Bluegrass fiddle
Encyclopedia
"In the 1940s Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys revolutionized American string band music by incorporating virtuosic instrumental solos and a “high lonesome” vocal style". Bluegrass fiddling burst into national view during the folk revival of the 1960s with the first televised documentary Bluegrass Roots: On The Road With Bluegrass Musicians shot in the Mountain of North Carolina. Old Man Bascom Lunsford took center stage at the Asheville Mountain Music Festival, itself a trail blazing event. which (also the first such event). It is aptly described by a publicist as "the hard scrabbling, dirt road real people sounds that dominated the back country of the southern mountains 40 years ago." Other trends have brought renewed interest in bluegrass fiddling: major mainstream performers have recorded bluegrass albums, and the Coen Brothers
' released the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
in (2000), with an old-time and bluegrass soundtrack, and the Down from the Mountain
music tour.
Kenny Baker served more years in Monroe's band than any other musician and was selected by Monroe to record the fiddle tunes passed down from Uncle Pen Vandiver. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys in 1984,Baker played with a group of friends, Bob Black, Alan Murphy, and Aleta Murphy
Kenny Baker is famous for a "long-bow" style which is reputed to add a smoothness and clarity to the music. Notes are often slid into, a technique seldom used by Celtic-influenced stylists outside of bluegrass. Double stops and open tunings are used adeptly as is the full panoply of technique from jazz players such as Stuff Smith
and Joe Venuti as well as Western swing
technique of players such as Bob Wills
.
is often performed by bluegrass fiddlers. See also
Great fiddle licks
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
' released the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
in (2000), with an old-time and bluegrass soundtrack, and the Down from the Mountain
Down from the Mountain
The soundtrack album, Down from the Mountain: Live Concert Performances by the Artists & Musicians of O Brother, Where Art Thou? was released to complement the documentary concert film...
music tour.
History and development
Kenny Baker is perhaps the most famed early bluegrass fiddler; he met Bill Monroe and cut a record with the Bluegrass Boys in 1957.Kenny Baker served more years in Monroe's band than any other musician and was selected by Monroe to record the fiddle tunes passed down from Uncle Pen Vandiver. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys in 1984,Baker played with a group of friends, Bob Black, Alan Murphy, and Aleta Murphy
Distinctives of the style
Bluegrass fiddling is commonly confused with old time fiddling, from which it derived, but they are quite distinct. Bluegrass is certainly the product of Bill Monroe, who was aware of old time but also of jazz, swing and other traditions.Purists
In an essay with the short title Why Old TIme is Different from Bluegrass, Allan Feldman argues against the proposal of an "inclusive cover name that would bring oldtime music, bluegrass, clawgrass and dawg music under the same umbrella in order to attract new audiences. The unfortunate trend in this country is to homogenize things. I think old time music stands against homogenization. Having thus staked ground out for himself as a purist, he continues that "he for one celebrates the fact that oldtime music is not bluegrass or dawg music or new grass or even claw grass". Nevertheless old time influence is strong, even reflected in lyrics such as the reference to old time, actually Scottish/Irish Soldier's Joy, in Uncle Pen.Techniques
Bluegrass fiddlers combine from many genres and tend to be highly skilled with strong roots in fiddle rather than violinistic traditions. As such, they can be seen to disregard the rules that violinists follow: they hold the fiddle the "wrong" way and don't necessarily use the chin rests, shoulder rests.Kenny Baker is famous for a "long-bow" style which is reputed to add a smoothness and clarity to the music. Notes are often slid into, a technique seldom used by Celtic-influenced stylists outside of bluegrass. Double stops and open tunings are used adeptly as is the full panoply of technique from jazz players such as Stuff Smith
Stuff Smith
Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist. He is known well for the song "If You're a Viper".-Biography:...
and Joe Venuti as well as Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
technique of players such as Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
.
Repertoire
Famous songs from Bluegrass Roots include Groundhog, Johnson Boys, East Virginia Blues, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Blue Ridge Mountain Blues, and Heavenly Light is Shinning On Me. Orange Blossom SpecialOrange Blossom Special
Orange Blossom Special may refer to:* Orange Blossom Special , was a passenger train operated by the Seaboard Air Line Railway* Orange Blossom Special , by Ervin T. Rouse* Orange Blossom Special , an album by Johnny Cash...
is often performed by bluegrass fiddlers. See also
- Rocky TopRocky Top"Rocky Top" is an American country and bluegrass song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 and first recorded by the Osborne Brothers later that same year...
