Orville Burns was a Texas-style contest fiddler and a member of the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame, inducted at the Fiddlers’ Frolics in Hallettsville in 1987. He competed at Hallettsville and at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser, Idaho, into the 1990s. Oklahoma champion Greg Burgess names him beside Herman Johnson, Dick Barrett, and Byron Berline as a player who shaped his sound.
Why Burns matters
Burns belongs to the generation of Texas and Oklahoma contest fiddlers who set the style that Weiser and the Grand Master championship still judge by. His public record is thin, but archivists have posted video of him playing the standards: Sally Goodin, Fort Smith, Sally Johnson, and 49 Cats in a Rain Barrel. For a picker learning contest style, he is a source player worth hearing.
Life and career
Little about Burns’s life has been published, and this page sticks to what can be checked. The Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame at the Fiddlers’ Frolics in Hallettsville inducted him in 1987. Its roll for the years around him reads like a map of Texas contest fiddling: Benny Thomasson in 1980, Eck Robertson in 1983, Terry Morris in 1989, and Louis Franklin in 1990.
Video from his induction shows him playing Fort Smith and Sally Goodin at Hallettsville, and he was filmed there again in 1994. In 1997 he competed in the Senior-Senior division at Weiser. He also played with John Hartford, in a set that survives on video. Bluegrass Today’s coverage of the 2019 Oklahoma State Fiddling and Picking Contest lists Burns among the fiddlers who shaped Oklahoma champion Greg Burgess, alongside Clark Forshee, Amos Hedrick, Ace Sewell, Russell O’Neal, Herman Johnson, Dick Barrett, Merle David, and Byron Berline.
Playing style
Burns played Texas contest style, the school that the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame exists to honor. That style takes a standard tune at a relaxed tempo, uses long bow strokes and smooth string crossings, and builds each pass through the tune with a new variation. The tunes on his surviving videos, Sally Goodin, Fort Smith, and Sally Johnson, are the core of that contest repertoire. Watch the videos below and listen for how the variations stack up.
Influences and legacy
Burns’s teachers are not documented. He shares the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame roll with Benny Thomasson, Major Franklin, Vernon Solomon, and Terry Morris. In Oklahoma, Greg Burgess names him with Herman Johnson, Dick Barrett, and Byron Berline as an influence. The Fiddle Legacy Foundation and other archivists have posted his contest performances online, which is where most players will meet him today.
Signature tunes and songs
Sally Goodin Fort Smith Sally Johnson 49 Cats in a Rain Barrel.
Awards and honors
Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame (1987)
Watch and listen
Burns plays Fort Smith and Sally Goodin at his 1987 Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame induction. Count the variations in Sally Goodin.
Burns competes in the Senior-Senior division at Weiser in 1997, in footage posted by the Fiddle Legacy Foundation.
What to learn from Burns
Learn Sally Goodin from the induction video. Play the plain tune first, then add one variation at a time. The technique to steal is pacing. Texas style is not about speed. Keep the tempo steady, let the bow travel, and make each variation a little busier than the last. That is the shape of a contest round, and Burns’s induction set is a compact example of it.
Sources
Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame, Fiddlers’ Frolics 2019 Oklahoma State Fiddling and Picking Contest, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the bluegrass fiddle guide for more players. Burns shares the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame roll with Benny Thomasson, Terry Morris, and Dick Barrett. See the fiddle contests guide for how Texas-style judging works.