Brian Marshall

Texas-Polish danceband fiddler.

The Festival of Texas Fiddling was started in large part to showcase the music of tradition bearer Brian Marshall, who we consider to be one of the most important living traditional musicians in the state. Brian plays a unique, vibrant, and rare tradition of Texas-Polish string band music that stands as one of the most distinctive styles in a state already known for diverse and incredible music. He is also an accomplished and sought-after Cajun and Western Swing fiddler. Brian has been featured at all of the years of the Festival of Texas Fiddling and is the featured Texas-Polish musician in the state at a huge array of dance and culture festivals. He twice was a featured performer at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Washington Brian has recorded several cds of music and he appears on both of the FTF “best of” compilations and on the Traditional Music of Texas: Fiddle Music from the Texas Folklife Archives CD from Texas Folklife which was produced as part of the Festival of Texas Fiddling.

Learn more about Brian Marshall and Texas Polish music:

Polish-Texans.com

Brian Marshall’s site

The following bio is drawn from the Texas Folklife Apprenticeships In The Folk & Traditional Arts for Brian Marshall and his son Michal Marshall:

Growing up in a Polish neighborhood in Houston, Master Artist Brian Marshall remembers the prevalence of fiddle music within his family and the community. As he recalls, “In my house growing up, my uncles, myself, and everyone would get together and pass the fiddle around like a joint in a hippie commune. Everybody would lay on it some. Some played really well, some played kind of scratched around, but they all can play a tune.” Such prevalence of the fiddle in the Polish community led to the often-heard phrase “All Poles Play Fiddle, Some Shouldn’t,” and continues to play a significant role in the community today.

As the leader of the Tex Slavic Playboys, Brian Marshall has been playing Polish style fiddling for years, recording an album for the famous record label Arhoolie under the title Texas Polish Roots. Recording the album, Brian Marshall states, partly arose from a need to provide greater visibility and representation to the Texas Polish community: “I went in thinking that I was going to put something together that represented us as legitimately and positively as I can. That’s what drove me to go to the studio and put something forward, because we didn’t have anything like that up to that point. I felt we just needed better representation.” Texas Polish Roots would be a critical success for Brian Marshall and the Tex Slavic Playboys, earning global recognition and warm responses by those in and outside the Texas Polish community alike.