Charles "Charlie" Cline was an American bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 fiddler and multi-instrumentalist, known for being the sideman of several legendary bluegrass groups from the 1950s and well into the 1980s.

Cline learned to play the fiddle properly from Fiddlin' Arthur Smith

Fiddlin' Arthur Smith

Fiddlin' Arthur Smith was an American old time fiddler and a big influence on the old time and bluegrass music genres.-Biography:...

 about 1940. In the late 1940s, Cline became a member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

The 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...

, a radio band formed in 1937 and based in Bluefield, West Virginia

Bluefield, West Virginia

Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 10,447 at the 2010 census. It is also the core city of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,342.-Geography & Climate:...

, consisting of his brothers, Curly Ray Cline

Curly Ray Cline

Curly Ray Cline was an American bluegrass fiddler from West Virginia known for his work with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and Ralph Stanley.-Biography:...

 and Ned Cline, his cousin Ezra Cline

Ezra Cline

Ezra Cline was an American bluegrass bassist.He began performing locally with his cousins Ireland "Lazy Ned" Cline and Ray "Curly Ray" Cline, along with local guitarist Zeke Stepp, as the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in Gilbert Creek, Kentucky...

, and Larry Richardson. Banjo player Richardson had been offered a job with Bill Monroe

Bill Monroe

William 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...

's Bluegrass Boys in the early 1950s, and was instrumental in bringing Charlie Cline into the group. Cline recorded 32 songs with the Bluegrass Boys between 1952 and 1955. In the following years, he continued to perform with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, The Stanley Brothers

The Stanley Brothers

The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo made up of brothers Carter and Ralph Stanley.-Biography:Carter and Ralph Stanley hailed originally from Dickenson County, Virginia. The family soon moved to McClure, Virginia where their parents worked a small farm in the Clinch Mountains...

, The Osborne Brothers

Osborne Brothers

The Osborne Brothers, Sonny Osborne and Bobby Osborne , were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s...

 and Jimmy Martin

Jimmy Martin

Jimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".-Early years:Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee. Jimmy Martin was born into the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneedville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding...

's Sunny Mountain Boys. In 1986, he appeared with the Warrior River Boys. Cline died in 2004 at Shadescrest Healthcare Center in Jasper, Alabama

Jasper, Alabama

Jasper is a city in Walker County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,659. As of 2011 the population had was 13,857. The city is the county seat of Walker County, and once ranked among the world's leading producers of coal....

.