Art Stamper
Contemporary Bluegrass
Art Stamper was a Kentucky-born fiddler whose work with the Stanley Brothers in the early 1950s, an interlude as a Louisville hairdresser, and a 1980s comeback with the Goins Brothers earned him three IBMA Old Time Fiddler of the Year awards and recognition as a First Generation Pioneer of Bluegrass.
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- Born Arthur Stamper on November 1, 1933 in Hindman, Knott County, Kentucky; took up fiddle around age nine, taught initially by his father, old-time fiddler Hiram Stamper.
- Began his professional career as a teenager performing with Jim & Jesse and the Sauceman Brothers.
- Played fiddle with the Stanley Brothers in the early-to-mid 1950s, cutting some of their classic Mercury sides.
- Also worked with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, Red Allen and the Osborne Brothers (1956), and later Larry Sparks and the Goins Brothers.
- Stepped away from full-time music in the late 1950s to work as a hairdresser in Louisville, Kentucky, then returned via a 1980s comeback with the Goins Brothers.
- Three-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year and recipient of the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award (2004); recognized by the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a First Generation Pioneer of Bluegrass.
- Solo albums include "Lost Fiddler" (1982), "Goodbye Girls I'm Going to Boston" (2000), and "Wake Up Darlin' Corey" (2004); also did studio work with George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, and Vince Gill.
- Died of throat cancer on January 23, 2005; a stretch of Kentucky State Route 550 in Knott County is named in his honor.