, - Blue Moon of KentuckyBlue Moon of Kentucky"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1946 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, The Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley....
- Uncle Pen
- Orange Blossom Special (song)Orange Blossom Special (song)The fiddle tune "Orange Blossom Special", about the passenger train of the same name, was written by Ervin T. Rouse in 1938. The original recording was created by Ervin and Gordon Rouse in 1939. It is considered the best known fiddle tune of the twentieth century and is often called simply The...
Notable bluegrass fiddlers (partial list)
- J. P. CormierJ. P. CormierJ.P. Cormier is a Canadian bluegrass/Folk/Celtic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in London, Ontario in 1969 and began playing guitar around age five. As a child he displayed an unusual ability to play a variety of instruments by ear and won a guitar contest at age nine.Mr...
- Gundula KrauseGundula KrauseGundula Krause, born 7 July 1966 in Göttingen, is a German folk violinist. She lives in Mainz, Roetgen nearby Aachen and East-Clare .-Life and work:...
- Darol AngerDarol Anger-Career:Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mandolin in The David Grisman Quintet's 1977 debut. He co-founded the Turtle Island String Quartet with David Balakrishnan in 1985 and performed,...
- Kenny Baker (musician)Kenny Baker (musician)Kenneth Clayton Baker was an American fiddle player best known for his 25-year tenure with Bill Monroe and his group The Bluegrass Boys.-Biography:...
- Byron BerlineByron BerlineByron Berline is an American fiddle player.-Biography:Berline started playing the fiddle at age five and quickly developed a talent for it. In 1965, he recorded the album Pickin' and Fiddlin with the Dillards...
- Sedra BistodeauSedra BistodeauSedra Bistodeau is a fiddler and violinist from Princeton, Minnesota.Bistodeau, whose family performs traditional, bluegrass, and western music as the "Bistodeau Family Band," has won or placed in a number of old-time fiddling contests, both solo and in tandem...
- Robert BowlinRobert BowlinRobert Bowlin is an award-winning American bluegrass and country musician.-Biography:Bowlin started playing ukelele when he was one, and by the time he was five years old he had picked up the guitar....
- Sam BushSam BushSam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- Hanneke CasselHanneke CasselHanneke Cassel is a folk violinist. She was born in Oregon and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at Berklee College of Music in 2000. Hanneke is the 1997 U.S...
- Vassar ClementsVassar ClementsVassar Clements was a Grammy Award- winning American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical...
- Michael Cleveland (bluegrass musician)Michael Cleveland (bluegrass musician)Michael Cleveland is a blind bluegrass Fiddle player.Cleveland was born in Henryville, Indiana. His skill was recognised at an early age, with appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, A Prairie Home Companion and before the United States Congress in his early teens.After graduating from the Kentucky...
- Charlie ClineCharlie ClineCharles "Charlie" Cline , was an American bluegrass fiddler and multi-instrumentalist, known for being the sideman of several legendary bluegrass groups from the 1950s and well into the 1980s....
- Randy CrouchRandy CrouchRandy Crouch is an Oklahoma-based multi-instrumentalist. In eastern Oklahoma, Crouch is best known as a fiddle player. Although he has been referred to as "the world's best rock fiddler," Crouch also plays guitar and pedal steel among other instruments.-Biography:Growing up the son of a...
- Curly Ray ClineCurly Ray ClineCurly Ray Cline was an American bluegrass fiddler from West Virginia known for his work with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and Ralph Stanley.-Biography:...
- Stuart DuncanStuart DuncanStuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
- Vernon DerrickVernon DerrickVernon Derrick was an American musician and entertainer. Derrick was born in Grant, Alabama, in 1933 and was a resident of Arab, Alabama, since 1941...
- Casey DriessenCasey DriessenCasey Christopher Driessen is an American bluegrass fiddler and singer. He plays acoustic and electric five-string violins, each of which has an additional low C string....
- Alison KraussAlison KraussAlison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
- Richard GreeneRichard GreeneRichard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...
