Calvin Vollrath (born 1960) is Canada’s most prolific fiddle composer. The Alberta fiddler has written about 700 tunes and released more than 70 albums since 1982. He won the Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship twice, and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics commissioned five of his tunes for the opening ceremony. The Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Why Vollrath matters
Most fiddlers play tunes. Vollrath writes them, and his tunes have entered the Canadian repertoire the way Don Messer’s did a generation earlier. He also taught or mentored many of the players who now win the Canadian Grand Masters, so his influence runs through both the tunes and the people playing them.
Life and career
Vollrath was born on May 16, 1960, and grew up in the Edmonton area of Alberta. His father, Art “Lefty” Vollrath, was raised near Barrhead, Alberta, came from a family of five fiddling brothers, and built his own reputation as a fiddler around Edmonton. He got his first fiddle at age eight and grew up listening to Don Messer’s Jubilee. He entered his first contest at 13 and started winning championship classes at 17.
He released his first album, The Reel Thing, in 1982. In 1982 he joined the Clearwater Band, which played swing, jazz, and country, and in 1983 he joined Edmonton country singer Danny Hooper’s band. He won the Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship in 1985. In 1988 he joined the Jess Lee Band, moved to Vancouver, and played the Stanley Cup Finals for the Edmonton Oilers, the first fiddler to play at an NHL game.
He won the Grand North American title a second time in 1998, the same year he moved to St. Paul, Alberta, and opened his own studio. He has taught at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Camp since 1996 and founded Camp Calvin in northeast Alberta in 2007.
In 2010 the Vancouver Winter Olympics commissioned him to compose five fiddle tunes for the opening ceremony, each representing a Canadian fiddle style, and he performed them at the event. He released his 76th album, Collaborations, a double CD with 27 fiddlers and musicians from Canada and the United States, in October 2025.
Playing style
Vollrath is a composer first, and it shows in how he plays. His tunes have clear melodic hooks and phrases that resolve where a listener expects. Some are jazz-like, with swing rhythm and passing chords. Others draw on Métis, French Canadian, Scottish, and Irish sources, and some borrow from contemporary pop.
His technique serves the tune. He plays with a smooth, singing tone in waltzes and a crisp, danceable bounce in jigs and reels. On stage he plays with a visible enthusiasm that audiences and other fiddlers remark on.
Influences and legacy
Vollrath’s first influence was his father, Lefty Vollrath. Don Messer’s radio and television shows gave him the Canadian old-time repertoire. Years in swing and country bands gave him the jazz side of his playing. He has performed with John Arcand, the Master of the Métis Fiddle, and recorded with Ian Tyson, George Fox, Colleen Peterson, and Laura Vinson. He recorded Air Mail Special with Nashville fiddler Buddy Spicher in 2005.
His students and mentees include April Verch, Patti Kusturok, and Samantha Robichaud. He has taught workshops across North America and Europe, and his online workshop series brings in guest teachers such as Mark Sullivan.
Signature tunes and songs
The Great Canadian Reel Canada’s 150th Birthday Party Jig The Canadian Military March Maritime Fiddle Festival 60th Anniversary Jig.
Essential recordings
The Reel Thing (1982) Air Mail Special, with Buddy Spicher (2005) Fiddle Nation (2011) Special Delivery (2021) Collaborations (2025)
Awards and honors
Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Champion (1985, 1998) Alberta Country Music Awards Instrumentalist of the Year (1993) Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association Lifetime Achievement Award and Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour (2005) Lifetime Achievement Award, Alberta Men of Country Music (2007) Bev Munro Award, Canadian Country Music Legends (2009) Composer and performer of five tunes for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony North American Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame (2011) Name dedicated on the St. Paul, Alberta welcome signs (2016) Country Music Alberta Hall of Fame (2023)
Watch and listen
Vollrath plays a Big John McNeil medley with Clinton Pelletier. Listen for the clean bounce in the reels.
Vollrath leads the finale at his 2015 Spring Fling.
What to learn from Vollrath
Learn one of his waltzes. His waltz melodies teach how a tune can move through a chord change and still feel simple, and they are what Canadian contest judges expect to hear in the waltz round. The technique to steal is his approach to writing. Take a tune you know, keep its first phrase, and write a new answer phrase for it. Vollrath built 700 tunes on that habit. Even one original tune gives you something no other fiddler at the jam can play.
Sources
Calvin Vollrath, Wikipedia Biography, calvinvollrath.com Awards, calvinvollrath.com Discography, calvinvollrath.com Compositions, calvinvollrath.com Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour, Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association Buddy Spicher to be saluted, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more Canadian fiddlers. Vollrath mentored April Verch and Patti Kusturok and has performed with John Arcand. His Nashville recording partner Buddy Spicher has his own page. For the roots of his repertoire, start with Don Messer.