Travis Inman, legendary fiddle champion and devoted teacher, released an exciting new album on Voyager Records in June 2012. TRAVIS INMAN: MISSOURI FIDDLER features a cross-section of fiddle tunes played in Inman’s masterful style.
Travis is eleven-time Missouri State Fiddle Champion, and his fiddling is deeply grounded in his Missouri roots. He represents a transition between the dance-dominated fiddle traditions of earlier years and more contest- and performance-oriented traditions of today. Travis has embraced elements of these influences to create a sound that’s firmly traditional, surprisingly contemporary, and uniquely his own.
Inman is accompanied by the stellar musicians Charlie Walden on guitar (himself a champion Missouri fiddler) and Patt Plunkett on keyboard. The recording was made by David Cavins in Columbia, Missouri, in September 2011. Biographical notes by Amber Gaddy, tune annotations by Howard Marshall.
The tunes: Angus Campbell, Rosebuds of Avamore, Swearngin’s Hornpipe, St. Anne’s Reel, I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight, Sweet Georgia Brown, Lead Out, Eva Anne’s Waltz, Red Apple Rag, Over the Waves, Jumping the Strings, Hooker’s Hornpipe, Peacock Rag, Back in Old Arkansas, Rachel, Sugar Tree Stomp, White Rose, Grey Eagle, Paddy on the Turnpike, Cowboy Waltz, Charmaine, Turkey in the Straw, Wednesday Night Waltz, Woodchopper’s Reel, What a Friend We Have in Jesus
I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight
Players: Travis inman, fiddle; Charlie Walden, guitar; Patt Plunkett, piano
A country music standard popularized by the 1934 Carter Family 78 rpm record on Bluebird. Travis learned it from his fiddling uncle Othello Smith. From Travis’ CD “Missouri Fiddler” available on the Voyager Records label.
Peacock Rag
Players: Travis inman, fiddle; Charlie Walden, guitar; Patt Plunkett, piano
An Arthur Smith tune Travis learned from a Tommy Jackson record. From Travis’ CD “Missouri Fiddler” available on the Voyager Records label.
St. Anne’s Reel
Players: Travis inman, fiddle; Charlie Walden, guitar; Patt Plunkett, piano
A tune from Canadian fiddler Joseph Allard, learned from a Tommy Jackson record. From Travis’ CD “Missouri Fiddler” available on the Voyager Records label.
TRAVIS INMAN: MISSOURI FIDDLER is available from Voyager Records and from Mr. Inman in Sedalia, Missouri, (660) 827-2266. Copies may also be obtained at Missouri locations such as the Wyatt Violin Shop in Independence, (816) 252-5656, and Seitz Violins in St. Louis, (314) 353-1312. More information may be obtained from co-producer Howard Marshall or on the Voyager website.