Albums
McAdoo Fiddles – Sample Tunes
Moonlight on the Colorado – Sample Tunes
The Cat and His Fiddle – Sample Tunes
Stephenson Family Tradition – Sample Tunes
JOE STEPHENSON
Texas Tradition
Dickens County named for J. Dickens who died at the Alamo lies above The Caprock on the High Plains of West Texas. It’s home to the Pitchfork Ranch and a small town called McAdoo. Nearby there was maybe still is a farmhouse where Nathan and Jewel Stephenson, fiddle and piano played the old tunes.(Read more)
I met Joe in Plainview, Texas one night when played a country dance with our friend Lynn Daniel. I had just begun to play fiddle at the time and on our home back to Lubbock Joe told his story of growing up and how he learned to play.
“My first memory had been to hear the clunk of piano pedals from where Mom kept me in bassinet as she backed up Dad. Later on when I was just a kid Dad would have me clamp my teeth onto the fiddle scroll while he played the old tunes into my head.”
And that’s not all. The Stephenson’s farmed outside McAdoo but took fiddle very seriously. So Nathan, a third generation fiddler gave Joe a choice.
“You can practice or plow.”
I hesitate to brag on the accomplishments that followed. I’ll let his music speak for itself. What’s important is the gift he received from God and can share with others.
