Benny Martin

Benny Edward Martin (May 8, 1928 - March 13, 2001), was an American bluegrass fiddler who invented the 8-string fiddle.

Biography

Born in Sparta, Tennessee, his father and two of his sisters played music professionally. From childhood, he began learning the fiddle and ukulele, as well as the guitar and in his early teens left home to go to Nashville to pursue a full-time career as a country musician.

Martin was working at radio station WLAC in Nashville, Tennessee in 1948 when he was asked to replace Bill Monroe's fiddler Chubby Wise who was going to leave the Bluegrass Boys.^[1] In 1949, he became a member of Reno & Smiley's Tennessee Cutups. For the next seventeen years, until December 1966, Don Reno and Martin performed on and off together.^[2] In 1952, he joined Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys cutting eight songs.^[3] On these recordings he played with a bluesy and jazzy flavour that complemented Scruggs' playing.^[4] He returned to Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in 1959 but left within a year.^[5] In the 1960s, he toured with Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys.^[6]

Martin was a member of Grand Ole Opry and had his own show, The Benny Martin Show.^[7] Over the years, Martin performed and recorded with many different artists such as the Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin, Johnnie and Jack, and the Stonemans. He recorded at least four singles one for Gulf Reef, "Thinking About Love" and "The Man Next Door" and three for Starday "Hello City Limits" "I'll Never Get Over Loving You", "Pretty Girl" "Dimes Worth of Dreams"and "You are the One" with his wife Joanne "No One But You." He hired Colonel Tom Parker as his manager and eventually would work as the opening act for some of the early Elvis Presley concerts.

Benny Martin died in 2001 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

Legacy

Martin typified the "country stompin'" music, with his enthusiastic fiddling while dancing around on stage. For almost five decades he was a popular entertainer making numerous appearances throughout the United States and Europe. He also recorded a number of records on which he performed on the fiddle and sang vocals. Martin's fiddle style was revolutionary. His recordings with Flatt and Scruggs are among their best, and he's particularly remembered for "Someone Took My Place With You," which exemplifies his unique use of double stops. Martin continues to astonish and influence contemporary fiddlers even now, notably in the style of Michael Cleveland, who's recorded many tunes originated by Martin.

Selected discography

• Country Music's Sensational Entertainer (Starday Records) - 1961
• Old Time Fiddlin' and Singin' (Mercury Wing Records) - 1964
• Tennessee Jubilee (Flying Fish Records) - 1975
• Fiddle Collection (CMH Records) - 1976
• & His Electric Turkeys: Turkey In the Grass (CMH Records) - 1977
• Big Daddy of the Fiddle & Bow (CMH Records) - 1979
• Southern Bluegrass Fiddle (Marathon Records) - 1980

Notes

References

• Beisswenger, Drew (2005), The World's Hottest Fiddlers, Mel Bay Publications
• Ewing, Tom (2000), The Bill Monroe Reader, University of Illinois Press
• Lange, Jeffrey J. (2004), Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly, University of Georgia Press
• Rosenberg, Neil V. (2005), Bluegrass: A History, University of Illinois Press
• Schlappi, Elizabeth (1993), Roy Acuff, the Smoky Mountain Boy, Pelican Publishing Company