Blaine Sprouse
Best known for
Fiddle
Blaine Sprouse is one of the finest traditional bluegrass fiddlers of his generation — a West Virginia-born Kenny Baker protege whose warm, deep tone and classic long-bow phrasing grace recordings from Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers, Bill Monroe, Alabama, and many others. After a decade-long hiatus to earn a law degree from Vanderbilt, Sprouse returned to full-time music in the late 2000s and has continued recording and touring ever since.
- Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia; grew up in Hedgesville. Father played clawhammer banjo and guitar.
- Started guitar at age six, then fiddle shortly after. Learned initially on a glued-together fiddle found in a dumpster. Around age 13, met his hero Kenny Baker at a festival; Baker told him to look him up if he ever made it to Nashville.
- Met Jimmy Martin in 1974 at a festival in Waynesboro, Virginia. Dropped out of high school at 17 to join the Sunny Mountain Boys; lived with Martin for six months before moving into an apartment with banjoist Dwight Dillman.
- After Martin, joined James Monroe's Midnight Ramblers (Bill Monroe's son's band). Worked closely with Alan O'Bryant there; both young men spent extensive time with Kenny Baker through the 1970s.
- Substituted in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys multiple times when Kenny Baker was sidelined by hand injuries — recorded and toured as a Blue Grass Boy during those stretches.
- Played fiddle on Alabama's #1 1984 country hit “If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)” and the entire Roll On album — introducing his playing to mainstream country audiences.
- Joined the Osborne Brothers in 1982; stayed five years, the longest tenure of his early career. Left in February 1987 to return to school.
- Subbed for Eddie Stubbs on the Johnson Mountain Boys' Moscow tour in the late 1980s.
- Released three solo albums on Rounder Records in the 1980s and 1990s, including the twin-fiddle project Indian Springs with Kenny Baker — a classic of traditional bluegrass fiddling.
- Completed a law degree at Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1994. Practiced law in Tennessee and California for over a decade while stepping away from music.
- Returned to music in 2009. Fourth solo album Dogwood Winter was reissued as Appalachian Mountain Fiddler.
- Became Peter Rowan's primary fiddler in the 2010s, appearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, MerleFest, Telluride, RockyGrass, A Prairie Home Companion, and reunions of Old & In the Way.
- Member of Nashville-scene bands including the Dreadful Snakes, the Sidemen, the Nashville Jug Band, and the Cluster Pluckers. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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The Bluegrass BandPlayed on recordings with The Bluegrass Band
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The Osborne BrothersPlayed on recordings with The Osborne Brothers
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The Osborne Brothers and Mac WisemanPlayed on recordings with The Osborne Brothers and Mac Wiseman
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The Dreadful SnakesPlayed on recordings with The Dreadful Snakes
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Peter RowanPlayed on recordings with Peter Rowan
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Hazel DickensPlayed on recordings with Hazel Dickens
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Blaine SprousePlayed on recording with Blaine Sprouse
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Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain BoysPlayed on recording with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys
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John StarlingPlayed on recording with John Starling
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LivewirePlayed on recording with Livewire
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Mike Compton and David GrierPlayed on recording with Mike Compton and David Grier