Benny Martin

Among the foremost fiddlers in bluegrass, Benny Martin earned distinction as the creator of the eight-string fiddle. His birth occurred in Sparta, Tennessee, within a household steeped in music. At eight years old he first appeared on a local radio broadcast. After time spent in a regional ensemble, he moved at age thirteen to Nashville, where he joined Big Jeff & the Radio Playboys on WLAC and stayed with that act for nearly a decade while also serving as a session musician for Dot Records. On the Pioneer label he cut a solo album whose early single “Me and My Fiddle” later became his trademark number.

He frequently supported headline artists in sideman roles, among them Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Kitty Wells, and Flatt & Scruggs. In 1954 he assembled his own group and made a short-lived appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. Mid-decade management by Col. Tom Parker led to thirty-five opening slots for Elvis Presley. With country music facing lean years, Martin shifted emphasis toward session and backing work rather than solo releases. His sole chart entry arrived in 1963 with “Rosebuds and You.” During the mid-sixties he joined Don Reno for a brief partnership and a gospel album.

He maintained steady activity as an accompanist, festival performer, and frequent recording artist on assorted labels until health issues curtailed his schedule in the early eighties. Afflicted by spasmodic dysphonia, he withdrew from performing for an extended period yet resurfaced in 1999 with the star-studded tribute The Big Tiger Roars Again, Pt. 1, which saluted his long-standing influence on bluegrass. Its sequel, The Big Tiger Roars Again, Pt. 2, followed in 2001, the same year Benny Martin died on March 13 at age seventy-two.