Major Franklin was a Texas contest fiddler and the elder of the Franklin fiddling family. He recorded little, but he shaped the Texas style that became the national contest style. The Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame inducted him in 1979, its third year, one year before Benny Thomasson. Four more Franklins followed him into the hall.
Why Franklin matters
Franklin is one of the fiddlers who built the Texas contest sound before anyone recorded it. Larry Franklin, his great-nephew and a three-time Grammy winner, calls Major and his father Louis “seldom recorded but vastly influential” in the style now heard at every contest. Franklin’s few recorded tunes, cut for County Records in 1966, are early documents of the Texas approach, and contest players can still learn his settings of Tom and Jerry and Apple Blossom from them.
Life and career
The Franklin family’s home ground is Whitewright, Texas, north of Dallas, where Larry Franklin grew up. Larry took up the fiddle at age seven in 1960 and names his father Louis and his great-uncle Major as the players who inspired him. The family went on to produce five Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame members: Major (1979), Louis Franklin (1990), Larry Franklin (2002), and Ray and Royce Franklin (2003).
In 1966 County Records released Texas Fiddle Favorites, catalog number 707, with Major Franklin, Lewis Franklin, and Norman Solomon sharing the record. Charles Faurot recorded it and wrote the notes, and Betty Solomon played piano. Major Franklin’s five tracks are Fisher’s Hornpipe, Tom and Jerry, Apple Blossom, Forked Deer, and Durang’s Hornpipe. Lewis Franklin plays Salt River, Blue Eagle, Dill Pickle Rag, Leather Britches, and Cotton Patch Rag on the same record.
Franklin’s setting of Sally Goodin appears in Stacy Phillips’s 1994 book Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1. The Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame at the Fiddlers’ Frolics in Hallettsville inducted him in 1979, after Claude Henson in 1977 and Sleepy Johnson in 1978.
Playing style
Franklin played the Texas contest style: a long, smooth bow, a steady dance pulse, and a set of variations that turns a simple tune into a three-minute study. His tunes on Texas Fiddle Favorites are hornpipes and breakdowns, the core of the Texas contest list, and they show the plain-to-fancy build that judges still score.
Betty Solomon’s piano backs the record, the sound of a Texas fiddle contest before the guitar took over. That setting exposes the fiddle, and Franklin’s tone holds up. Contest champions at Weiser and Nashville still play versions of this style.
Influences and legacy
Franklin played beside Norman Solomon and the Solomon family, his partners on the County record. His nephew Louis Franklin carried the family style, and Louis’s son Larry Franklin took it to Asleep at the Wheel, three Grammy Awards, and Nashville session work. Larry Franklin started the Louis Franklin Championship Fiddlefest in 2005 to honor his father, and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship gave him its Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler Award in 2017.
Beyond the family, Franklin’s tunes reach today’s contest players through recordings and transcriptions. The Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame roll he opened for his family now reads like a map of Texas fiddling: five Franklins, four Solomons, three Rileys, and three Fryers.
Signature tunes and songs
Sally Goodin Sally Johnson Tom and Jerry Apple Blossom Fisher’s Hornpipe Durang’s Hornpipe Forked Deer Dusty Miller.
Essential recordings
Texas Fiddle Favorites, with Lewis Franklin and Norman Solomon (County Records, 1966)
Awards and honors
Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame (1979)
Watch and listen
Franklin plays Sally Johnson, one of the tunes that defines the Texas contest list.
Franklin plays Fisher’s Hornpipe, one of his tracks from the County record.
What to learn from Franklin
Learn Tom and Jerry from the County recording. It is a two-part Texas breakdown that every contest fiddler has to own, and Franklin’s version shows the tune before decades of variations piled on top of it. The technique to steal is his bow length. Play the first pass of the tune with one long bow per note and no slurs, then add the shuffle. Texas style starts from that plain, even bow, and Franklin’s records are the place to hear it.
Sources
Fiddler Hall of Fame, Fiddlers’ Frolics, Texas State Championship Major Franklin, Lewis Franklin, and Norman Solomon, Texas Fiddle Favorites, Discogs Larry Franklin (musician), Wikipedia About, Larry Franklin official site Sally Goodin, Traditional Tune Archive 2017 results, Grand Master Fiddler Championship
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the bluegrass fiddle guide for more Texas fiddlers. Louis Franklin is the next Franklin in the hall of fame. Norman Solomon shares his one record, and Benny Thomasson and Eck Robertson are the other pillars of the Texas style.