The year was 1975 and our country embraced its heritage in preparation for the coming Bicentennial. In Columbia traditional music flourished at a place called The Chez, a coffee house located in a church.

One of the residents of the alcohol-free gathering place was Dave Para. Here he met a young lady named Cathy Barton who shared his interest in playing folk music.

Those early days at The Chez cemented a relationship built around music that survives today. Dave and Cathy, now husband and wife living in Boonville, have devoted their lives to preserving our music heritage.

Across the country, Dave's guitar and Cathy's banjo are in demand for concerts, workshops, steamboat cruises, dances and classroom residencies. They've gained quite a reputation as folk musicians who play a huge variety of songs.

Mention the words "folk music", however, and Dave is quick to point out that the art form has two definitions. "One is traditional music and the other is in the traditional style, in other words somebody playing the guitar and writing their own songs. That would make Bob Dylan a folk singer here whereas in some countries they wouldn't say that," Dave says.

The music Dave and Cathy play has been played for hundreds of years. Their 10 albums run the gamut of traditional music, from old square dance tunes to work songs of the rivermen to spirituals played at brush arbor revivals. They've been painstakingly rediscovered and learned from old songbooks, scratchy recordings and first-hand from Ozark grannies.

Traditional music never died out, but became harder to find. "When you start looking for them you realize they aren't dead," Cathy says of the old tunes. "And when you find pieces of it in the modern culture it makes that part of the culture richer."

The two say they have been fortunate to start playing this kind of music under the nurturing of some true masters of the art, including old time fiddlers Taylor McBaine and Pete MacMahan. Their stage presence was honed in part from playing with Grandpa Jones, a country musician with deep roots in traditional music.

But it was the folks at The Chez who contributed the most to Dave and Cathy's style. The two especially credit Taylor McBaine's hard-driving fiddle for their style.

"He taught me a good number of the tunes I play and I still think my banjo style has been very directly influenced by the way he played fiddle," says Cathy.

Others who found The Chez music scene - folks like Win and Paul Grace and Howard Marshall - remain Dave and Cathy's close friends and often join them on stage or in their infrequent albums. The duo's latest effort is a 19-song tribute called "Living on the River".

It features Dave and Cathy on a variety of instruments and vocals. But it also blends the music of 10 other central Missouri musicians who add their special touch to the album.

That album followed one called "Crazy Quilt" which sums up a lot of what Dave and Cathy do. The songs on this album come from a wide variety of sources and traditions and reflect the melting pot that to them is Missouri. For example, one song tells the tale of the Mormons' struggles against prejudice. Another relates the fate of the steamboat "Bayou Sarah" which burned near New Madrid in 1885. The liner notes that come with their CDs tell each song's history.

While the albums are the end result of Dave and Cathy's research, their work in schools perhaps best sums up their mission. As part of the Missouri Arts Council's Arts in Education program, the two expose grade school students to the folk arts.

They try to immerse the students in all aspects of folkways, not just music. Their presentations include foods, storytelling and quilting. One project involves showing kids music can be made from anything. They teach them how to make mouth bows, a simple instrument that is easy to make and use. The kids also get to hear Dave play the leaf. Dave uses a plastic leaf held in his hands to coax high-pitched renditions of old fiddle tunes. "The leaf is more comic relief than musical," Dave says. "People are amazed but I'm not sure they want an encore."

When they're not in the studio or on the road with their music Dave and Cathy concentrate on the Big Muddy Music Festival, a traditional music showcase held in Boonville's historic Thespian Hall. The two help organize the festival and also take the stage.

Earning a living playing music has its ups and downs but Dave and Cathy wouldn't give it up for anything. "I guess we could be better known, we could play more widely and frequently than we do," adds Dave. "But part of the deal is we like being in touch with our community and our state and we don't want to lose sight of where we are from. After all, we're know for music that's from Missouri."