Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf, a veteran musical duo from the Ozarks known collectively as The Creek Rocks, returned to Washington, D.C., this week to perform old-time songs at the Library of Congress.
Their Aug. 21 show was at the Coolidge Auditorium, inside the Thomas Jefferson building.
Both accomplished singers, Woolf showed off her skills on the banjo while Bilyeu played guitar.
The Creek Rocks, Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf of Springfield, perform at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.
Recipients of the 2024 Artists in Resonance Fellowship from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the couple immersed themselves in the field recordings of folklorist Sidney Robertson Cowell, who visited the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks in late 1936 and early 1937.
Of the invitation to perform this week, Bilyeu previously said: “We get to take these songs Sidney Robertson recorded on a repeat journey of sorts, from the nation’s capital to the Ozarks and back again.”
The Creek Rocks was formed in 2015 with a mission to interpret the traditional music of the Ozarks region. The couple, who started collaborating musically more than two decades ago, married in 2013.
Cindy Woolf of the Creek Rocks performs at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.
Their debut was “Wolf Hunter,” a collection of 16 folk songs from folklorists Max Hunger and John Quincy Wolf, who have ties to their hometowns in the Ozarks. Bilyeu grew up in Springfield and Woolf hails from Batesville, Arkansas.
Bilyeu was a founding member of beloved Big Smith, an Ozarks family band.
The Creek Rocks regularly perform at musician festivals in the region and beyond.
They will take the stage Aug. 29 as part of the Pokey LaFarge show at The Regency Live in Springfield.
Mark Bilyeu of the Creek Rocks performs at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.
Upcoming performances include Highlonesome Music Festival, which is Aug. 30 in Chadwick, and the Ozark Folk Festival, which is Sept. 6 in Eureka Springs.
In the following weeks, they will be in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. They frequently perform at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company festivals near Marshfield.
More: Ozarks folk duo spends week in DC searching for songs to bring back to Springfield area
The Creek Rocks performed July 2023 as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington. They regularly highlight Ozarks songs as contributors to the Ozarkian Folk Chronicles podcast, hosted by Curtis Copeland and Hayden Head.
The Creek Rocks, Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf of Springfield, performed at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.
In May 2025, The Creek Rocks released “Firefly,” a four-song EP featuring songs written by their friend Nancy Ryan.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ozarks musicians The Creek Rocks perform at Library of Congress
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