Howdy Forrester (1922 to 1987), Big Howdy, played with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the early 1940s and spent 36 years, from 1951 to 1987, with Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys. He wrote Memory Waltz, a tune contest fiddlers still play. The National Fiddler Hall of Fame inducted him in 2015.
Why Forrester matters
Forrester was the bridge between Texas contest fiddling and Nashville. He learned the smooth, note-filled Texas approach in Dallas beside Georgia Slim Rutland, then carried it back to the Opry. His twin fiddle records with Rutland and his 1962 solo album put tunes like Rutland’s Reel, Brilliancy, and Say Old Man in front of a generation of fiddlers. When a bluegrass fiddler plays a clean, sustained hornpipe with low-string double stops, some of that comes from Howdy.
Life and career
Howard Wilson Forrester was born on March 31, 1922, near Vernon in Hickman County, Tennessee. His father, grandfather, and an uncle all played fiddle. At age eleven Howard caught rheumatic fever, and he learned the fiddle during the long recovery. He and his brothers played square dances, and the family moved to Nashville.
In 1938 he joined the Vagabonds, then Herald Goodman’s Tennessee Valley Boys, where Goodman named him Big Howdy. In the early 1940s Forrester joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. His wife, Billie “Sally Ann” Forrester, played accordion in Monroe’s band from 1943 to 1945 while Howdy served in the Navy.
After his discharge in 1946 he moved to Dallas and played twin fiddles with Robert “Georgia Slim” Rutland on the Texas Roundup show on KRLD. He returned to Nashville, worked with Cowboy Copas, and in 1951 became a full-time member of Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys. He stayed with Acuff for the rest of his life. He recorded with Flatt and Scruggs in the early 1950s and joined the Acuff-Rose Artists Corporation in 1964.
MGM released his solo album Fancy Fiddlin’ Country Style in 1962. United Artists followed with Big Howdy Fiddlin’ Country Style in 1963. A 1969 Kanawha album with Rutland, Twin Fiddling Country Style, captured the Dallas twin fiddle sound, and he cut a run of albums for Stoneway in the 1970s. Forrester died on August 1, 1987, in Nashville at age 65.
Playing style
Forrester played the Texas or show fiddle style: long, connected bow strokes, full tone, and melodies dressed with slides and double stops. The National Fiddler Hall of Fame bio calls him “the Fritz Kreisler of country fiddlers” for his elegant tone.
His hornpipes are the clearest window into the style. On High Level Hornpipe he plays the tune straight the first time, then adds runs and low-string harmony on later passes. His twin fiddle parts with Rutland sit in close harmony.
In 2016 Spring Fed Records released Home Made Sugar and a Puncheon Floor, a set of home recordings of Hickman County tunes with John Hartford on banjo. It shows the plain old-time fiddling under the show style, with Forrester talking about where he learned each tune.
Influences and legacy
Forrester learned from his family and from the fiddlers of Hickman County. He named Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith as a source for tunes like Twinkle Little Star. Georgia Slim Rutland shaped his Texas-style bowing in Dallas.
He recorded with Roy Acuff, Rutland, Kenny Baker, Chubby Wise, and Flatt and Scruggs, and played more than 38 years on the Grand Ole Opry. Forrester’s waltz compositions live on in contest final rounds, and Memory Waltz remains a favorite in Grand Champion divisions. A book, Fiddler of the Opry: The Howdy Forrester Story, tells his life in full.
Signature tunes and songs
Memory Waltz Rutland’s Reel Doc Harris Hornpipe High Level Hornpipe Brilliancy Sally Goodin Cruel Willie.
Essential recordings
Fancy Fiddlin’ Country Style (MGM, 1962) Big Howdy Fiddlin’ Country Style (United Artists, 1963) Twin Fiddling Country Style, with Georgia Slim Rutland (Kanawha, 1969) The MGM Recordings (Spring Fed Records, 2009) Home Made Sugar and a Puncheon Floor, with John Hartford (Spring Fed Records, 2016)
Awards and honors
National Fiddler Hall of Fame (2015)
Watch and listen
Forrester plays High Level Hornpipe from his 1962 MGM album. Listen for the long bow strokes and the low-string double stops on the second pass.
Here he plays Cruel Willie, one of the tunes from the same record. Notice how he keeps the melody clean at speed.
What to learn from Forrester
Learn Memory Waltz. It is a contest waltz that works in a jam, and it teaches you to hold a long note with a full bow and to slide into double stops without rushing. The technique to steal is his hornpipe bowing. Take High Level Hornpipe at half speed and play each phrase with one connected bow stroke per group of notes instead of a stroke per note. Then add his low-string harmony on the repeat. That is the Texas long bow approach, and it will smooth out any tune you play.
Sources
Howdy Forrester, National Fiddler Hall of Fame 2019 National Fiddler Hall of Fame inductions, Bluegrass Today Howdy Forrester, Wikipedia Howdy Forrester, Discogs Howdy Forrester, Fancy Fiddlin’ Country Style, Discogs Big Howdy Forrester, Big Howdy Fiddlin’ Country Style, Discogs Georgia Slim Rutland and Big Howdy Forrester, Twin Fiddling Country Style, Discogs Howard “Howdy” Forrester, The MGM Recordings, Discogs Howard “Howdy” Forrester and John Hartford, Home Made Sugar and a Puncheon Floor, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more players. Forrester followed Tommy Magness into Roy Acuff’s band and played the Opry beside Roy Acuff for 36 years. He recorded with Kenny Baker and Chubby Wise, two other Monroe alumni. Benny Martin and Gordon Terry worked the same Nashville stages in the 1950s.