Grayson County’s own master fiddle player Jimmy Mattingly has been inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.
Mattingly was inducted Saturday night at the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center in Mt. Vernon. He was inducted by former Russell Spring resident and longtime singer/songwriter Steve Wariner (see Mattingly and Wariner perform at Mattingly’s induction by clicking here).
“Mattingly started playing fiddle at the age of eight. At 18, he won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship, earning him his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry as a guest of Roy Acuff,” the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame said.
Mattingly, who was raised in Eveleigh, began performing with Garth Brooks in 1995, and has entertained over 14 million fans on “Brooksʼ record-breaking tours, including more than three million on the Garth Brooks Stadium Tour, which averaged 95,000 tickets per city.”
Mattingly got his start touring and recording with the iconic Dolly Parton in 1989 and has toured and recorded periodically with her since then. He has also toured with Wariner, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Rogers, and the Forester Sisters.
Mattingly was a founding member of the two-time Grammy®-nominated Rounder Records bluegrass group, The Grascals, earning back-to-back International Bluegrass Music Association Awards for Entertainer of the Year.
Last year, Mattingly was inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame.
“When I was first starting out, I only thought of playing better each day and working on perfecting what I already knew. I wasn’t sure what direction it would take me, but I was excited about the ride,” Mattingly told K105 when he learned of his National Fiddler Hall of Fame induction.
Leitchfield Mayor Harold Miller, who has counted Mattingly among his close friends for over four decades, remembers the fiddle ace being a major influence on other Grayson County musicians from an early age.
“I distinctly remember when Jimmy Mattingly came to town. We were kids who had started in the orchestra program and had dabbled with fiddle very little,” Miller said at the time. “Up until that time we had experimented with fiddle, but the extent of our fiddling came from handwritten Irish jigs (of which I still have). But Jimmy came to town packing fiddle music with him and we were all smitten with the music he was making. I truly think if Jimmy hadn’t moved here, and represented the music the way he did, you wouldn’t see the plethora of fiddle players that you see in the community today.”
While Mattingly influenced Miller and other young musicians in Grayson County decades ago, the electrifying fiddle player gives a nod of appreciation to his family and friends for allowing his talent to flourish.
“There are so many people that have helped me along the way. The support of my mom, Carol, my dad, Edward, and my wife, Ginger, and entire family have been a huge blessing and support in my life,” Mattingly stated. “Charlie Butler, who drove me to many competitions as a young teenager; it wouldn’t have been possible without him. (And) Danny Roberts and so many other wonderful friends have been a blessing and inspiration to me.”
As important as those people were in the growth of Mattingly as a fiddle player, it was a memorable Grayson County music teacher who Mattingly credits with pushing him to become the astonishing musician he is today.
“Jesse Haycraft, my teacher (and creator of the orchestra program in Grayson Co.), pushed me to places musically I would have never gone without his confidence in me. He was a genius,” Mattingly exclaimed.
Jimmy Mattingly’s induction into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
