Benny Thomasson (1909 to 1984) was the father of modern Texas-style contest fiddling. He won the Texas State Championship 15 times, took three straight world championships from 1955 to 1957, and won the Grand National Championship at Weiser, Idaho, in 1974 at age 65. He taught Mark O’Connor, and the variation-rich style he built is the one every contest fiddler plays today.
Why Thomasson matters
Before Thomasson, a fiddler played a tune through and moved on. Thomasson worked out how to play Sally Goodin for four minutes without repeating himself and without losing the tune. He called it controlled improvisation. Every part got a new variation, the bow stayed long and smooth, and the melody never got lost. That approach became the rulebook for Weiser, the Grand Master championship, and every Texas contest. When you hear a contest fiddler play the fourth variation of a breakdown, you are hearing Thomasson.
Life and career
Benny Thomasson was born on April 22, 1909, in Winters, Texas, and grew up in Gatesville, one of 10 children. His father, Lewis Thomasson, played fiddle and wrote the waltz Midnight on the Water. His uncle Ed Thomasson played too. Eck Robertson and Lefty Franklin were family friends, and the Thomasson boys learned from both. Benny started fiddling at age five.
He entered his first contest in the late 1920s at age 19 and placed near 60th. That loss changed him. He decided the old tunes needed to be rounded out and smoothed up, and he spent the next decades doing it. He married Beatrice Hollander in Taos, New Mexico, in 1928. He worked most of his life as an auto body mechanic in Dallas and fiddled on the side.
The trophies came over the next decades. He won the Texas State Championship 15 times. At the World Championship Fiddlers’ Festival he won three years running in 1955, 1956, and 1957, the first fiddler to do so. County Records put six of his tunes on Texas Hoedown in 1965 beside Bartow Riley and Vernon Solomon, then gave him a full album, Country Fiddling from the Big State, in 1970.
In the early 1970s the Thomassons moved to Washington state to be near their son Dale. The Pacific Northwest contest scene took him in. In 1974 he won both the Senior and the Grand National championships at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser. He won the Senior division again in 1975, 1979, and 1980. Voyager Recordings in Seattle taped him with Jerry Thomasson on A Jam Session with Benny and Jerry Thomasson and The Weiser Reunion. In 1976 he played a fiddle teacher in the film Stay Hungry with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeff Bridges, and Sally Field. Byron Berline, who provided music for the film, suggested him for the part. He died in Ellis County, Texas, in January 1984 at age 74.
Playing style
Thomasson’s bow is the first thing to notice. He used long, smooth strokes that let several notes ride on one bow. That gave the tunes a rolling, unhurried feel even at contest speed. The Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame cites his smooth bowing as the mark of his playing.
The second thing is the variations. Thomasson took a two-part tune and built four, five, or six versions of each part, moving up the neck, adding double stops, and changing the rhythm while the melody stayed in earshot. He practiced these variations until they were fixed, so his improvisation was planned. That is what he meant by controlled improvisation. His versions of Sally Goodin, Dusty Miller, Tom and Jerry, and Black Mountain Rag are still the versions contest fiddlers study.
Influences and legacy
Thomasson learned from his father, his uncle Ed, Eck Robertson, and Lefty Franklin. His longtime contest rival was Norman Solomon. He recorded beside Vernon Solomon, and played with Dick Barrett in the Weiser years.
His most famous student is Mark O’Connor, who says he began at Thomasson’s feet and later put Thomasson on his album Heroes. Every Texas-style contest fiddler since, from Terry Morris to the modern Weiser champions, plays variations that trace back to him. Matt Glaser wrote a study of his controlled improvisation at Tufts University in 1992.
Signature tunes and songs
Sally Goodin Midnight on the Water Dusty Miller Tom and Jerry Black Mountain Rag Jack of Diamonds Bumblebee in the Gourdvine.
Essential recordings
Texas Hoedown, with Bartow Riley and Vernon Solomon (County, 1965) Country Fiddling from the Big State (County, 1970) A Jam Session with Benny and Jerry Thomasson (Voyager, 1973) Say Old Man, Can You Play the Fiddle (Voyager, recorded 1974) Legendary Texas Fiddler (County, 2005)
Awards and honors
Texas State Championship (15 wins) World Championship Fiddlers’ Festival (1955, 1956, 1957) National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Grand National Champion (1974) National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Senior Champion (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980) Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame (1980)
Watch and listen
Thomasson plays his father’s waltz, Midnight on the Water. Listen to how much of the bow he uses on each note.
Thomasson and Dick Barrett play Sally Johnson. Count the variations.
What to learn from Thomasson
Learn Midnight on the Water. It is a slow waltz with no place to hide, and it teaches the long Texas bow better than any breakdown. The technique to steal is his variation method. Take Sally Goodin, learn the plain tune, then write one variation for the A part and one for the B part. Play them in order: plain, variation, plain, variation. Add a third set next month. That is how Thomasson built a four-minute contest tune, and it is how you stop playing the same break twice in a jam.
Sources
Benny Thomasson, Wikipedia Champions, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, University of Idaho Library Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame, Fiddlers’ Frolics Bio, Mark O’Connor Bartow Riley, Vernon Solomon, Benny Thomasson, Texas Hoedown, Discogs Benny Thomasson, Country Fiddling from the Big State, Discogs Benny Thomasson, Legendary Texas Fiddler, Discogs Benny Thomasson, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more. Thomasson learned from Eck Robertson and taught Mark O’Connor. Dick Barrett and Herman Johnson ruled Weiser in the same years, and Terry Morris carried his Texas variations into the next generation.