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Herman Johnson: Professional Fiddler and Renowned Champion

Author: Mindy Wood
Issue: 2008 August

Few genres of music stir our hearts the way the early sounds of blue grass and country and western music do. What ancient instruments are to people in faraway lands, the fiddle is to the American soul. Its sound makes people remember the good old days when life was hard but simple, and music was everything.

Herman Johnson’s lively fiddle music is light-hearted yet full of vivacious energy. His style and uncommon skill, romanced together through this delicate instrument, have won him five national championships and numerous awards.

At 88 years old, Johnson has put an indelible mark on his genre in less than 40 years as a professional fiddle player. A few of his many accomplishments include winning the National Championship at Weiser, Idaho, and the Oklahoma State Championship in Tulsa; winning both the national and state contests five times; and accruing wins in the Grand Master’s in Nashville, Tennessee, the World Series of Fiddling in Langley, Oklahoma, and the World Championship Fiddlers in Crocket, Texas.

This long-time Shawnee resident has been inducted into four halls of fame: the Sacramento Western Swing Society Hall of Fame, the Seattle Western Swing Society Pioneers Hall of Fame, the North American Fiddler’s Hall of Fame and Weiser National Fiddler’s Hall of Fame. He’s even performed at the Grand Ole Opry.

He has also been an avid teacher, and has served on the board for the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Association for several years. One of his former students went on to play with Kenny Rogers, and another is a teacher with more than 150 performing students.

Johnson was raised in Sparks, Oklahoma, where he was surrounded by the music that would later shape his life. His father, grandfather, uncles and brothers all played the fiddle.

At the age of eight, Herman secretly developed a love for the instrument. “My brother would say, ‘Now don’t
you touch that fiddle.’ Then off he’d go and I’d pick it up.” But it didn’t take long for his family to see that he could not only be trusted with the instrument—he had an ear for it as well.

While learning, he played swing music he heard from the radio. Tommy Dorsey, Wayne King and Benny Goodman were among his heroes, but his favorite musician was Bob Wills of the Texas Playboys. At sixteen, Johnson and his brother decided to visit Wills, who was playing at a dance in Coffeyville, Kansas. They ultimately wanted to see what Wills thought about Johnson’s fiddling, and upon arriving in Coffeyville, Johnson played for his favorite musician. Though greatly impressed with his ability, Wills found that Johnson was too young to join the band.

He eventually played with the Oklahoma Ragtimers for KGFF radio in Shawnee, and later with the Harmony Boys on KRRV in Sherman, Texas.

In 1944, with a wife and three babies at home, he was drafted into the Army and stationed in Hamburg, Germany. While dodging the last of the snipers at the end of WWII, he managed to entertain the troops. “It made the troops feel like they were back home again,” said Johnson. “It was a lot of fun.”

He returned home in 1946 to raise a family and begin a career as a machinist for Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City. It wasn’t until 1960 that his career began to move. “I met a friend who was going with his dad to fiddling contests. We started playing together. He said, ‘Herman, why don’t we go up to Weiser, Idaho, and play in that national contest? We’ll stay in it as long as we’re in the running and then we’ll go on with our vacation.’ It just happened that we stayed in the running ‘til it was over and we won. I couldn’t believe it...I still can’t.”

Over the next few years, Johnson kept winning competitions, and today he remains an undefeated national champion. A few of his students have become national champions as well, and one student, Jeanine Orme, wrote a compilation of his music entitled, “Herman Johnson Master Fiddler.”

Johnson’s wife of 60 years passed away a few years ago, and though he recently suffered a stroke, he is still judging contests and occasionally teaching a lesson to champion hopefuls who travel to see his techniques.
Johnson’s most recent album, “Simply Perfect,” is available to purchase directly from Johnson at 405–275–0183.

For compositions, visit www.melbay.com.