(40:55, 37.4MB, S1576 T83-98, T83-103)

This month we will learn to appreciate Florida’s mosquitos, swamps and waterways through song with Gainesville’s environmental troubadour Dale Crider.

Transcript of the Introduction

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection podcast series from the Florida Department of State’s State Library and Archives of Florida. This month we will learn to appreciate Florida’s mosquitos, swamps and waterways through song with Gainesville’s environmental troubadour Dale Crider.

Dale has been a presence at the Florida Folk Festival for over 40 years, beginning with his performances of traditional bluegrass numbers in the 1960s with the Florida Wildlife Boys. By the 1970s he was performing original songs both solo and accompanied by various musicians, including then-wife Linda Bittner. With 30 years of experience as a biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Crider has an in-depth understanding of Florida’ s ecosystems. This has enabled him to write songs with both a convincing message of environmental conservation and an equally strong audience appeal.

This podcast focuses on Crider’s performances at the 1979 Florida Folk Festival with Linda Bittner fulfilling bass and vocal duties and Sean Flynn on the violin and dobro. Bittner was executive director for the Governor’ s Council on Physical Fitness, and ties in this expertise on set opener “Fitness is the Balance.” Dale continues to decry wasteful energy use and excessive land development on “Black Gold” and “Stainless Steel Palm Trees.” Taking care of our forests takes on a mild patriotic undertone during “Under the Southern Bald Eagle,” and the “Mosquito’s Lullaby” makes you think twice about using pesticides.

Today Dale continues performing and educating audiences around the world on numerous topics relating to environmental appreciation and conservation. Let’s join Cousin Thelma, Dale and Linda in White Springs to celebrate all of the unique wilderness and wildlife Florida has to offer.