Christian Sedelmyer is a Nashville fiddler who has held the fiddle chair in the Jerry Douglas Band since 2014. He is half of the fiddle duo 10 String Symphony with Rachel Baiman, and he leads his own string band projects. He shares an IBMA award for the 2018 recording of Squirrel Hunters, and he played on two Grammy nominated Jerry Douglas Band albums and on Grammy winning albums by Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle.
Why Sedelmyer matters
Sedelmyer is the fiddler you hear when a bluegrass record moves toward chamber music. He plays five-string fiddle, he writes, and he arranges strings. In the Jerry Douglas Band he plays melody, harmony, and texture in the same song. Fiddlers who want a road beyond the standard bluegrass break can study how he does that.
Life and career
Sedelmyer grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. He learned violin through the Suzuki method as a child and played in his father’s folk rock band. He went to Wake Forest University in North Carolina and moved to Nashville in 2008.
His first Nashville band was the Farewell Drifters, from 2009 to 2011. He played fiddle and sang on their 2010 album Yellow Tag Mondays. In 2012 he and Rachel Baiman started 10 String Symphony, a duo built on five-string fiddles and two voices. The duo released a self-titled album, then Weight of the World on October 23, 2015, and Generation Frustration in 2018.
In 2014 Jerry Douglas hired him for the Jerry Douglas Band. The band’s 2017 album What If earned a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 2018 ceremony. In 2018 Sedelmyer, Baiman, and Alison Brown joined Special Consensus on Squirrel Hunters, from the album Rivers and Roads. The IBMA credits the track to Special Consensus with John Hartford, Rachel Baiman, Christian Sedelmyer, and Alison Brown. The track won the IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year. In 2019 he played violin and viola on Billy Strings’ Home, which won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
He released his first solo album, Ravine Palace, on June 5, 2020. It holds 13 original tunes, recorded and mixed in three days at the Butcher Shoppe in Nashville with Andrew Marlin on mandolin, Eli West on guitar, and Clint Mullican on bass. Jerry Douglas guests on Deacon Waltz. In 2021 he played on Leftover Feelings by John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band, nominated for Best Americana Album at the 2022 Grammys. He played fiddle, strings, and vocals on Molly Tuttle’s 2022 album Crooked Tree, which won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
In 2024 he played on Jerry Douglas’s album The Set and released Wild Rose of Morning, a live trio record of nine traditional songs with Jordan Tice and Andrew Marlin. He is also a founding member of the Ringers, a band Douglas put together.
Playing style
Sedelmyer plays a five-string fiddle, which adds a low C string under the standard four. That lets him drop into viola range for chords and counter lines without switching instruments. In 10 String Symphony the two five-strings cover bass, chords, and melody between them.
His playing is clean and composed. He favors long, sustained lines and slow-building double stops over fast bluegrass licks. He writes tunes with cinematic shapes, and his solos follow the same logic: a phrase, a variation, a climb, a release. On The Set, Bluegrass Today lists him as both violinist and vocalist.
Influences and legacy
Sedelmyer came up on Suzuki violin and folk rock, then learned bluegrass in Nashville. Jerry Douglas is his longest musical partner, and Rachel Baiman is his duo partner. He has recorded with Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, and Jordan Tice. Alison Brown and Special Consensus share his IBMA award. In the wider fiddle world, his chamber-style approach sits near Brittany Haas and Darol Anger, and his session work overlaps with Stuart Duncan and Aubrey Haynie.
Signature tunes and songs
Pushin’ Through Deacon Waltz Warm Reception Squirrel Hunters.
Essential recordings
Weight of the World, 10 String Symphony (2015) What If, The Jerry Douglas Band (2017) Rivers and Roads, Special Consensus (2018) Ravine Palace (2020) Wild Rose of Morning, with Jordan Tice and Andrew Marlin (2024)
Awards and honors
Grammy nomination, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, What If, The Jerry Douglas Band (2018 ceremony) IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, Squirrel Hunters, Special Consensus with John Hartford, Rachel Baiman, Christian Sedelmyer, and Alison Brown (2018) Grammy nomination, Best Americana Album, Leftover Feelings, John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band (2022 ceremony)
Watch and listen
The official video for Pushin’ Through from Ravine Palace. Watch how the tune builds from a single line to a full string band.
10 String Symphony plays Weight of the World. Two five-string fiddles cover the whole arrangement.
What to learn from Sedelmyer
Learn Deacon Waltz from Ravine Palace. It is a slow waltz with a clear melody, and it teaches you to hold a long note in tune while the chords move under it. The technique to steal is his low-register double stop. Even on a four-string fiddle, play the melody on the D string and add the G string below it as a drone or a moving line. That gives a jam waltz the viola-like weight he gets from his fifth string.
Sources
About, Christian Sedelmyer Credits, Christian Sedelmyer Projects, Christian Sedelmyer Ravine Palace, Christian Sedelmyer, Bandcamp Christian Sedelmyer, IBMA award recipients Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, Wikipedia Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, Wikipedia The Set, Jerry Douglas, Bluegrass Today 10 String Symphony, Bandcamp
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more working bluegrass fiddlers. Brittany Haas and Darol Anger work the same chamber string band ground. Stuart Duncan and Aubrey Haynie hold the Nashville session chairs beside him.