Fiddlers under one roof
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By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
4/13/2007
Gala and dinner benefit launches National Fiddler Hall of Fame
In 1967, Byron Berline was saved from the horrors of Vietnam by his fiddle and a U.S. Army colonel in Louisiana.
It was only first bit of salvation for Berline delivered by his beloved instrument. The Guthrie resident performs Friday at the National Fiddler Hall of Fame gala and dinner at Cain's Ballroom.
Before he was a famous fiddler playing with everyone from Bob Dylan to Willie Nelson, he was a buck private drafted into the Army, sloughing through basic training in Fort Polk, La., a place chosen for horrific humidity not far removed from Vietnam's jungles.
Berline was playing a family function one day at the base when a Col. Reid approached him.
"He asked me if I played country music," said Berline, in an interview from his Guthrie fiddle shop. "The next thing he asked me was if I knew, 'Wabash Cannonball' and I said, 'Yeah, we do.' "
The colonel was so impressed with the performance he made a phone call and lo and behold, Private Berline was given a permanent post as an entertainer at the base, a job that lasted the rest of his army career.
"That was my lucky day, you might say. That was many years ago, 40 years ago to be exact," he said. "Most everybody that went to Vietnam, that's where they trained."
Berline's career took off after his stint in the Army (before he was drafted, he'd already played with Bill Monroe), performing or recording with the Rolling Stones, John Denver, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Rod Stewart and Elton John.
Berline is one of 19 fiddlers and a house band who'll perform at the gala. Other guest fiddlers include Grove's Jana Jae, Rick Morton and Curly Lewis of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.
The hall of fame will be inducting Wills, who launched his wildly successful national career from the ballroom's wooden stage in 1934.
Shelby Eicher and Oklahoma Stomp, a nine-piece Western Swing band made up of mostly 12 and 13-year-olds, also will perform.
The night will feature some Irish fiddle, Morton's country fiddle and Jana Jae's show fiddling, said Eicher, who is also the hall's vice president and director of education. Sales from the $130 a plate dinner and dance will go to the hall of fame, which hasn't fixed its location in Tulsa yet, Eicher said, who added that the permanent location will probably be somewhere in the Brady District, near the ballroom.
"The National Fiddler Hall of Fame has been created to preserve fiddling and has been created to honor great fiddlers," Eicher said.
Organizers are calling the hall of fame Tulsa's first national organization for the arts, the hall's Web site states. It will offer events, educational programs, history exhibits and projects to advance fiddle music.
www.nationalfiddlerhalloffame.org
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
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