The Beginning
I picked up the violin when I was eight years old in Seattle, WA. My father was a music teacher and it just seemed like the thing to do. After taking somewhat grueling classical violin lessons for three years, my teacher "fired" me because I had learned a Swedish dance tune by ear and played it much better than my assigned lesson stuff. I was so proud of learning that little tune. It annoyed my teacher to no end. I took the hint. I switched to a teacher who played a lot of Scandinavian dance music. She also taught using written music, like my first teacher. I really just wanted to play by ear and by feel.

The Big Switch
I was playing at a variety show one night when I was twelve when I saw my first live bluegrass band, Tall Timber. The fiddler was Vivian Williams. She blew my little twelve year old mind. I knew right then that I had to be a bluegrass fiddler. I took lessons from Vivian and we became good friends. I got to go with Vivian and her husband Phil to play square dances. In 1975 we recorded an album of twin fiddle tunes called Twin Sisters. I remember carrying around a few of them every day at school, selling them. Ah, the days of vinyl, but I digress.

Fiddle Contests
Vivian turned me on to fiddling contests, specifically Weiser, Idaho where the National is held every June. I placed ninth in the junior division my first year and thought I was just terrible. However, I vowed to learn a hundred tunes before the next National…….and I did! That was a good year for me. I was 14 then and won the WA State contest and the NW Regional contest, both in the junior (under 18) division. I placed fourth in the National. I met so many fantastic fiddlers during my contest years. Vivian was such a good mentor. She emphasized that a contest wasn’t all about winning but more about having fun and jamming with other musicians.

First Bluegrass Band
At age 15 I joined a bluegrass band that was just forming, located in Portland, OR. I thought I knew what I was doing. I did not. My first concert with these guys was a musical disaster. I had no idea what the role of a fiddler in a band was. I learned quickly by listening to records by Jim and Jesse, Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs, to name a few. It was so much different from playing in contests and playing for dances.