Charles Gordon McCann, 94, of Springfield, nationally acknowledged as a premiere preservationist of traditional Ozarks fiddle music and other facets of Missouri-Arkansas hill country culture, died July 17, 2026. 

Gordon was born August 27, 1931, in Joplin to Charles Albert McCann and Jadah Marie Trowbridge McCann. His parents had moved to Springfield the year before to found Springfield Blueprint Company, but they returned to Joplin for Gordon’s birth. 

Gordon was a 1949 graduate of Springfield Senior (now Central) High School and member of the Class of 1953 at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. He majored in Spanish, and pursued minors in French and German, with the aim of becoming a linguistics teacher. However, he joined the family business after graduation. 

Gordon married Mona Gayle Pearce in 1952, a union that lasted 70 years until her death in 2023. The marriage produced two children, Charles Pearce McCann and Abba Gayle McCann Korosic (Chuck), both of whom live in Springfield. 

In his 40s Gordon became fascinated with mountain music, especially fiddle tunes, and began attending home music parties and other performances by native musicians, taking along a tape recorder so he could practice the tunes on the guitar at home. His playing skills eventually led him to partner with acclaimed Springfield fiddler Art Galbraith, and for two decades they were popular performers locally, regionally and at music festivals on both the East and West coasts. 

In his travels around southern Missouri and northern Arkansas selling Springfield Blueprint services and products, Gordon made friends with generational Ozarkers and traditional musicians. He added to his audio recordings and took biographical notes and photographs that he assembled into scrapbooks. He also began building an impressive home library of Ozarks history books, quaint pamphlets, old maps and other Ozarkiana. 

In 2007 Gordon donated his recordings of some 400 fiddlers captured on 3,000 hours of tape to MSU’s Meyer Library, where they have been digitized and made available to the public via the internet. In the early 2020s he began transferring his books and paper archives to the university’s library as well. 

Gordon played a vital role with the popular “OzarksWatch Video Magazine” that aired for a quarter-century on MSU’s regional public television station KZOK, Channel 21. He connected the show’s producers with authentic Ozarks people and places that provided material for the program’s episodes. 

Gordon served as the local contact for national publications and organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Society and metropolitan newspapers seeking story opportunities in the Ozarks. He produced three record albums containing more than 100 Ozarks fiddle tunes. And he collaborated with iconic Ozarks folklorist Vance Randolph and helped finish Randolph’s final book. 

A lifelong avid outdoorsman, Gordon especially enjoyed floating and fishing on Ozarks rivers, as well as time spent at the family’s cabin on the shore of Table Rock Lake. 

He was active with the Civil War Roundtable of the Ozarks history organization, and was the chapter’s last surviving charter member. 

Gordon was appreciated and beloved for the encouragement and mentoring he gave to young musicians and aspiring writers and photographers, many of whom credit him for sparking their interest or advancing their careers. 

Formal public acknowledgements of Gordon’s accomplishments include awards from the Missouri Folk Arts Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Folklore Society, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and an honorary doctorate from Missouri State University bestowed in 2010. 

Survivors in addition to his son and daughter include grandchildren Lauren Widbin Campbell (Wes) and Charles Matthew McCann, both of Springfield; great-grandchildren Charles Anthony McCann, Lake Zurich, Ill., and Andrew Kennon Campbell and Harrison Pearce Campbell, both of Springfield; step-grandchildren Christopher Korosic, Alachua, Fla., Cheri Hensler (Kris), Fort Wayne, Ind.; step-great-grandchildren Madeline and Max Hensler, Fort Wayne, Ind.; brother-in-law Ron Pearce (Pam), Fairview, Texas; nieces Lisa Stine (John), Ozark, Mo., Melissa Heuermann (Rob), St. Charles, Mo., Ashley Parnell (Wayne), Frisco, Texas, Carrie Parnell (Chris), Cedar Park, Texas, and Jennifer Haefner, Fairview, Texas; and several great-nieces and great-nephews. 

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 25, preceded by an informal visitation starting at 10 a.m., at All Saints Anglican Church, 2751 E. Galloway St., in Springfield. Burial will follow at Maple Park Cemetery, 300 W. Grand St., under direction of Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home. 

The family will announce a future public gathering to celebrate Gordon’s life with music and stories from friends. 

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Historic Bethel German Colony, c/o Fiddle Camp, 127 Main St., Bethel, Mo., 63434, or to other programs supporting young musicians.