Top 10 Best Fiddle Players of All Time

1. Buddy Spicher

2. Justin Branum

   Justin Branum has an ear like none other. He breathes the fiddle in his life, and you can hear it in his playing. He pays homage to every single one of the greats and to the great pedal steel guitar. Yeah! Big full sound. Justin Branum translates those crazy, wavy melodies, full of all the intervallic capabilities, to be silly and expressive in its song to sing.

   Justin Branum is the Grand Master Fiddler Champion 2010. This year, he was awarded first place as the "Show Me State's" Best Rhythm Guitar Player in Missouri. He's in the book just recently published called Play Me Something Fast and Devilish about Missouri-style fiddle playing.

   He is an amazingly precise player who shines alone in his Western Swing style. Colorful and virtuosic solos drive, with a groove, a rhythm, and a force that begs to be set apart by its very nature of mystery, as well as the simple purity, love, and honesty from the heart through which the music pours.

   A man of excellence who is an open vessel for the music to flow like none other and refresh our souls. Thank God for such a fiddler. He can revive the tradition.

3. Charlie Daniels

   

   Speed. Accuracy. Originality.

   Charlie owns this award from "Orange Blossom Special" alone, and that's not even his best work.

   Undeniably one of the greatest fiddle players of all time.

   I love hearing Charlie Daniels play that fiddle. I love it!

4. Hyram Posey

   I've had the pleasure of having Hyram and his wife Lori as friends for many years. You will never meet a better couple, no ego, just great people. Hyram has played music in all types of settings and always brings his creative genius to the music.

   Hyram is not only the best fiddle player - bar none - but he also produces not only the one-of-a-kind music he writes but brings out the best in other artists' music he produces. No matter where you put Hyram - stage, recording studio, writing music, movie themes, supporting other artists, or playing lead - Hyram is simply the best. Listen to Hyram's music - it soothes the soul. God bless Hyram and Lori.

5. Johnny Gimble

   One word describes Johnny Gimble: smooth. He can't be beaten when it comes to style. My dad, God rest his soul, was the best, and being Canadian, was partial to Don Messer, but always said that God had given Johnny the greatest gift... to be able to play with heavenly hosts.

   Johnny has Western swing soul and knows what melody is, even if he is playing harmony or is complementing a vocalist. He has played on concerts and sessions for me. Gospel singer David Ingles.

   Johnny played with Bob and acquired a sound, a feel, and Western Swing savvy that many fiddlers admire. The Lord blessed him with tuning, rhythm, and melodic moves that every song deserves.

6. Stuart Duncan

   A very smooth style. He can play with anyone!

   Great fiddler of Americana music. He really shines on the Goat Rodeo Sessions with Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, and Chris Thile.

7. Kenny Sears

   My dad was a fiddle player. He had a great ear. I never heard him comment too much about anyone's playing except for Kenny Sears, who he scheduled his entire day around to be able to watch on the Ralph Emery Show for years! On top of that, Mr. Sears is one of the sweetest, kindest, and most humble fellows around.

   He was my first teacher when I was three years old, and I am now 35! Very good man! Absolutely brilliant, Mr. Kenny. The Shaffer twins from Lindsay Hollow have always admired you! Top notch across any genre of music!

8. Leon Boulanger

   Leon worked with me in Phoenix, AZ, during the last few years of his life after spending many years with Ernest Tubb, Mel Tillis, and Faron Young. His five-string fiddle was always incredible!

9. Rob Hajacos

   Seriously, why don't I see his name here? He is one of the best Nashville studio musicians and appears on countless albums by all the favorite stars and others. Truly a master of the fiddle!

   All-around commercial sound with an uplifting style!

10. Bob Wills

    Bob Wills is without a doubt the beginning of modern country fiddle playing. His single-string style was perfect for having two- and three-part harmony. The king of Western Swing.

    Bob Wills was the greatest. He invented Country Swing, and it just doesn't get any better than that.

    You don't have to be from Texas to know that Bob Wills is still the king.

The Newcomers
11. ?

    Natalie MacMaster

    Wonderful, expressive, and energetic fiddler. She's also an amazing, warm, and caring teacher and performer.

    Amazing musician, flawless execution, and perfect pitch.

12. ?

    Benny Martin

    Perhaps the greatest Bluegrass fiddle player along with Kenny Baker. He worked and recorded with most pioneering bluegrass acts including Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Don Reno, Jimmy Martin, The Stanley Brothers, Vince Gill, Allison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Johnny & Jack, and the Stonemans among others. Martin's fiddle playing had a wonderful tone, great timing, lush chords, and great feeling. Martins's style had considerable swing and jazz influence often with unique usage of double stops and greatly influenced such fiddlers as Michael Cleveland Mark O'Connor, and John Hartford.

The Contenders

13. Byron Berline

    He's a wonder on stage. He brings brilliance from his fiddle effortlessly! He livens the show with comedy. He and the rest of the Byron Berline Band are a great show and a beautiful listening experience. They command your attention and reward your soul.

    Byron Berline is AMAZING! I got to meet him last year in Weiser, Idaho, and he's one of the BEST fiddlers I have ever heard! I took a workshop from him, and he was really nice to autograph the three CDs and the fiddle book I bought from him. He didn't make me feel like a "nobody." I even got my picture taken with him!

