Chick Stripling
Musician · Tifton, Georgia
Best known for
Bass
Chick Stripling was a Georgia-born fiddler, comedian, and buck dancer whose 1938–1966 career took him onto Atlanta's WSB Barn Dance, into Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, and through stints with Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Jim & Jesse — one of the few performers to work for all three first-generation bluegrass acts.
- Born James "Chick" Stripling in Tifton, Georgia; fiddler, comedian, buck dancer, and bass player active 1938–1966.
- Began on radio in the early 1930s–40s playing fiddle contests, square dances, and barn-dance shows; hired in 1939 at Atlanta's WSB radio "Barn Dance Show," where he became one of Atlanta's most popular fiddler/comedians.
- Toured periodically with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and is one of the few performers to have worked for all three first-generation bluegrass acts: Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and the Stanley Brothers.
- Recorded extensively with the Stanley Brothers in the early 1960s — his last sustained bluegrass exposure; also worked briefly with Jimmy Martin in 1962.
- Featured fiddle/comedy number "Johnson's Old Grey Mule" was cut to record by one of his bands.
- Performed with Jim & Jesse McReynolds on WVOP in Valdosta, Georgia, beginning in 1958.
- Combined fiddle, soft-shoe and buck dancing, and risqué comedy in stage shows; his last performance was in 1966 with the New River Boys as a comedian.
- Died in Virginia on November 19, 1970.
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The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain BoysPlayed on recordings with The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys