Canadian fiddler Frankie Rodgers composed Ookpik Waltz in 1965. By the early 1970s, it had lost its title, its composer was unknown, and fiddlers around North America had invented a mythical provenance for it, based on Hollywood’s inaccurate portrayals of Native American and First Nations’ music.
The Mystery of the Ookpik restores credit to Frankie Rodgers and his rich performing and recording career. It shows how his Ukrainian heritage colored his composition and performance of Ookpik Waltz. It explains his move to New Zealand, after Canadian radio’s adherence to American broadcast trends left him without an audience. It details how Ookpik Waltz entered the fiddle contest scene, and how it was folk processed so that Rodgers’ original recording is viewed as “wrong” by contemporary audiences.

Joe Weed, Producer and Director of The Mystery of the Ookpik, has released seven albums of his own, produced many projects for independent artists and labels, and composes scores for film, TV, and museums. Ken Burns features one of Joe’s compositions in his 2023 documentary “The American Buffalo,” broadcast nationally on PBS, as well as in “The Mayo Clinic,” also broadcast on PBS.
Joe produced and directed “The Waltz to Westphalia,” a 55-minute documentary film that tells the fascinating story of a Polish folk song’s metamorphosis into an American country fiddle classic, known in the US as “The Westphalia Waltz.” An expert on the life and music of Stephen Foster, he produced “Swanee, The Music of Stephen Foster.” Combining his research, storytelling, and musicianship, he has informed and inspired audiences on both sides of the Pacific about America’s first professional songwriter. In 2018, Joe released “Two Steps West of the Mississippi,” a collection of his original instrumental music based on American fiddle roots. He continues to produce acoustic music at his Highland Studios near Los Gatos, California.