World champion fiddler Bart Trotter finds nothing more satisfying than playing great music with great musicians. Cowboy Doug accompanies him. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
This Friday Trotter joins Ace in the Hole bass player Terry Hale to perform Ben Beckendorf's new acoustic sound at Hondo's. Then on Saturday, Trotter will feature his fiddling skill at the season's first Roots Music in the Texas Hill Country at the Pioneer Museum from 6 until 10 p.m. Trotter will sit in with Sarah Jarosz, the Grassy Knoll Boys, and Elana James. You can find Trotter's music, CDs, and booking information at www.barttrotter.com.
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Bart Trotter:
World Champion
by Phil Houseal
May 17, 2006
Did you know that Fredericksburg is home to the 6-time National Champion Fiddle Player, the 1986 World Champion Fiddle Player, the 2-time First Runner-up at the Grand Masters Fiddle Contest, the 5-time Southwestern States Fiddle Champion, the 5-time winner of the New Mexico State Fair Fiddle Contest, and the 2-time winner of the U.S. Invitational Fiddle Contest?
Who are all these people?
Bart Trotter.
The musician who holds every single one of these honors moved from Ruidoso to Fredericksburg with his wife Mimi eight years ago. The driving reason was to be nearer to family, but Trotter - who grew up in Odessa - admits he missed Texas music.
That sweet swing sound was in his blood. His first memories of music were the fiddling of his great uncle, who played with Sons of the West and other bands in the 1930s and 40s. Young Trotter wanted to fiddle too, but the only route available to him was the school orchestra. So in sixth grade, his fingers began learning the violin. But his heart was pulled in another direction.
"I never really was much into classical music," he explained. "I loved going to fiddling contests on weekends."
Trotter led a double life. During the week he played violin in the school orchestra. On weekends, he escaped to fiddle contests where he began racking up awards. He stayed in orchestra throughout school, even as he played football for legendary Permian, partly because his friend fiddler Mark O'Conner encouraged him to take advantage of the free training.
These days, Trotter describes his fiddling style as Texas swing, tipping his baseball cap to music legends Benny Thomason and Major Lee Franklin for blazing that trail.
"It's kind of a mixture of bluegrass, swing, jazz, and blues," Trotter said, adding that his idol is Johnny Gimble, another legend in Texas music.
Trotter regularly plays with industry stars such as Gimble, including Gary P. Nunn, Merle Haggard, Cindy Cashdollar, Floyd Domino and a staggering list of musicians well known in the recording industry. Playing good music with great musicians is his passion.
"The best thing to me is getting to play with other musicians who are equal to or better than me," he said. "When you get a full stage of great musicians and start taking turns, it's really fun. Everybody inspires everyone else. That's when it's really magic."
Trotter stays involved in music off stage as well. He and his wife publish a series of tour guides for central Texas communities, and have started booking music talent for area clubs.
"We want to really promote live music in the hill country," he said. "We want to see even more live venues. It's great to walk in to a club and hear bluegrass, jazz, or country swing. We see Fredericksburg becoming a music destination."
With Bart Trotter living here, it already is.
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