- Howdy Forrester
- Brittany HaasBrittany HaasBrittany Haas is an American fiddle player. She is currently a member of the Boston-based alternative bluegrass band, Crooked Still. She graduated from Princeton University in 2009 and was a member of the Princeton University Band. Previously she was a member of Darol Anger's Republic of Strings...
- Aubrey HaynieAubrey HaynieAubrey Haynie is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he wrote himself...
- Bobby HicksBobby HicksBobby Hicks is a Grammy Award bluegrass fiddler and a professional musician with more than fifty years of experience.Hicks was born in Newton, North Carolina and learned to play the fiddle before he was 9 years old. He attended several fiddlers conventions and at the age of eleven, he won the...
- Jana JaeJana JaeJana Jae is a classically trained, award-winning country and bluegrass fiddler. She gained national fame by appearing on the nationally broadcast "Hee Haw" television show as part of Buck Owens's band in the 1970s. Prior to her work with Owens, she won the Ladies' Division National Fiddling...
- Kenny KosekKenny KosekKenny Kosek, born in 1949 in The Bronx, New York, is an American fiddler who plays bluegrass, country, klezmer, folk music and roots music. In addition to his solo career, he has performed with many other well-known performers and contributed to film and television soundtrack music. He is also a...
- Laurie LewisLaurie LewisLaurie Lewis , is an American bluegrass musician.- History :Lewis fell in love with American folk music as a teenager, at the sunset of the 1960s folk revival. She says of the Berkeley Folk Festivals where she first caught the folk bug:"Oh, it was so exciting...
- Benjamin F. LoganBenjamin F. LoganBenjamin F. "Tex" Logan, Jr. is an American electrical engineer and bluegrass music fiddler.Born in Coahoma, Texas, Logan earned a B.Sc. in electrical engineering at Texas Tech University, then Texas Technological College, in Lubbock, Texas, studied for a B.Sc. in engineering at Massachusetts...
- Mack MagahaMack MagahaMack Magaha was a bluegrass fiddler best known as a member of Porter Wagoner's band, and a long-time backup player in the pioneering bluegrass band, Reno and Smiley.-Music career:...
- Tommy Magness
- Benny MartinBenny MartinBenny Edward Martin , was an American bluegrass fiddler who invented the 8-string fiddle.-Biography:Born in Sparta, Tennessee, his father and two of his sisters played music professionally...
- Mark O'ConnorMark O'ConnorMark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
- Ruby Jane SmithRuby Jane SmithRuby Jane Smith is an American-born fiddle player, singer, and songwriter in the traditional bluegrass and Americana music genres...
- Buddy SpicherBuddy SpicherBuddy Spicher is an American fiddle player.Spicher started in the late 50s as part of the backing band for Audrey Williams, the widow of Hank Williams, later with Hank Snow, the Charles River Valley Boys....
- Gordon TerryGordon TerryGordon Terry was an adept American bluegrass and country music fiddler and guitarist. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Fiddlers Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
- Jim Van CleveJim Van CleveJim Van Cleve, born October 12, 1978 in Canton, North Carolina is an American fiddle player, songwriter, session musician, and producer. He is a founding member of the popular band Mountain Heart, and a Grammy winning session musician and Grammy nominated solo artist.Van Cleve won many fiddle...
- Sara WatkinsSara WatkinsSara Ullrika Watkins is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of the progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek, which consisted of herself, her elder brother Sean, and mandolinist Chris Thile. As a band, they are notable for three wide-released albums:...
- Chubby Wise
- Benny WilliamsBenny WilliamsBenjamin Horace “Benny” Williams was an American bluegrass musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he sang and played fiddle, guitar, banjo, autoharp, and mandolin...
- Lonesome Pine FiddlersLonesome Pine FiddlersThe Lonesome Pine Fiddlers were an early bluegrass band which included such notable "first generation" bluegrass musicians as Ezra Cline, Bobby Osborne, Paul Williams, Melvin Goins, Charlie Cline, Curly Ray Cline, Larry Richardson and for a short time Jimmy Martin...
Videographic documentation
Richard Greene's Chop techniqueGreat fiddle licks
Other external links
See also
- Bill MonroeBill MonroeWilliam Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
- Official nonprofit partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park archival recordings