Jason Carter (born 1973) held the fiddle chair in the Del McCoury Band for 33 years, from 1992 to 2025. He won IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year six times and shared in the band’s nine IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards. In 2025 he left to lead his own band, and his duo album with Michael Cleveland won IBMA Album of the Year that fall.
Why Carter matters
For three decades, the hard-driving fiddle sound of traditional bluegrass had one address: the Del McCoury Band. Carter played the breaks on every McCoury record from 1992 on, and he did it in front of jam band crowds, at Carnegie Hall, and on late night television. Young fiddlers who want to know how a fiddle should sit inside a tight bluegrass band study Carter. He also sings, and his solo records put a baritone voice on the fiddler’s chair.
Life and career
Carter was born on February 1, 1973, in Ashland, Kentucky, and grew up in Greenup County. He started on guitar at age eight and played mandolin as well. He fell for Del McCoury’s music as a boy and talked about joining the band so much that his father pointed out that Del’s sons played banjo and mandolin and Del played guitar. So he picked up the fiddle at 16. During his senior year of high school his mother played I Feel the Blues Moving In in the car every morning.
He graduated from Greenup County High School in 1991 and took a job with the Goins Brothers. Six months later, in February 1992, both bands played the same Nashville festival. McCoury fiddler Tad Marks was not making the move to Nashville with the band and told Carter to ask for the job. Del called a few weeks later, and Carter was the first to try out. He got the chair and kept it for 33 years.
The lineup of Del, Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, Carter, and bassist Mike Bub stayed together for 13 years. Alan Bartram replaced Bub in 2005. The band won IBMA Entertainer of the Year nine times and a Grammy for The Company We Keep in 2006. Carter recorded his first solo album, On the Move, for Rounder in 1997. In 2009 he became a founding member of the Travelin’ McCourys, the same band without Del.
He released Lowdown Hoedown on his own Fiddle Man Records in November 2022, his first solo record in 25 years. Twelve of its 13 tracks are vocals, with guests including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, and Dierks Bentley. In February 2025 he left the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin’ McCourys to lead the Jason Carter Band. Carter & Cleveland, his duo album with Michael Cleveland, came out in March 2025 and won three IBMA awards in September. He married fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes at the Grand Ole Opry House in October 2024.
Playing style
Carter learned his craft on the bus. Del never told him how to play a song. Instead, Del sang melodies to him on overnight drives and Carter played them back until he had them. That method shows in his breaks. He states the melody first, then bends it with blues notes and slides that match Del’s singing.
His tone is big and bright, and his timing locks with the McCoury rhythm section. He uses double stops in the manner of Bobby Hicks, and he has taught that approach in workshops. His singing voice is a rich baritone, and on Lowdown Hoedown he chose to lead with it rather than with the fiddle.
Influences and legacy
Del McCoury shaped him more than any fiddler did. Among fiddlers, Kenny Baker looms over both Carter and Michael Cleveland, and their record includes Baker’s Bluegrass in the Backwoods. He recorded Vassar Clements’s Kissimmee Kid on Lowdown Hoedown and won an IBMA award for it. Bobby Hicks gave him his double stop vocabulary.
He has recorded or toured with Billy Strings, Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, Dierks Bentley, Ricky Skaggs, and Vince Gill. His touring band has included Cody Kilby on guitar. Nashville fiddler Christian Ward took his place in both McCoury bands in 2025.
Signature tunes and songs
Kissimmee Kid Bluegrass in the Backwoods Outrun the Rain King of the Hill Hoedown for My Lowdown Rowdy Ways.
Essential recordings
On the Move (Rounder, 1997) The Company We Keep, with the Del McCoury Band (McCoury Music, 2005) Lowdown Hoedown (Fiddle Man Records, 2022) Carter & Cleveland, with Michael Cleveland (Fiddle Man Records, 2025)
Awards and honors
IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year (1997, 1998, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2023) IBMA Entertainer of the Year, with the Del McCoury Band (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, with the Del McCoury Band (1996, 1997) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, with the Del McCoury Band for The Company We Keep (2006) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year, Everett Lilly & Everybody and Their Brother (2008) Country Music Highway induction, Greenup County, Kentucky (2015) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year, The Barber’s Fiddle (2020) IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, Kissimmee Kid (2023) IBMA Album of the Year, Carter & Cleveland (2025) IBMA Song of the Year and Collaborative Recording of the Year, Outrun the Rain (2025)
Watch and listen
Carter takes the fiddle break on Washington County with the Del McCoury Band. Listen to how he stays inside the melody and lets the rhythm section carry the drive.
Carter teaches the Bobby Hicks double stop and how to move it around the neck.
What to learn from Carter
Learn Kissimmee Kid from Lowdown Hoedown. It is a Vassar Clements tune, and Carter’s version keeps the swing but tightens the timing. The technique to steal is his way of learning a break. Sing the melody of a song first. Then play it back note for note before you add anything. Carter learned hundreds of Del McCoury songs that way on a bus, and it is why his breaks sound like the song instead of like a fiddle exercise.
Sources
Jason Carter, IBMA award recipients Jason Carter leaves Del McCoury and Travelin’ McCourys to focus on solo career, Bluegrass Today Jason Carter talks Lowdown Hoedown, Bluegrass Today Carter & Cleveland, Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, Bluegrass Today Carter and Cleveland steal IBMA Awards spotlight, Bluegrass Today Christian Ward to Del McCoury Band, Travelin’ McCourys, Bluegrass Today The Travelin’ McCourys, Wikipedia Del McCoury Band, Wikipedia Jason Carter (fiddler), Wikipedia The Del McCoury Band, The Company We Keep, Discogs Jason Carter, On the Move, Discogs Jason Carter, Lowdown Hoedown, Discogs Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter, Carter & Cleveland, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more bluegrass fiddlers. Michael Cleveland is his duo partner and the most awarded fiddler in IBMA history. Bobby Hicks and Kenny Baker are his main sources. Bronwyn Keith-Hynes is his wife and a two-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year.