Arvil Freeman

Bluegrass and old-time fiddle player. Born April 14, 1932 in Madison County, western North Carolina. Died October 21, 2021. Learned many tunes from his brother, the late fiddler Gordon Freeman. First radio appearance in 1950 at the age of fourteen, on Bristol’s WCYB. Toured with Reno and Smiley for six months in the 1960s. Throughout the 1980s Freeman played five nights a week in the Marc Pruett Band, at Bill Stanley’s Barbecue and Bluegrass in Asheville. In 1974, 1993, 1994, and 1995, won the fiddle contest at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. He was one of five fiddlers (with Benton Flippen, Audrey Hash Ham, Red Wilson, and Josh Goforth) chosen to represent the variety of traditional fiddle styles in North Carolina on UNC-TV’s Folkways series. Freeman has appeared on more than forty different albums, including five of Raymond Fairchild‘s records and two of the Crowe Brothers’. Gave fiddle lessons, and performed regularly as a member of the Stoney Creek Boys, the house band for Asheville’s Shindig on the Green. The North Carolina Arts Council honored Arvil Freeman with the prestigious North Carolina Heritage Award in May, 2018.