Jeremy Ämick

In the deepest hollows of the Ozark Mountains, in places where fog settles low across the ridgelines and the night carries sound farther than sight, there are stories that never quite fade. Hunters have heard it. Campers have paused mid-step to listen. Old-timers, seated on porches from the Gasconade to the White River, still speak of it carefully. They call it the Ozark Howler. Descriptions of the creature vary, but its voice is remarkably consistent.

Few musicians sustain a career stretching across generations, genres and temporary trends in the music industry. Yet for guitarist Jack Starr, longevity has never been an accident but rather a way of life. Born in Paris, France, in the summer of 1951, Starr's introduction to music came in an unlikely way. His father, serving in the U.S. Air Force, was stationed overseas, and when he was not working on the local base, supplemented his income by distributing record singles to jukeboxes.

William Philip Handley was born Dec. 27, 1856, in St. Louis. As a young boy, he observed his father working with stone to fashion headstones for families who had lost loved ones. The family later moved to Jefferson City, where Handley learned the monument trade from his father when he was not attending school. The craft became a skill passed down through the family and later earned the younger Handley a reputation as a fine craftsman and monument maker in Moniteau County.