Historic Fiddle Player Releases First CD

This is a story about ONE of thousands of unsung heroes in the music business. Some may wonder if young Elvis would have had such a promising start if it weren’t for the help of sidemen Scotty (Moore) and Bill (Black). Other may wonder what Buck Owens would have sounded like without the lead guitar work and vocal harmonies of Don Rich. Since the dawn of front porch pickers and community barn dances, through the age of large stadiums concerts and Honky Tonk venues, frontmen consistently enlist the help of pick up musicians. Often standing in the shadows of the frontman’s overwhelming spotlight, these sidemen often go unnoticed and underappreciated. These sidemen’s primary role is to replicate the sound of the “stars’s” original recordings while avoiding any noticeable mistakes. These sidemen make the “star” sound great. Only the best sidemen survive the decades relying merely on their natural talent. This CD is devoted one extremely talented sideman and fiddle player; Fiddlin’ Joe Shewbridge.

Fiddlin’ Joe Shewbridge is now in his 6th decade of plying his perfected craft of master Fiddle player. Joe, is a very unassuming guy, but if you pry enough you will discover that has worked with the cream of the crop in both local and national country music musicians. The list is long, but some of the more notable “stars” that Joe backed up include George Jones, Patsy Cline, Dell Reeves, Grandpa Jones, Don Gibson, Gene Shepherd, Justin Tubb, The Browns, Carl Smith, Red Sovine, Wilma Burgess, David Houston, Jimmy C. Newman, Stonewall Jackson, Webb Pierce, String Bean, Carl and Pearl Butler, Rex griffin, Minnie Pearl, Dotty West, Clyde Moody, Benny martin, Loretta Lynn, Marvin Rainwater, Marrion Worth and George Morgan.

Joe began playing the fiddle in 1952 and his first professional gig was playing on radio station WHBB in Selma, Alabama, WJAM in Marion, Alabama and shortly thereafter playing in dance halls in Texas. Subsequently Joe played in numerous bands and settled into regular gig with Bill Peer and His Melody Boys (circa 1957) who hung their hat in the Brunswick, Maryland area.

I first met Joe Shewbridge in the early 1990s at a local Carnival playing traditional country music with Johnny Norris, who was a local music legend in his own right. I was immediately drawn to the tone and skill that Joe possessed, playing fill and lead breaks to a variety of music from hillbilly, to country to contemporary rock based country. Most recently Joe has backed some of the more noted Rockabilly/hillbilly acts including Marti Brom and Thommy Burns and His Sterling Cowboys.

This CD includes a recording session of 11 traditional fiddle tunes that will attest to your ear of Joe’s playing ability. Something that you wont hear in these recordings, but we experienced, was the ease that Joe played the two bonus songs, sung by Thommy Burns. On “Sinner’s Prayer” in particular, Joe took all of 15 seconds to learn the song. The song was recorded in one take and Joe’s playing was both inventive and precise.

If you are lucky, you can still find Joe, now in his early 70's playing his heart out at area clubs and carnivals. He is one of a dying breed of talented roots musicians. My thanks goes to Joe Shewbridge and his family for allowing Wild Hare Records to preserve this piece of American roots history for future generations to enjoy!

            Wild Hare Records is an independent record company dedicated to preserving and promoting hillbilly and rockabilly music. For more information on the Fiddlin’ Joe project or other Hillbilly and Rockabilly projects at Wild Hare Records, please email them at wildharerecords@aol.com or call 304-258-0014.