Buddy Spicher (born 1938) is the fiddler on more Nashville records than almost anyone alive. He cut his first Nashville session in 1958 and has worked with more than 40 major artists, from Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan. His double stops and twin fiddle harmonies became the house sound of country records for decades. The National Fiddler Hall of Fame inducted him in 2010.
Why Spicher matters
When a bluegrass or country fiddler plays a harmony line under a melody, or fills a double stop under a vocal, they are using a language Spicher helped write. He learned double stops as a teenager, brought them to Nashville, and put them on thousands of records. He could play bluegrass, western swing, jazz, and straight country in the same afternoon, and that range set the bar for every session fiddler who followed.
Life and career
Spicher was born Norman Keith Spicher on July 28, 1938, on a farm near DuBois, Pennsylvania. He started fiddle at 13. At about 14 he met Clarence “Tater” Tate in Wheeling, West Virginia. Tate played double stops, and Spicher set out to learn them. At 16 he made his professional debut with Dusty Owens on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling.
He moved to Nashville in 1957 after Audrey Williams, Hank Williams’s widow, heard him play. He made his first Nashville recording session in 1958. In the early 1960s he recorded more than 30 sessions with Bill Monroe. He toured for several years as the fiddler in Ray Price’s Cherokee Cowboys.
In the late 1960s Spicher joined Area Code 615, a band of Nashville studio players. Their 1970 album Trip in the Country was a Grammy finalist. In the 1980s he played in the Superpickers, a country and jazz band with steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, drummer Buddy Harman, bassist Henry Strzelecki, pianist Willie Rainsford, and harmonica player Terry McMillan.
Spicher taught at Belmont University until December 2016 and teaches at fiddle camps. He runs the Fiddle House studio in East Nashville, plays with the Nashville Swing Band, and hosts a monthly jam session at the Fiddle House.
Playing style
Spicher’s signature is the double stop, two strings bowed at once to make a harmony line inside a single fiddle. He uses them in slow country ballads to fill space under a singer, and in twin fiddle work to lock in a harmony part with a second fiddler. He has recorded twin fiddle parts with Chubby Wise, Johnny Gimble, and Vassar Clements.
His tone is smooth and centered, built for a microphone rather than a contest stage. He plays in tune in every register and stays out of the singer’s way. In swing settings he phrases behind the beat like a horn player. In bluegrass settings he plays straight and drives. With Area Code 615 he played fiddle, violin, and cello.
Influences and legacy
Tater Tate gave Spicher his double stops. Bill Monroe gave him bluegrass timing across dozens of sessions. His twin fiddle partners, Chubby Wise, Johnny Gimble, and Vassar Clements, shaped his sense of harmony.
Spicher has mentored a long line of Nashville fiddlers, including Billy Contreras, Maggie Estes, Lisa Silver, Dennis Stroughmatt, and Wanda Vick. He has recorded with Mark O’Connor and Michael Cleveland, and with Canadian fiddler Calvin Vollrath on the album Air Mail Special.
Signature tunes and songs
Goin’ Up Dry Branch Thank God I’m a Country Boy Southern Flavor Sally Goodin.
Essential recordings
Trip in the Country, Area Code 615 (1970) Nashville Jam, with Vassar Clements, Doug Jernigan, and Jesse McReynolds (1979) Air Mail Special, with Calvin Vollrath (2005) Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute to John Denver, Special Consensus (2014)
Awards and honors
Grammy nomination, Best Country Instrumental Performance, Nashville Jam with Vassar Clements, Doug Jernigan, and Jesse McReynolds (1980) CMA Instrumentalist of the Year nominations (1983, 1985) Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Nashville Cats honoree, the first fiddler in the series (2008) National Fiddler Hall of Fame (2010) IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, Goin’ Up Dry Branch with Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper (2011) IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, Thank God I’m a Country Boy with Special Consensus (2014) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year, Southern Flavor with Becky Buller (2015)
Watch and listen
Spicher plays with friends at a National Fiddler Hall of Fame event. Listen for the double stops under the melody.
Spicher and Mark O’Connor play Sadness and Darlin’ Waltz as a twin fiddle pair.
What to learn from Spicher
Learn a slow waltz and play it with double stops from start to finish. Find the third or sixth below each melody note and hold both strings. That is the Spicher sound. The technique to steal is his backup. Listen to him on a Ray Price or Bill Monroe record and notice how little he plays behind the vocal. Long held double stops, no fills on the words, and one short lick in the gap. Fiddlers who play less behind singers get asked back.
Sources
Buddy Spicher, Wikipedia Buddy Spicher to be saluted, Bluegrass Today Buddy Spicher, IBMA award recipients Buddy Spicher, Grammy Awards Area Code 615, Barefoot Jerry Calvin Vollrath discography
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more session and bluegrass fiddlers. Spicher’s twin fiddle partners Chubby Wise, Johnny Gimble, and Vassar Clements each have pages here. Dale Potter and Tommy Jackson built the Nashville session sound before him, and Aubrey Haynie and Stuart Duncan carry it on.