howdyforrester.com
Country Music Passion
"FIDDLER OF THE OPRY"
The ONLY book on Howdy Forrester ever written !
Fiddler of the Opry, the Howdy Forrester Story contains 250+ pages, detailing the life of Big Howdy Forrester (1922-1987), the doyenne of Nashville fiddlers, and longest-running fiddler on the Grand Ole Opry.
The book contains 9 chapters, all named for original Forrester compositions; the first eight tell the story of Howdy’s work and life, while the last chapter analyzes his music and his playing style. The information is substantiated with nearly 500 foot notes.
The book opens with a Foreword by Robert Cogswell, Director of the Folk Life Division for the Tennessee State Arts Commission. Also included are lead-sheets from all 12 of the tunes on Howdy’s United Artist album, tunes he wrote himself, along with note-for-note transcriptions of ten other tunes and arrangements of Forrester. There are dozens of photographs portraying Howdy’s life, a discography of all the albums on which he played, and a substantial bibliography, clearly enough information and music to keep scholars busy and musicians playing for a long time to come.
Here's a sample from chapter 2 of the book:
By now the school year had ended, and Joe Forrester had finished the 11th grade, which was all the formal schooling he was to receive. The Forrester family had no money so Joe quit school and began looking for a job to help support the family. Luckily, he didn't find one right away, because Herald Goodman had booked the band to go on a tour of east Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Howard and Joe’s mother did not want them to go on the road. Howard was only 16, and Emmie feared for his safety, his sanity, and his health. She knew there would be many temptations out on the road, alcohol and loose women among them. But Herald Goodman reassured her, saying “I will take good care of your boys for you, as if they were my own sons.” And according to Joe, Herald made good on that promise, keeping them out of trouble and gainfully employed. For years after, he would introduce them to people as “his sons.”
They were in mining country for most of this tour, and John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers, was king—or God, as the locals said. Lewis had just forced the mine owners to shore up the mines, which saved many miners’ lives. Herald Goodman was a big jokester and was always threatening to lampoon Lewis at one of their performances. This gave Arthur Smith fits, as he was sure Goodman was going to get them all killed! Fortunately, Goodman never carried out his threat.
In any event, Arthur Smith was the “featured performer” in their group, doing the solo work. Howard played backup to Arthur. By this time, Herald Goodman, with his penchant for naming things, had changed Howard’s name to Howdy, and more specifically, Big Howdy. Howard never liked his new name much, but it stuck to him. Howard’s family continued to call him Howard, but to audiences across the country, he would become Big Howdy Forrester.
The band traveled in a 4-door 1937 black Chrysler Royal, with their name, Tennessee Valley Boys, painted on each door. Sometimes, when they stopped along the road to ask for directions, people seemed afraid to talk to them. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was young in those days, and Joe Forrester opined, “Maybe they thought that we were government men!” In any event, most of the time there were seven people plus instruments in that car, not very comfortable for a long trip.
The schedule Goodman worked out for them was daunting, and probably only their youth and their dreams of fame and fortune kept them going. According to Joe Forrester’s journal he kept, their itinerary for May was as follows:
Date / Location / Earnings
May 5 Ritz Theatre, Livingston, TN $ 2.00
May 6 High School, Waynesboro, TN Expenses Only
May 7 Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, TN $ 3.00
May 8 Allen Theatre, Liberty, KY $ 2.00
May 12 Highland Theatre, Kingsport, TN $ 3.00
May 13 Star Theatre, Salyersville, KY Expenses Only
May 14 Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, TN $ 3.00
May 15 Strand Theatre, Dawson Springs, KY $ 3.00
May 16 Northcuts Core School, McMinnville $ 2.00
May 19 High School, Red Boiling Springs $ 2.50
May 20 School, Pelham, TN $ 0
May 21 Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, TN $ 1.00
May 22 Gate City Theatre, Catlettsburg $ 1.50
May 23 Gate City Theatre, Catlettsburg $ 1.50
May 27 Grand Theatre, Ironton, OH $ 0
May 28 Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, TN
Monthly Total - $ 24.50
As Joe’s ledger book shows, the Tennessee Valley Boys could wander far from Nashville during the week, but they had to be back in town each Saturday night to play the Opry. The great entertainer Roy Acuff once said of the Opry: “I mean, once you got on [the Opry], you stayed. It was that simple. And you played every Saturday night, no matter where you went during the week; you got back to Nashville on Saturday night, and only a death in the family—say, your own—would excuse an absence.”
About the author:
Author Gayel Pitchford is an old-time fiddler with shelves full of trophies won in fiddle contests which attest to her playing ability. She became interested in Howdy Forrester after hearing his playing on a fiddle anthology CD. She transcribed the tune, learned to play it, and as she does with things which truly interest her, pursued information on Howdy Forrester with a vengeance. Unfortunately, there was very little in print about this “giant among fiddlers.” Her nearly five years of research culminated in this book, Fiddler of the Opry, where she makes his story and his music available to fiddlers and fiddle enthusiasts alike.
Pitchford began piano lessons at age 5, after she came home from Sunday School and picked out “Jesus Loves Me” on the old upright piano in their living room. She had always heard music in a special way and would add little improvisations and licks to the pieces in her lesson, for which her piano teacher soundly punished her. After a time, she began to campaign to play the violin, so she could get away from the abusive teacher and yet still play music. She began violin at nine, learning classical music and yet taking the tunes they had learned in singing class and moving them onto the violin and piano—tunes like “Red River Valley,” “Comin’ Around the Mountain,” and “Arkansas Traveler,” without ever knowing she was actually doing fiddling.
In those days Conservative Baptists didn’t dance, so she was never exposed to square dancing and fiddle music, but clearly her heart was there.
Music has been her life-long avocation, and she taught herself to play guitar and sing folk songs, paying for part of her college education by singing and playing for shows and hootenannies. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies from California State University at Los Angeles and a Master’s Degree from the University of Redlands.
After a long career as a Vice President of Human Resources, coupled with 28 years spent in the Naval Reserve, Pitchford took early retirement and moved to Tehachapi, a small town in the mountains north of Mojave and east of Bakersfield, CA. Music soon began her vocation . She began teaching violin and viola lessons and then discovered the “genre” of fiddling and began teaching all her students to fiddle as well. She plays in fiddle contests all over the West and performs as Fiddlin’ Red Hattie with her band, the Friends of Hattie Band, always wearing her signature red hat. They play for shows, dances, parties and an occasional political rally.
She is the Concertmaster of the national award-winning Tehachapi Community Orchestra and conducts the Tehachapi Junior String Orchestra and Carden School Orchestra. She serves as State Director for District 3 of the California State Old Time Fiddlers Association and is a member of the American String Teachers’ Association, American Symphony Orchestra League, and Association of California Symphony Orchestras. She also plays first violin in the string quartet “Four with a Score.” She has composed a number of fiddle tunes and is currently working on a classical piece, The Prague Sonata, for violin and piano.
