Bill Jones
Bill Jones was born and raised in Nashville, TN and grew up in a musical family. He started playing violin at age 10 with the Metro Nashville School System strings program. A couple years after playing classical music, he and his father Barry branched into to old-time fiddle music and played with the Nashville Old Time String Band Association which gathered at Stratford High School in the evenings a few times per month.
Later on, Bill heard contest and “Texas style” fiddling and fell in love with the musical style. Soon, he learned some contest breakdowns and waltzes, and his father learned the rhythm chords on guitar – and from then on hardly a Saturday would pass where he and his father were not competing or jamming. Barry paid for the best music lessons that were available and Bill got to study with Crystal Plohman, Jim Wood, Loretta Brank, Luke Bulla, and Daniel Carwile. Some years later, Bill started playing rhythm guitar and tenor guitar which to him rivals his enjoyment of fiddling.
Bill earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and Master of Business Administration from Tennessee Technological University. He is married to Heather, who is a nurse, and they have three boys - Weston, Harrison, and Greyson – and they live in East Tennessee.
Bill is a former Kentucky State Champion, US Grand National Young Adult Champion, Alabama State Champion and Tennessee Valley Fiddle Champion. Although busy with his family, Bill very much enjoys, competing, judging and playing guitar for other fiddlers whenever he can.
Joel Whittinghill
Joel Whittinghill was raised in Fordsville, KY, 14 miles from Rosine, the birthplace of Bill Monroe. Joel grew up in a musical family with his brother and sisters playing Bluegrass music.
Joel first started playing mandolin at age nine and fiddle around age 12. Local musician, Kenneth Basham, spent many hours teaching Joel mandolin and learning from records. Joel also studied fiddle with Herman Alvey and later violin with Jesse Haycraft. Joel was heavily influenced by the fiddling of Walter Ford and Bill Lake. Mark Ralph was very kind would stop by and record tunes slowly enough Joel could learn the tunes. In addition to that, Randy Howard was quite an influence on Joel’s fiddling. Joel continued his musical training at Western Kentucky University where he graduated with a degree in music.
Joel’s fiddle wins include: Kentucky State Champion (7 times), Tennessee State Champion (7 times), Indiana State Champion (4 times), Alabama State Champion, Tennessee Vally Old Time Fiddle King (5 times), several Top 10 finishes in the Grand Master Fiddler Championship, several Top 10 finishes in the SPBGMA fiddle competition.
In addition to fiddle wins, Joel has also won the Mandolin and Guitar competitions several times in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Joel enjoys teaching and jamming with friends in both Bluegrass and Texas style fiddling. In addition to growing up in a musical family, Joel’s wife Sharon owns and operates the Guitar Academy of Bowling Green.
Fred Carpenter
Fred Carpenter, a native of Lewiston Maine, started his musical journey at age 7 with 10 years of classical violin lessons. At age 17, he started learning fiddle tunes, joined a local bluegrass band, and soon got into contest fiddling. Over the next few years Fred won several contests throughout New England, and also finished well in several national contests including 4th place at the World Series of Fiddling in Texas, and 7th place at the National Oldtime Fiddle Championship in Weiser, Idaho. Fred has also returned to judged the contest in Weiser.
In 1980, Fred recorded his 1st solo album, Cuttin’ Loose, w/ special guest Mark O’Connor on guitar. Fred moved from Maine to California in the fall of 1980 to join
The Tony Rice Unit, recording 2 albums on Rounder Records during this time (Still Inside and Backwaters), and continued fiddling with Tony for the next 4 years. During his time in California, Fred also worked as an apprentice at Loveland Violin Shop in Santa Rosa CA, learning repair, restoration, and set-up of violins and bows. In 1985, Fred joined The Dillards, recording 2 albums and touring with them until his move to Nashville in 1988.
Fred has called Nashville home for 34 years now, during which time he has toured with several prominent artists including Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Paul Overstreet, Ronnie Milsap, Suzy Bogguss, and for 16 years now, Kathy Mattea.
In 1988, Fred started The Violin Shop in Nashville, offering instrument repair, restoration, sales, rentals, and in general, all things fiddle!! Now celebrating 34 years, The Violin Shop has become “the place to go” for fiddlers everywhere.
