old time fiddlers Archives - Appalachian History

He could talk as much as he could fiddle

Fiddlin’ John Carson made his name recording “Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” in 1923. How did he get there?

William Murphy was regarded as a half-vagabond, but he was tolerated for the pleasure his enchanted violin gave.

Henry Reed ‘s tunes are now in wide circulation among younger American fiddlers. Perhaps the most widely circulated is “Over the Waterfall.”

I guess Albert Hash & the Whitetop Mountain boys are next on the list. Albert is known far ‘n wide for his woodworking and instrument making.

Picture little Ed Haley, suffering from measles, stumbling and grasping in an ever-darker world without the words to express himself.