Special to View Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association member Meri Howard converses with her fiddling partner at the association's meeting, Feb. 3, at the Sahara West Library. She joined the group last summer after moving to Southern Highlands from Los Angeles. "It was easy to fit right in and I already knew a lot of the songs," she said.
Special to View Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association member Lloyd Harrison, 94, holds his fiddle before the association's meeting, Feb. 3, at the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.
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Summerlin residents who visited the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave., on Feb. 3 got a free concert. The Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association was there for its annual meeting. They may have called it a meeting, but everyone brought their instruments, pulled them out and played them.
About two dozen people pulled up chairs to listen. Dave Maher, a retired truck driver, drove from Henderson to hear them play. Why?
"I like country music, the old hillbilly stuff," he said.
Don Harrison, visiting from Northern California, was there to hear his father, Lloyd, play the fiddle. Lloyd Harrison, 94, earned his livelihood as a musician, cut some records and could be heard on the radio back in the 1930s.
"He still plays twice a week at a senior center, right from his wheelchair," said Don Harrison, a retired Marine.
The 4-year-old association has about 50 members, ages 16 to 94. They vary in profession and include a biologist, an accountant, a pilot, an architect, a firefighter and a Cadillac technician. The organization began in Henderson.
Group president Paul Aguirre said he's trying to expand the group, reaching out to people across the valley, as well as the state.
Members get together to jam four times a month.
Once the yearly business was out of the way at the meeting, members explained the various instruments people would hear. Those instruments included dobro guitar, harmonica, mandolin, guitar and double bass.
They said the difference between a violin and a fiddle is that a violin has strings but a fiddle has "strangs." Another way to tell the difference: a violin is a fiddle that hasn't had beer spilled on it yet.
Bernie Knight held up his instrument of choice -- a washboard.
"This is for people who can't find the notes on a guitar," he said. "My wife wants it back to wash her delicates."
The group has played in the Summerlin area before. Last year, members performed at the Beth AM Adult Daycare Center in Summerlin at 9001 Hillpointe Road. They've also done a few jam sessions at the Nevada Power Company headquarters on West Sahara Avenue and out at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park for Pioneer Day in October.
"The general public associates fiddle music with modern day popular country tunes such as 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' and 'Orange Blossom Special,' " Aguirre said. "The former really isn't classified as a fiddle tune and the latter can be, but isn't typically played in old-time fiddle group settings."
Standards members play include, "Soldier's Joy," "Tennessee Waltz," "Faded Love," "St. Anne's Reel" and "Golden Slippers." It's not unusual for jam sessions to entice listeners to get up and dance.
Vera Vann-Wilson, a member of Stuck in Reverse, plays the banjo and about any other instrument there. She joined the Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association about two years ago because "They're good, solid people with old-fashioned values. You don't see people all covered in tattoos and drinking beer."
Once the various instruments were introduced, someone started plucking on a banjo. Another person with a guitar joined in. Soon, everyone was playing "Old Joe Clark."
"We're trying to help preserve the music from our roots," Vann-Wilson said. "This music tends to get lost in mainstream music.
It's not something you hear on iPods. But this is our heritage."
For more information on the Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association and an updated calendar of events, e-mail to nofawebmail@yahoo.com or visit communitylink.reviewjournal.com/lvrj/nvfiddlers.
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