John Showman is a Toronto fiddler who won the old-time fiddle contest at Clifftop, West Virginia, in 2011, the first foreign-born man to take it. He has played more than 4,000 shows since turning professional in 1996, across Irish pub sessions, bluegrass bands, a Juno-nominated string quartet, and the Lonesome Ace Stringband he co-leads with banjo player Chris Coole. He grew up on classical violin and did not hear fiddle music until his twenties.
Why Showman matters
Showman proved that a fiddler can win the most respected old-time contest in North America by studying old recordings hard enough, without growing up in the mountains. His path is the one many modern jammers take: classical training, a late conversion, then years of copying source players note for note. He also shows how one fiddler can work in old-time, bluegrass, Irish, and jazz-leaning string band music without watering any of them down.
Life and career
Showman took weekly violin lessons from 1977, in Ottawa and for a time in Paris, and won best overall player at the Ottawa region Kiwanis strings competition in 1982. He studied with Geoffrey Wharton, concertmaster of the Cologne Radio Orchestra, and with Victor Pomer of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and from 1989 to 1991 he attended the Indiana University School of Music.
In 1996 he moved to Montreal and started playing five nights a week in Irish pubs and folk clubs across eastern Canada. That was where he fell for traditional fiddling. In 2001 he helped found the Foggy Hogtown Boys in Toronto, a bluegrass band that made seven albums and has held down the weekend bluegrass brunch at the Dakota Tavern since 2007. In 2002 he co-founded the Creaking Tree String Quartet with mandolinist Andrew Collins, guitarist Brad Keller, and bassist Brian Kobayakawa. The all-instrumental group earned three Juno nominations and won Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2005, 2007, and 2011.
Showman formed the Lonesome Ace Stringband with Chris Coole in 2007 and led the roots rock band New Country Rehab from 2008 to 2016. In August 2011 he won first place in the fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, ahead of Rafe Stefanini. The Lonesome Ace Stringband has since released albums including Old Time (2014), Gone for Evermore (2016), Try to Make It Fly (2024), and Big Wing (2025), and has played MerleFest, RockyGrass, and Celtic Connections. Showman also teaches from his base in Toronto’s Junction neighborhood.
Playing style
Showman built his sound by transcribing old recordings and chasing exact reproduction before adding his own ideas. That gives his old-time playing the rough bow rhythm and drones of the source players, while his left hand keeps the accuracy of his classical training. He has said he worked hard to strip the “symphony” sound out of his tone so it would carry the stomp of a barn dance instead.
In the Lonesome Ace Stringband he plays lead fiddle over Coole’s clawhammer banjo and guitar, often in a duo setting where the fiddle carries both melody and rhythm. His bluegrass work with the Foggy Hogtown Boys is faster and cleaner, with long single-note runs, and his New Country Rehab playing pushed the fiddle into a roots rock setting. Across all of them, the constant is a heavy, driving bow and phrasing that comes from dance music rather than concert music.
Influences and legacy
Showman names Irish players Tommy Peoples, Kevin Burke, and Frankie Gavin, and American fiddlers Vassar Clements, Scotty Stoneman, Kenny Baker, Buddy Thomas, and Eck Robertson as the players he absorbed. Chris Coole has been his closest partner for almost twenty years, and the two have written a growing book of original tunes and songs together. Andrew Collins, his bandmate from the Creaking Tree and the Foggy Hogtown Boys, still guests on Lonesome Ace records.
He has recorded as a sideman with Doug Paisley, Justin Rutledge, Jonathan Byrd, and Corin Raymond, and he has taught at the Nimble Fingers and BC Bluegrass workshops. His Clifftop win put him on a list that includes Bruce Molsky, Erynn Marshall, and Tatiana Hargreaves.
Signature tunes and songs
Old Crow Crowe River Big Wing Lonesome Ace #1 You’ll Be There Casitas Polka.
Essential recordings
Showman (2009) Sundogs, Creaking Tree String Quartet (2010) Old Time, Lonesome Ace Stringband (2014) Try to Make It Fly, Lonesome Ace Stringband (2024) Big Wing, Lonesome Ace Stringband (2025)
Awards and honors
Clifftop Appalachian String Band Music Festival fiddle contest, first place (2011) Canadian Folk Music Award, Instrumental Group of the Year, Creaking Tree String Quartet for Sundogs (2011) Juno Award nominations, Roots and Traditional Album and Instrumental Album, Sundogs (2011) Juno Award nomination, Instrumental Album, The Soundtrack (2009) Central Canadian Bluegrass Music Award, Band of the Year, Foggy Hogtown Boys (2008) Central Canadian Bluegrass Music Award, Fiddle Player of the Year (2006, 2007) Canadian Folk Music Awards, Instrumental Group and Pushing the Boundaries, The Soundtrack (2007) Indie Acoustic Project Award, Instrumental Song of the Year, Old Crow (2005) Canadian Folk Music Award, Pushing the Boundaries, Side Two (2005) Juno Award nomination, Roots and Traditional Album, Creaking Tree String Quartet (2004)
Watch and listen
Showman and Chris Coole play their song You’ll Be There from Try to Make It Fly. Listen to how the fiddle and banjo share the rhythm in a two-piece band.
Showman plays Ragtime Annie with Tom Power on guitar. This is the contest side of his playing, a straight fiddle tune with guitar backup.
What to learn from Showman
Learn Ragtime Annie the way Showman plays it with Tom Power, then compare it with an old recording of the tune and note every difference. That is his method, and it works. The technique to steal is his approach to tone. If you came up on classical violin, try what he did: shorten the bow, play closer to the bridge, let the open strings ring under the melody, and stop worrying about a clean attack. The goal is the sound of a barn floor, not a concert hall.
Sources
John Showman official site Appalachian String Band Music Festival 2011 contest winners, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History (PDF) Appalachian String Band Music Festival, West Virginia Culture Center Creaking Tree String Quartet, Wikipedia Big Wing, Lonesome Ace String Band, Bluegrass Today Try to Make It Fly, The Lonesome Ace Stringband, Bluegrass Today Canadian Folk Music Awards award archive
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more old-time and bluegrass fiddlers. Showman studied Vassar Clements, Scotty Stoneman, and Kenny Baker. Other Clifftop fiddle champions on this site include Bruce Molsky, Erynn Marshall, and Andrew Small.