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While any fiddler in Texas can play “Faded Love,” the versions at the Festival of Texas Fiddling, in Blanco, might sound as different as an owl does from a rooster. The styles could be Gulf Coast, Creole, conjunto, Tejano, Zydeco, contest-style, son huasteco, Texas-Polish, Polish-Polish, old-timey, or Western swing.
The fourth annual Festival of Texas Fiddling was held at the Twin Sisters Dance Hall in Blanco over the weekend. The best of Texas’ fiddle players came together, marrying multiple styles, including old time country, Creole and Tejano, to name a few.
Texas fiddle goes back to 1922 and the very first country music recordings, “Arkansas Traveler” and “Sallie Gooden,” duets by Texans “Eck” Robertson and Henry C. Gilliland.
When people think of Texas music, acoustic guitars, cowboy hats and fiddle players in cowboy boots playing on a stage in a dance hall is usually what comes to mind. From country, to Creole and Cajun, to Texas Polish, to Mexican-American, to Western swing to even Gypsy-style music, fiddles have been a key player in the musical stories told by Texans since the start of the state.
The fiddle’s enticing lilt, chop, and shuffle play a prominent role in a wide variety of Texas musical styles, from Western Swing to Tejano, Polish, Creole, and others. The Festival of Texas Fiddling showcases this diversity with a lineup of fiddle performances and workshops November 7 at the La Bahia Turn Verein Dance Hall in Burton.
The Festival of Texas Fiddling is proud to announce the winners of the 2018 Texas Master Fiddler Awards. Two awards were given to master fiddlers who as performers and torchbearers have tirelessly preserved and shared their genres of Texas traditional fiddling.
Need a spark to shake off the post-Thanksgiving, start-of-the-holiday-marathon malaise? Fiddle music could be just the ticket. This Saturday, Dec. 1, The Festival of Texas Fiddling will bring together fiddlers from across the state for a day of performances, dancing, and workshops at the historic Twin Sisters Dancehall in Blanco.
Jose Moreno, or Don Jose as he is known to many, is a keeper of an almost extinct U.S.-Mexico border musical tradition. For decades he was one of the rare musicians to perform border region string band music featuring traditional Mexican and border songs on fiddle, accompanied by bajo sexto, tololoche or upright bass, and, particularly in his earlier days, mandolin.
The festival of Texas Fiddling recently named the winners of the 2018 Texas Master Fiddler Awards and they include Ed Poullard of Beaumont for his accomplishments in the Creole tradition and Jesse Mears of Alvarado for his mastery of classic Texas contest style fiddling.
Texas Folklife and The Festival of Texas Fiddling are proud to announce the winners of the 2017 Texas Master Fiddler Awards. Two awards were given to master fiddlers who have carried on and lovingly preserved their genres of Texas traditional fiddling.
The 3rd Annual Festival of Texas Fiddling is a day-long event featuring showcase concerts, a symposium session, workshops, and tons of dancing at historic Twin Sisters Dance Hall in Blanco, Texas, on Dec. 2, 2017.