Old-Time Fiddle Music

Friar the Fiddler - Battle of San Pasqual - 2005 Friar the Fiddler
Battle of San Pasqual re-enactment
Larry Edwards - Emma's Gut Bucket Band - Balboa Park - July 2008 Larry Edwards, with Emma's Gut Bucket Band
Balboa Park
Pirate Fiddler - Koehler Kraft Wooden Boat Festival - 2006 Friar the Pirate Fiddler
Koehler Kraft Wooden Boat Festival

Currently fiddling with
  • Heritage (fiddle tunes and songs of the 18th and early 19th centuries)
  • Corps of Rediscovery (historical re-enactment, including songs and dance tunes of of the 18th & 19th centuries)
  • Contra Notion (contra and square dance)
  • F Group (old-time fiddle, bluegrass)
  • various pick-up bands for paying gigs
  • formerly with Pick of the Lizard, The More the Merrier, Curly Creek String Band, and others

Jam Sessions
Compositions
Recordings/videos

      Fiddlin' Friar YouTube Video Channel
Discography

Heritage
Heritage - Friar, Hat Man and Capt. Strummer



The Pandemic Sessions The Pandemic Sessions - book cover The Pandemic Sessions - compact disc

I've been fiddling since 1974, getting my start with the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association and later joining the California Old Time Fiddlers Association, San Diego Chapter.

I made the annual pilgrimage to Weiser, Idaho, for the National Old Time Fiddlers' Contest for 16 years. Influential fiddlers: Benny Thomasson, Clark Kessinger, Dick Barrett, Tommy Jarrell, Cyrill Stinnett, Charlie Walden, Mark O'Connor, (Uncle) Gary Lee Moore, John Francis, Bob Shields, Kenneth Brank, Dan Levenson and many others, including a couple of fiddlers who don't receive enough recognition, Marc Rennard and Mark Tamsula.

I play an old fiddle (c. 1820, originally Baroque-style violin). It's something of an ugly duckling and violin appraisers, once they stop laughing, tell me it's a worthless piece of junk. But I like the way it sounds and that's all that matters to me.

I compose fiddle tunes when the muse awakens. The most popular of my tunes is "Manitoulin Thunder," which struck me during a vengeful thunder storm while my wife, Janis, and I were visiting our friend Ivan Harwood at his summer home on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada.

I also pluck the doghouse bass and can manage basic chords on a guitar. Playing the bass, I recorded with Roger and Janice Maddy and the Curly Creek String Band as well as Loretta Brank and Mark O'Connor.

    Copyright © 1994-, Larry M Edwards