Johnny Miller (8)

Fiddle player and songwriter. Born in 1929 to a musical family of Ashe County, NC. His father, uncle, cousins and brother were all fiddlers, banjo pickers and such. Johnny's family moved up to Pennsylvania when he was about 8 years old for work. As Johnny got older, he learned to play fiddle, dobro, steel guitar, lead guitar and bass. As a teenager, he started performing and traveling with different bands such as Roma Jackson and the Tennessee Pals, Slim the Lone Cowboy, and then joined up with his cousins, the North Carolina Ridgerunners. He played several years with them, and worked at Mt. Gretna Park, where they booked and worked with acts like Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, Chet Atkins, Jimmy Wakely and Curly Fox. After the NC Ridgerunners split up, Johnny joined up with Ola Belle and Bud Reed to play in their group and helped them get New River Ranch started. Johnny was a member of the house band at New River Ranch for several years, and played with such acts as Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Wanda Jackson, Ray Price, Carl Smith, and Little Jimmy Dickens. Johnny also played stints with several bluegrass groups like Ted Lundy, Charlie Monroe, Don Reno, Mac Wiseman, and others. After Johnny's brother, Sonny Miller (2), returned from the army, he gave him his job back, working with Ola Belle's band. Sonny was also a very talented fiddler, who performed with many bluegrass groups. Then Johnny went to New Jersey, and worked a while with a lot of bluegrass and country groups. He then joined Sunset Park and worked there for several years. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Johnny worked again with Ola Belle, Bud Reed, and her son, David, performing at colleges all through the country. They recorded an album together on Rounder Records, "High on a Mountain". In addition to playing music, Johnny worked as a first class sheet rocker and hanger all through the Northeast. In the early 70's, "tired of the rat race", he decided to move back home. He moved to Troutdale in Grayson County, VA (bordering Ashe Co, NC) and still makes it his home today. There, he joined the High County Ramblers with Wayne Henderson, Larry Pennington, Raymond Pennington, Paul Gentle, and Herb Key. They played festivals all through the area and won many fiddlers conventions until the band split in the late 70's. Johnny has a large share of ribbons he won at competitions through the years. Johnny still judges fiddlers conventions, and plays at the Ola Belle Reed Festival and Albert Hash Festival as a master fiddler.