Choctaw County fiddler Hoyt Ming, born on October 6, 1902, into a musical farming family in Choctaw County, taught himself the fiddle at fifteen after hearing a string band play at his family’s home. Several siblings also learned string instruments, and with his brother Troy on mandolin he formed a family band that played local dances and parties. By 1928, after marrying guitarist Rozelle Young and moving to rural Lee County, he performed as part of a trio and then auditioned with Rozelle, Troy, and square dance caller A. D. Coggin for Ralph Peer’s Victor session in nearby Tupelo. Their February 13, 1928, recording session in Memphis produced four instrumental recordings, and Hoyt’s “Indian War Whoop,” featuring his distinctive fiddling “war whoop” or “holler,” became an old-time country music standby. Because Rozelle stomped her foot on the beats, Ralph Peer named the group the “Pep Steppers,” though the label mistakenly identified Hoyt as “Floyd Ming.” Through the 1930s the group appeared at fairs, political rallies, and fiddlers’ contests, but music remained secondary to family life and Hoyt’s work as a potato farmer, and by the 1950s he and Rozelle had essentially stopped performing publicly. Without their knowing it at the time, “Indian War Whoop” was included in Harry Smith’s 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music and became a favorite of the 1950s-’60s folk revival. In 1973, after David Freeman tracked him down near Tupelo, Hoyt and Rozelle returned to performing and recording with younger accompanists, played major folk festivals, recorded the album New Hot Tunes!, and later contributed to the soundtrack of the film Ode to Billy Joe. Hoyt Ming died in 1985, two years after Rozelle.
