Legendary fiddle player Johnny Gimble dead at 88
Renowned fiddler Johnny Gimble, who gained fame for his backup work with country stars from Merle Haggard to Carrie Underwood, has died at age 88. His daughter, Cyndy, said Gimble died Saturday morning in his home in Dripping Springs, near Austin, "finally rid of the complications from several strokes over the past few years".
John Paul Gimble was born May 30, 1926, in Tyler, Texas. In a 1981 documentary, he said the first music that made an impression on him he heard from his uncles, who played mandolin and fiddle. He began playing fiddle himself when he was 10 and by the time he was 12, was performing with his brothers in a band called the Rose City Swingsters.
Gimble later played for Bob Wills and although it occupied only two years of his career from 1949 to 1951 he acknowledged that he would always be known for having been a member of Bob Wills' Texas Playboys western swing band, in which he played fiddle and electric mandolin.
"I didn't really get crazy about Bob Wills until 1940", he said. He would subsequently label Wills "the most charismatic" stage performer he'd ever seen. When one of Wills' band members asked Gimble if he would like to join the fabled group, he remembered, "it was like asking if I wanted to go to heaven".
After leaving Wills' Texas Playboys, he moved to Nashville in 1968 becoming one of the most sought-after session players in town. He was also one of the featured performers on 1973's Superpickers, an LP organized by Chet Atkins featuring many of Music City's most in-demand players. Gimble contributed his own composition, "Fiddlin' Around" to the album.
In 1983 Gimble played his former boss, Bob Wills, in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man, releasing a single, "One Fiddle, Two Fiddle", that was featured on the soundtrack. His final LP, Celebrating with Friends, was issued in 2010. Guest collaborators on the project included Rick Nelson, Haggard, Vince Gill, Ray Benson, Dale Watson and Gimble's granddaughter, Emily, who currently plays with Asleep at the Wheel.
Between 1975 and 1990, he won five 'Musician of the Year' awards from the Country Music Association and nine from the Academy of Country Music. Though he had a stroke in December 1999, Gimble continued making music well into his 80s, living up to the advice he gave anyone who asked: "Play every chance you get and be real lucky".
Gimble left a lasting influence on country music and while numerous young fiddlers have attempted to mimic his style over the years, he was frequently saying: "If you try to play like someone else, who will play like you?".