14. Mark O'Connor

    He's awesome. In addition to his fiddling, he was a child prodigy on mandolin and flatpicking guitar. In addition to his fiddle world championship titles, he's also won titles on both of those, but he just doesn't play them anymore.

    This guy has the tastiest solos of any man alive. If you really want to see this guy's talent, check out his live performance with Tony Rice and Bela Fleck of "Freeborn Man."

    No one can equal his talent, never mind surpass it. I'm not just talking about fiddle players either. He is the definition of a virtuoso.

15. Tommy Peoples

    Tommy Peoples is one of the greatest Irish fiddle players, if not the greatest. He was also my granddad, but we don't talk about that part (stop reading this).

    The great Tommy Peoples, original player with the Bothy Band? No mention of him on this list!

16. Rufus Thibodeaux

    Hey, what gives? Rufus was only considered to be the "world's greatest Cajun and Texas swing fiddle player ever," and he isn't on your list! Once, when asked, Johnny Gimble named him as the best! He also played with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, not to mention the hundreds of country greats that he did session work for! He played on the famed "Louisiana Hayride" before joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. He played with all the greats, but primarily with Jimmy C. Newman. Later, he joined Neil Young's band, the International Harvesters. That man could play anything! It was during this time that Kenny Sears filled in for him with Newman's band.

    Take it from someone who had the honor and privilege to hear and see him perform live: not one fiddler has ever made a fiddle laugh or cry, literally weep, like the late, great Rufus Thibodeaux!

17. Aubrey Haynie

    Best fiddle player ever! Comes from a great family!

    Saw him at Station Inn in Nashville. Unreal!

18. Hoot Hester

    Best fiddle player ever to live. Self-taught and has the best ear in the business.

    He is my grandpa. He was never out of tune, and he made some awesome songs.

19. Stéphane Grappelli

    What about Stéphane Grappelli? If we're talking about great fiddle players, he learned everything by ear as a gypsy jazz fiddler, and yet even the great classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin was in awe of him.

20. Doug Kershaw

    Saw him in '74, and I never forgot how he made people just want to get up and dance, whether they knew how or not. His music is totally awesome. Love, love him.

    If ever anyone can put heart and soul into music, it's Doug Kershaw. Most amazing fiddle player ever!

    My grandsons grew up dancing around our living room to Doug Kershaw. He is my favorite fiddler!

21. Vassar Clements

    I've had the great privilege of playing guitar 'round the fire with Vassar Clements a couple of times. He'd be up all night, wandering from fire to fire, toting his fiddle and his pipe in one hand and a gorgeous gal, different one every time I saw him, on the other arm.

    The best I ever heard him was one night when Vassar, Alison Krauss, Tony Rice, and a few others 'round the fire did "Jolene" and had many of us, manly men all, in tears. Alison and Tony's voices merged as pretty as I've ever heard that tune, before or since, and I know it would have made Dolly cry too. Vassar did the finest fiddle work I've heard anywhere, and he always seemed so laid-back and casual when he flat tore it up.

    If there's a heaven, he's showing Bob Wills some new licks. Just my $0.02, for what it's worth.

22. Jimmy De Martini

    Jimmy De is the best! Listen to him play the intro to Free by ZBB or Devil Went Down to Georgia and you will agree.

    One of the best, most energetic, and passionate players I have ever seen or heard.

    Underrated. He can play with the best of all time.

23. John "Chank the Fiddler" Jeansonne

    John "Chank the Fiddler" Jeansonne is a force to be reckoned with. When he played "Orange Blossom Special" at my niece's wedding, he got to sawing so hard that the resin literally looked like smoke coming up off the bow. He has a heart of gold, and it shows.

    When this fiddler plays, you do not go to see the singer. You go to see the fiddler! True story!

    Fiddler for the Country Music Group Rascal Flatts from January 2002 to January 6, 2015.

24. Martin Hayes

    Tone, passion, the best, also very humble. See what he has to say about the "lonesome touch"... a term used to describe a person's music. The word "lonesome" expresses a sadness, a blue note, a sour note. Even though the music bears the trace of struggle and of pain, it is also the means of uplift, transcendence to joy and celebration.

    All-Ireland fiddle champion six times. How was he not already on this list? Why is he so good at what he does? He plays from his heart, that's how! Give it a listen, and you too will bump this vote.

25. Tim Passmore

    I just recently heard of Tim. Excellent fiddler! I'm gonna try to look him up and find out where I can hear him.

    He will bring tears to your eyes with any song due to how talented he is!

26. Michael Cleveland

    His performance at the Wenatchee Bluegrass Festival left me and the entire crowd awestruck. I simply cannot see how anyone could play a fiddle better. It was a special night for all of us.

    This guy is the real deal. He's probably lost count of all the awards he's won.

    Bluegrass Fiddle Player of the Year at least 8 times!

27. Jimmy Gyles

    Fantastic fiddler! Charlie Daniels couldn't shine his shoes, but God bless them both.

    I went to school with Jimmy. He was amazing 30 years ago and is even better now. A true artist.

    I haven't heard him in years, but in the '80s, he was super!