Laura Dean - Music in the Westward Expansion: Songs of Heart and Place on the American Frontier

Thank you, Gail Dean, my mom, for providing years of lessons and musical experiences and for encouraging a life in music. Thanks, brother Scott Dean, for your love and encouragement. Thank you, sister Rona Williams, for reaching out and for your understanding. Dear Ruby Brown, my daughter, thank you for your love, laughter, and your beautiful violin music. Id also like to acknowledge my dad and guardian angel, Richard Dean. I miss him every day.

Thank you, Joe Sweeney, my partner in life, for your unwavering support throughout this project. I could not have done this without your enduring patience as you edited the early drafts of the manuscript. Thank you for your love, your insight (and your red pen).

Thank you, Jill Timmons, my dear friend and mentor (Artsmentor, LLC), for seeing the potential in this project, for working with me in the early stages, and for giving me the courage, not to mention the (not so gentle) push to write the book. Thank you to my editor David Alff and to the staff at McFarland for your guidance and assistance with turning the manuscript into a book.

Thank you, Jay Old Mouse, the Northern Cheyenne flute master, for sharing the history of the Northern Cheyenne courtship flute, for your craftsmanship, your music, your infectious humor, and your heart. Rest in peace, my dear music friend. Thank you, Amy Old Mouse, for your hospitality and your friendship.

Thank you, Susan Gibson, for sharing your song-writing story. Thank you, Al Wiseman, for sharing your memories and knowledge of the Mtis fiddle tradition. Thank you, Eric Houghton, for sharing your story of Pioneer Songs . Thank you, Michael Haynes, for your beautiful artwork. Thank you, Jeremy Agnew, for your photo contributions. Thank you, Ken Robison at the Fort Benton Museum for the research gems. Thank you, Daniel Slosberg, for your input regarding the music of Pierre Cruzatte.

Thank you to the individuals who helped with research and photographs at the Smithsonian Institution, Frick Digital Collections, True West Magazine, Brother Van House Museum, National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, Idaho State Archives, Library of Congress, Kansas State Historical Society, Montana Historical Society, Oregon Historical Society, History Nebraska, Brigham Young University, Washington State Historical Society, Fort Walla Walla Museum, Whitman College, Wichita State Special Collections, National Portrait Gallery, New York Public Library, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Wyoming State Archives.

Finally, thank you to my dear friends Michelle Josserand and Karrie Crabtree for your longtime friendship and encouragement. Thank you to my earliest music teachers, Dorothy Allen, Lloyd Reynolds, Jeanette McCormick and also to Tom Mollgaard for an outstanding hands-on music and arts education. Thank you to the wonderful community of Choteau, Montana, my hometown, for providing a nurturing musical atmosphere. Thank you to the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana, for sponsoring a series of Heart and Place concert presentations in the Great Falls Public Schools and at the C.M. Russell Museum in 2017. Thank you to my Seattle community of friends, swimming buddies, neighbors, colleagues, and music students who have been following this project from the premier Heart and Place concert in 2017.