Friday night when I played The Friday Night Fight I had said that I thought Jimmy De Martini from The Zac Brown Band was the best fiddler in country music.  Immediately I thought, "well hang on now, you might be forgetting someone."  What about Charlie Daniels???  Doesn't he set the standard for fiddle players in country music?

I think that the fiddle is the instrument in country music that I love the most.  Every other genre has guitars and drums and keyboards but I can't really think of too many bands outside of the country genre that needs a fiddle on their equipment truck.  There's just nothing like the sound of it.

So this weekend I've been trying to weigh it out in my mind.  Who is the best fiddler in modern country music?  Now I'm not talking about a guy in a bluegrass band from way back.  I've heard some great fiddle from Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys and more.  But I'm talking about a guy who has had a hit since the 80's.  There are some great bluegrass fiddle players but I'm trying to keep this narrowed down at least a little bit.

I'll never forget when I saw Charlie Daniels at The Erie County Fair in 2004 and he just abused that bow he was using.  There was rosin flying and strings being broken.  It was really something to see!

The same could be said for Jimmy De Martini and the Zac Brown Band.  I saw him at CMAC in 2009 and was just in awe when he played his intro for "Free".

Here are some videos of both of them playing "The Devil Went Down To Georgia".  You decide...

Charlie Daniels

 

Jimmy De Martini

 

 

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