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Martin Fox
Photo by Sallye R. Fox

Martin Fox

Oldtime fiddler Fairview, NC (Buncombe County)

Fiddler and photographer Martin Fox has spent most of his adult life in the mountains of North Carolina. He learned to play the guitar while still a child, and then in his early twenties took up the fiddle, banjo, and mandolin. For more than thirty years he has lived and played music—old-time, bluegrass, and rags—in the Asheville area.

“In the early ’70s,” he says, “I took a three-year sabbatical from work and did nothing but attend and enter fiddlers’ conventions throughout the Southern Appalachians. During those three years I was fortunate to win and place in many of these events.

“In 1985, I was lucky enough to win first-place Championship Fiddler at the Asheville Folk Festival. I placed second in 1992, and the band I played in, the Rough Riders, won first-place band, first-place banjo, first-place guitar, and Best All-Around Performers in the same event.”

He continues to play and record traditional music in the area. He and friends were featured musicians in the film The Blue Ridge Parkway: America’s Favorite Journey, produced by Aperture Films and the US Department of the Interior, and shown at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center near Asheville. With guitar and banjo player Jeff Winegar, Fox released an album of traditional music, entitled The Way It Was: 19th Century Fiddle and Banjo.  More recently, Fox and Winegar were included in the Appalachia: Music of Home CD which accompanied the PBS series Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People.

Availability:

Martin Fox is available to play for concerts, dances, festivals, and other events with his musical partner Jeff Winegar. He will also consider requests for educational programs and private lessons.