The Slate Mountain Ramblers consist of Richard Bowman on fiddle, his wife Barbara on bass and daughter Marsha on banjo, plus a guitar player I don't know. Richard is a first class fiddler in the Round Peak style who learned a lot of his tunes and technique from Tommy Jarrel, Earnest East, Benton Flippen and other brilliant musicians from the Mount Airy area in North Carolina. Each member of the band have won many individual prizes at fiddler's conventions in the Southern Appalachians, and the whole band's run off with a few as well. I've jammed with the Bowmans at their home in Ararat, just over the Virginia border - an experience that made me realise just how great these people are. I can't wait to see them again! Cheers Ray
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