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Old-Time Fiddle Music

Friar the Fiddler - Battle of San Pasqual - 2005

Friar the Fiddler, Battle of San Pasqual re-enactment

Larry Edwards - Emma's Gut Bucket Band - Balboa Park - July 2008

Larry Edwards, with Emma's Gut Bucket Band
Balboa Park, July 2008

Pirate Fiddler - Koehler Kraft Wooden Boat Festival - 2006

Friar the Pirate Fiddler, Koehler Kraft Wooden Boat Festival

I currently fiddle with

Heritage (fiddle tunes of the 18th and early 19th centuries)
Pick of the Lizard (contra dance)
The More the Merrier (contra dance, community band)
The Usual Suspects (contra dance, pick-up band)
Emma's Gut Bucket Band (hybrid: old-time fiddle, classic country, bluegrass, western swing)
The Mo' Beddah Band (indescribable, but imagine Jerry Garcia meets Pierre Cruzatte)
F Group (old-time fiddle, bluegrass)
various pick-up bands for paying gigs

Jam Sessions:

Richard Chance, guitar; Rick Johnson, mandolin; Larry Edwards, fiddle; JoAnn Koppany, banjo

I've been fiddling since 1974, getting my start with the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association and later joining the California Old Time Fiddlers Association, San Diego Chapter.

I made the annual pilgrimage to Weiser, Idaho, for the National Old Time Fiddlers' Contest for 16 years. Influential fiddlers: Benny Thomasson, Clark Kessinger, Tommy Jarrell, Cyrill Stinnett, Mark O'Connor, (Uncle) Gary Lee Moore, Bob Shields, Kenneth Brank and many others, including a couple fiddlers who don't receive enough recognition, Marc Rennard (St. Louis, Mo.) and Mark Tamsula (Pittsburgh, Pa.).

I play an old fiddle (c. 1820, originally Baroque-style violin). It's something of an ugly duckling and violin appraisers, once they stop laughing, tell me it's a worthless piece of junk. But I like the way it sounds and that's all that matters to me.

I compose fiddle tunes when the muse awakens. The most popular of my tunes is "Manitoulin Thunder" [video] which struck me during a vengeful thunder storm while my wife, Janis, and I were visiting our friend Ivan Harwood at his summer home on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada.

I also pluck the doghouse bass and can manage basic chords on a guitar. Playing the bass, I recorded with Roger and Janice Maddy and the Curly Creek String Band as well as a number of prestigious fiddlers, including Loretta Brank and Mark O'Connor.