Scotty Stoneman (1932 to 1973) was the fiddler of the Stoneman Family and, for a few months in 1965, the Kentucky Colonels. He was one of 23 children of country music pioneer Ernest “Pop” Stoneman. He won fiddle contests from his teens and was called a five-time national champion by the mid 1960s. He died at 40. The live tapes he left behind are some of the most reckless fiddle playing on record. The National Fiddler Hall of Fame inducted him in 2019.
Why Stoneman matters
Stoneman pushed bluegrass fiddle past the tune. On the 1965 Kentucky Colonels tapes he stretches Sally Goodin past four minutes and Eighth of January past five, piling on variations, blues licks, and noises no fiddle was supposed to make. Jerry Garcia called him “the bluegrass Charlie Parker.” Peter Rowan called him “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin.” Long before newgrass had a name, he showed that a fiddler could improvise like a jazz player and still drive a bluegrass band.
Life and career
Calvin Scott Stoneman was born on August 4, 1932, in Galax, Virginia, the tenth of 23 children born to Ernest and Hattie Frost Stoneman. Hattie’s father, Bill Frost, was a fiddler from southwest Virginia. The family moved to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Scotty learned fiddle at home. From age 16 he was winning contests, and he beat Curly Fox at one of them. In 1947 the Stoneman Family won a talent contest at Constitution Hall in Washington.
Stoneman served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1955. After he came home he and his siblings formed the Blue Grass Champs with Jimmy Case. The band won Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts on national television in 1956, and Scotty took first place in fiddle at the National Champion Country Music contest in Warrenton, Virginia, the same year. He played with the Blue Grass Champs from 1955 to 1962 and did session work for Mac Wiseman and Bill Harrell. The family played the Grand Ole Opry in 1962 and cut the live album Big Ball in Monterey for World Pacific in April 1964.
In mid 1965 Stoneman left the family act and joined the Kentucky Colonels in California, replacing Bobby Slone. The band broke up on October 31, 1965, so he was there only a few months. Tapes from that year came out in 1978 as 1965 Live in L.A. on Sierra Briar. He later played with Charley Pride and, in the early 1970s, in a band with his wife Mary and a teenage Marty Stuart. He had been drinking since age 15 and stopped playing in the early 1970s while trying to get sober. He died in Nashville on March 4, 1973.
Playing style
Stoneman played loud, fast, and on the edge of control. His bow arm dug into the string for a raw, sawing tone, then lifted off for a slide or a harmonic. He loved trick fiddling and sound effects: chicken cackles on Cacklin’ Hen and bird calls on Listen to the Mockingbird. His sister Patsy said he could play a fiddle with a coat hanger, a toothpick, or a comb.
Under the tricks was a contest fiddler’s command of variations. On the Colonels tapes he starts a tune straight, then takes it through double-stop passages and blues runs while Clarence White and Roger Bush hold the groove. His fiddle was a plain Hoff instrument, nothing valuable. It now belongs to Grascals fiddler Adam Haynes, who had it restored in 2018.
Influences and legacy
Stoneman learned from his parents, his siblings, and the Galax fiddle tradition of his grandfather Bill Frost. The Kentucky Colonels put him beside Clarence White, whose guitar on the 1965 tapes matches him lick for lick.
His playing reached far past bluegrass. Jerry Garcia and Peter Rowan heard him in California and never forgot it. Zeke Dawson learned fiddle from him in Pop Stoneman’s youth band. Younger fiddlers still find the Colonels tapes and get hooked. The Stoneman Family is in the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Scotty joined the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2019.
Signature tunes and songs
Sally Goodin Eighth of January Cacklin’ Hen Listen to the Mockingbird Old Joe Clark Talkin’ Fiddle Blues.
Essential recordings
Big Ball in Monterey with the Stoneman Family (World Pacific, 1964) 1965 Live in L.A. with the Kentucky Colonels (Sierra Briar, 1978)
Awards and honors
Stoneman Family, talent contest winner, Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. (1947) Blue Grass Champs, Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts winner (1956) First place fiddle, National Champion Country Music contest, Warrenton, Virginia (1956) National Fiddler Hall of Fame (2019)
Watch and listen
Stoneman and the Kentucky Colonels tear through Old Joe Clark. Listen for how far he gets from the melody.
Stoneman’s Talkin’ Fiddle Blues with Clarence White in 1965.
What to learn from Stoneman
Learn Old Joe Clark from his recording with the Kentucky Colonels in two stages. First play the melody straight. Then take one of his variations, the double-stop chorus or the sliding blues run, and add it as a second break. The technique to steal is his attack. Stoneman dug the bow into the string and let the tone get rough. Most jam fiddlers play too soft to be heard over a banjo. Try one tune at his volume.
Sources
On This Day #17, Scotty Stoneman, Bluegrass Today The Restoration of Scotty Stoneman’s Fiddle, Bluegrass Today 2019 National Fiddler Hall of Fame Inductions, Bluegrass Today The Stoneman Family, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Scotty Stoneman with the Kentucky Colonels, 1965 Live in L.A., Discogs Scotty Stoneman, Wikipedia The Kentucky Colonels, Wikipedia
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more players. Vassar Clements took a similar improvised approach into Old and In the Way with Jerry Garcia and Peter Rowan. Chubby Wise and Benny Martin set the standard Stoneman pushed against. On the guitar side, see Clarence White.