Born in east Kentucky in 1933, the great Kentucky
fiddler Art Stamper, 72, lost his
long battle with throat cancer on January 23, 2005.
He had been battling the disease for some four years,
but he continued fiddling as long as he had strength
and made many appearances. He cut a final record
for County with long time musical friend and historian
Harry Bickel just last year (Wake Up Darlin’ Corey).
Stamper was a major figure in bluegrass music, serving
stints with both Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys,
and with the Stanley Brothers, with whom he started
his professional career in 1952 at age 19. He also
played with the Osborne Brothers, with the Goins
Brothers, with Larry Sparks, Bill Clifton, and J.D.
Crowe. He grew up in east Kentucky and lived near
Louisville. To support his family, he worked as a
hairdresser at his own business, Louisville’s “The
Way of Art.”
Last year, Stamper received the Distinguished Achievement
Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association,
joining the likes of Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt,
Kenny Baker, and Bill Monroe. His dad Hiram was an
old-time musician, and Stamper bridged the current
chasm between old-time and bluegrass with a vast
repertoire of tunes and the ability to improvise
as he wished and when he wished. He could play smooth
fills behind singing, but he also knew what cross
tuning was all about, and had a great effect on many
budding fiddle students at places like Augusta Heritage
Workshops, Appalshop, and Swannanoa Gathering. After
his time of “day-jobbing” he resumed
a more full-time musical life in 1978, producing
two highly regarded albums, The Lost Fiddler,
and Goodbye Girls, I’m Going to Boston,
as well as occasionally touring with Bill Monroe.
