Fred Carpenter

Fred Carpenter recorded his first fiddle album 'Cut Loose' at age 20. In 1980, he moved to California, where he joined The Tony Rice Unit. He toured with Tony Rice for three years and recorded two albums, "Still Inside" and "Backwaters". Carpenter spent the next three years playing fiddle with The Dillards. In 1987, Carpenter joined Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band, touring with Emmylou for two years. From 1989 to 1992, Carpenter toured with several artists including Paul Overstreet, Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, Suzy Bogguss, Ricky Van Shelton, and George Strait. In 1992, Carpenter recorded his second album, 'In the Stillness', a collection of original instrumentals. In the year 2000, Carpenter received an IBMA award and a Grammy nomination for his fiddle work on "Murder on Music Row", a CD recorded with Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time. Established in 1988, Carpenter's Nashville business - The Violin Shop, has grown to prominence. In addition to a fine inventory of violins and bows, in 2005 a live music venue was added to The Violin Shop. Since then Fred has hosted and produced an incredible series of live performance DVDs called "The Fiddle Masters Concert Series". In 2006-2007, Carpenter toured with Kathy Mattea, until joining guitarist Tim May in 2008 to form "Carpenter & May". Their first self-titled CD allows Carpenter to feature his lead vocals for the first time.