Karrnnel Sawitsky is a Saskatchewan fiddler who grew up on stage in his family band and became one of the founding members of the Fretless, the Canadian string quartet that won a Juno Award in 2017. He describes himself as the most successful competition fiddler in Saskatchewan’s history, and he has written more than 300 tunes. He also plays in the fiddle and clawhammer banjo duo Fiddle and Banjo with Daniel Koulack.
Why Sawitsky matters
Most fiddle bands add guitar, bass, and drums. The Fretless added a second fiddle, a viola, and a cello, and turned fiddle tunes into chamber music with a percussive chop. Sawitsky is one of the founding members and holds one of its fiddle chairs. For a jammer, his work shows how far a fiddle tune can stretch when the arrangement is built from strings alone.
Life and career
Sawitsky started performing at age four with the Sawitsky Family Fiddlers. The band was his father Orest on accordion and his sisters Kimberly and Kanndece on fiddle, and it toured across North America. He came up through the Saskatchewan contest circuit and won enough titles to claim the provincial record. He released his first solo album, Karrnnel, in 2009, and the duo album Fiddle and Banjo with Daniel Koulack in 2010. A second duo record, Tunes from the North, Songs from the South, came out in 2015.
In late 2011 he and three friends formed the Fretless. The band’s first album, Waterbound (2012), won Instrumental Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and Instrumental Group of the Year and Ensemble of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. The Fretless followed in 2014, and the band’s third album, Bird’s Nest, won the Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year in 2017. Live from the Art Farm (2018), recorded in a barn in upstate New York, earned a second Juno nomination in 2019. Open House (2021), a set of collaborations with guest singers, was nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at the 2022 Junos. The band’s sixth album, Glasswing, came out in September 2024 on Birthday Cake Records.
Sawitsky released two solo records in 2018, Crazy Old Man and SKMB. Since 2010 he has written full orchestrations of his own tunes, and in November 2025 the Fretless performed with the Calgary Youth Orchestra. He also works on the business side of folk music. He joined the board of Folk Music Canada in 2010 and in 2020 became its executive director to guide its merger with Folk Music Ontario into a new body, Folk Canada.
Playing style
Sawitsky plays in the Canadian old-time tradition that runs through Saskatchewan contests: clean melody, strong dance rhythm, and a bright tone. In the Fretless he switches between lead fiddle and viola, and much of his job is rhythm. The band’s sound depends on the chop, a percussive bow stroke that turns a fiddle into a snare drum, and on tight harmony lines where two fiddles and a viola stack up under the melody.
Influences and legacy
Sawitsky’s first teachers were his family. His sisters played fiddle beside him for years before he went solo, and the family band gave him the stage habits he still uses. In the Fretless he works beside Trent Freeman and Ben Plotnick on fiddle and viola and Eric Wright on cello. Since 2009 he has played school workshops on old-time music and dance for more than 10,000 students across North America, and he built a program that helps students write and record a song of their own.
Signature tunes and songs
Purple Beads Crazy Old Man Waving to Ryan Lost Lake On the Hook.
Essential recordings
Karrnnel (2009) Fiddle and Banjo, with Daniel Koulack (2010) Bird’s Nest, The Fretless (2017 Juno winner) Live from the Art Farm, The Fretless (2018) Glasswing, The Fretless (Birthday Cake Records, 2024)
Awards and honors
Western Canadian Music Award, Instrumental Album of the Year, Waterbound, The Fretless (2012) Canadian Folk Music Awards, Instrumental Group of the Year and Ensemble of the Year, Waterbound, The Fretless (2012) Canadian Folk Music Award, Ensemble of the Year, The Fretless (2014) Juno Award, Instrumental Album of the Year, Bird’s Nest, The Fretless (2017) Canadian Folk Music Award, Ensemble of the Year, Live from the Art Farm, The Fretless (2018) Juno Award nomination, Instrumental Album of the Year, Live from the Art Farm, The Fretless (2019) Juno Award nomination, Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, Open House, The Fretless (2022)
Watch and listen
Sawitsky plays his tune Purple Beads solo. You can hear the contest fiddler under the composer.
What to learn from Sawitsky
Learn Waving to Ryan from the Fretless record and try to play both fiddle parts, melody and harmony. The technique to steal is the chop. Turn the bow so the hair bites the string near the frog, drop it on beats two and four, and lift before it rings. Once you can chop through a whole tune without losing the pulse, you can back up a jam with no guitar player in sight.
Sources
Karrnnel official site, biography and discography The Fretless, biography The Fretless official site The Fretless, Juno Awards artist profile Canadian Folk Music Awards award archive Fiddle and Banjo official site
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more Canadian fiddlers. Sawitsky’s bandmates Trent Freeman and Ben Plotnick have their own pages. For the Saskatchewan tradition he came up in, see John Arcand, and for the chop he uses in the Fretless, see Casey Driessen.