American fiddle

According to Ron Yule, "John Utie, a 1620 immigrant, settled in the North and is credited as being the first known fiddler on American soil".

[1] Early influences were Irish, Scottish, and English fiddle styles, as well as the more upper-class traditions of classical violin playing.

Trick fiddling is employed, often built upon cross bowing technique such as used in Orange Blossom Special or Beaumont Rag.

See for instance Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops Massachusetts performance of Genuine Negro Jig in May 2010.

Accompanying instruments include washboard, jug bass, banjo, dulcimer, guitar, and occasionally kazoo.

[4] Nevertheless, a broader definition usually prevails which incorporates unrecorded music with roots long before radio transmission and sound recording were invented.

A comprehensive review of old time fiddle styles was written by David Reiner and Peter Anick and published in 1989.

Incorporation of fiddle or violin into rock, as with jazz, has been a slow process, resisted by some critics as an"unlikeliest and perverse misuse of an instrument".

For instance, eclectic rocker Natalie Stovall,[9] a graduate of Berkelee Conservatory,[10] covers Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, The White Stripes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix, all the while alternating between standard rock vocals and fiddle/violin riffs.

For instance Mel Bay contributor Martin Norgard presents jazz fiddle in numerous media (book, website).

[18] Unlike other fiddle traditions, piano accompaniment is common, and, he notes occasionally saxophone or clarinet would join in.

Ferrell traces his roots into the 1800s Boston Scottish and Irish cultures as typified in musicians such as William Bradbury Ryan.

[22] Folk music tradition but has distinct features found only in the Western hemisphere[23] This influence is largely due to immigration and cross-border commerce.