Jo Ann Castle

Ragtime Queen

Jo Ann Castle was so fun to watch, especially in her frequent appearances on the Lawrence Welk show.  She had such a fun and bouncy personality when she played, and it looked like she had so much fun all the time!  As her fingers flew all over the piano, she would look at the audience and give a smile and a wink, and she just made it look so easy.  So many people today may have never heard of her, but what an amazing talent !

This video was a performance on the Lawrence Welk show, at Christmas time.  What a cool paint job on that piano!  And, the decorations make it look like real icicles and snow all over.  If you watch when she first starts the strong ragtime section, there are snowflakes on the piano hammers that fly off!  Look at those hammers move!  Too bad they don’t have shows like this today!  Enjoy!