Dennis Ludiker is a mandolin player and fiddler who grew up in Spokane, Washington, and moved to Austin, Texas, in 2002. He played mandolin and sang harmony in the progressive acoustic band MilkDrive, then played fiddle and mandolin in Asleep at the Wheel until he left the band in November 2022. He lists a RockyGrass mandolin title among his contest wins. His contest fiddling, including the 2024 Texas State Fiddle Championship, is on his fiddle page.
Why Ludiker matters
Ludiker shows that a contest fiddler can make the mandolin his main voice in a band. In MilkDrive, Brian Beken played fiddle and Ludiker played mandolin, in a band that grew out of a friendship from the Weiser contest and mixed bluegrass with jazz and odd meters. In Asleep at the Wheel he played both instruments in a western swing band, the tradition that made the electric mandolin a lead instrument.
Life and career
Ludiker started music at age three, when his grandfather, Lloyd Warner, bought him a 1/16 size fiddle. He took up guitar a couple of years later and then added mandolin, bass, piano, and other string instruments. He comes from the Ludiker family of contest fiddlers, and he won the Washington State fiddle title and the open fiddle contest at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, in 2002.
That year he moved to Austin. From the fall of 2002 to January 2009 he toured the United States and Europe with the South Austin Jug Band.
At the Weiser contest he had met guitarist Noah Jeffries, and the two formed a duo in Austin. It grew into MilkDrive, with Jeffries on guitar, Brian Beken on fiddle and lead vocals, Matt Mefford on bass, and Ludiker on mandolin and harmony vocals. The members traded fiddles, mandolins, and guitars on stage. MilkDrive released a live album in 2009, The Road From Home in 2011, Waves in 2012, and Places You’ve Not Been in 2015.
He joined Asleep at the Wheel full time in 2016 on fiddle, mandolin, and backing vocals, after earlier tours with the band, and plays on New Routes (2018) and Half a Hundred Years (2020). He left the band in November 2022 after close to ten years on the road with Ray Benson. He then toured for about a year with the Chicks and settled into studio work in Austin, often with producer Lloyd Maines. His own channel lists recording and stage work with Willie Nelson, George Strait, Paul Simon, and James Taylor.
Playing style
Ludiker learned the fiddle first, and his mandolin grew up beside it. In MilkDrive his mandolin sat next to a second contest fiddler, Brian Beken, on band originals such as Philbowl Baggins.
He also plays straight bluegrass on mandolin. In a studio warm-up for an Aaron Watson session, he plays mandolin on Red Haired Boy.
Influences and legacy
The Ludiker family is his first school. Tony Ludiker won the Grand National title at Weiser five times, and Kimber Ludiker has won it too. His MilkDrive bandmates pushed him toward jazz and odd meters. In Asleep at the Wheel he played the western swing repertoire of Bob Wills, the band where Tiny Moore and Johnny Gimble made the electric mandolin swing.
Essential recordings
The Road From Home, MilkDrive (2011) Waves, MilkDrive (2012) Places You’ve Not Been, MilkDrive (2015) New Routes, Asleep at the Wheel (2018) Half a Hundred Years, Asleep at the Wheel (2020)
Awards and honors
RockyGrass mandolin contest champion, as listed on his own channel
Watch and listen
MilkDrive plays its original tune Philbowl Baggins at the Saxon Pub in Austin on February 9, 2010, with Ludiker on mandolin.
Ludiker plays mandolin on Red Haired Boy in a studio jam at The Compound Recording Studio, warming up before an Aaron Watson session.
What to learn from Ludiker
Learn Red Haired Boy on mandolin from the studio jam. It is a jam standard in A, and it sits well on both fiddle and mandolin, which makes it a good tune for a player who doubles. The technique to steal is the fiddle and mandolin pairing he played in MilkDrive. When a band has a fiddle and a mandolin, take turns: one plays melody while the other plays a harmony line or a chop, then switch on the next pass.
Sources
Fiddlers Frolics names new Texas State Fiddle Champion, Lavaca County Today Dennis Ludiker, Colorado Old Time Fiddlers’ Association judges Dennis Ludiker, YouTube channel Walnut Valley Festival winners archive (PDF) Milk Drive, The Road From Home, Bluegrass Today Waves, Milkdrive, Bluegrass Today List of Asleep at the Wheel members, Wikipedia MilkDrive, Philbowl Baggins, MilkDrive on YouTube Bluegrass at The Compound Recording Studio
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Johnny Gimble and Tiny Moore played mandolin in the western swing tradition Ludiker carried in Asleep at the Wheel. Sam Bush is another contest fiddler who made the mandolin his main voice. Ludiker’s contest record is on his fiddle page.