating the bass with one hand and playing the snare and cymbals with his other.
鈥淐laude was never interested in being the coolest dude in the room. He didn鈥檛 worry about his image that way. He would do off-the-wall stuff if it was needed.鈥
A wonderful lifeStarting in the late 鈥70s, Claude worked on KUNM radio shows such as 鈥淥nly the Radio,鈥 鈥淟ive Variety Show,鈥 and from 1983, 鈥淔olk Routes.鈥 Zoe remembers him driving from Santa Fe through a snow storm to get to the UNM campus in time to go on the air at 9 a.m.
鈥淗e wanted to get local live music on the radio,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat was where his heart was.鈥
Claude was New Mexico鈥檚 folklorist from 1991 to 2014, traveling all over the state attending bluegrass festivals, cowboy gatherings, American Indian ceremonies, Matachines dances and much more.
鈥淗e loved that work,鈥 Zoe said. 鈥淗e was really proud of a bunch of things he did. He developed folk scouts, a way for people to do folklore research in their own culture, do their own histories.鈥
鈥淗e played a really big role as state folklorist,鈥 Stalnaker said. 鈥淗e made a lot of difference in getting people grants to do projects.鈥
Thomson said that in his later years, Claude became a great mentor for young musicians.
鈥淗is earliest contribution was as a musician and band leader,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut later on he was a mentor and folklorist. He lived a wonderful life. He was a treasure.鈥
