Are the people in Missouri polite, as in Politte? If they are from a French-American background, chances are they would be and might even have this surname, which first showed up in Missouri as far back as the early 1700s. In 1723, the town of Old Mines, MO, was founded by lead miners, many of them coming directly from France or via Quebec, whose rivers carried them down into Missouri territories. Among these earliest settlers were many people named Politte. The family of old-time fiddler Joe Politte is said to have been one of the last groups of people in this region to actually learn English and there also seems to be a dose of Native American blood in the family line, judging from facial characteristics. Politte never came close to making a living as a musician, but he definitely had something strongly in common with those who do. The fiddler supported himself as a horse and mule trader, meaning he was dealing with asses all day. Musicians can sympathize accordingly. Politte was also a farmer, a logger, a wagoner first, and then a trucker. He also learned the cello as a young man, rose to the top of the heap on the Missouri fiddle scene and like many elder players on his instrument became a mausoleum of traditional repertoire. He particularly liked coming up with tunes no one had heard before and was forever pulling out one unusual obscurity after another when he performed at events such as the 1977 Brandywine Music Convention. "Wagoner" would be performed with the bounce that only a man who has been there, done that could provide. Some of the songs in his repertoire were so old he couldn't remember the names, only the fiddlers he'd learned them from. Thus, these pieces wound up named after the fiddlers themselves, a practice which, if it had been carried out in country blues, might have prevented theft down the line from the likes of Elvis Presley or Mick Jagger. A double album of this artist's work was produced by a New Haven firm and is worthy of every bit of effort that would be involved in tracking it down. The title of this opus seems the best summary of this Joe Politte: I'm Old, But I'm Awfully Tough. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide