If you went around the state of Florida right now, looking for evidence of a regional fiddle style unique to Florida, you may be disappointed. In the variety of styles of fiddling you hear, nothing seems to be common to all the fiddlers, or even predominant in the majority. But, there is an interesting little secret about Florida fiddling that I hope to reveal in this essay.

Let’s start by looking at the most influential three fiddlers who come from Florida, Erwin Rouse, Chubby Wise, and Vassar Clements.

Erwin Rouse wrote the most popular fiddle tune in the world, Orange Blossom Special. He was known as a highly entertaining fiddler, doing fiddle tricks and cutting up on stage. He said that the mega popular fiddle tune was based on an earlier blues song he wrote.

Chubby Wise was contemporary with Erwin Rouse and may have helped him put together Orange Blossom Special in its final form. That’s a matter of contention with folks. Chubby said he helped write it, and I believe he did.

What is not questioned is the part he played in developing the signature sound of Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys. Chubby’s bluesy style of playing leads on the fiddle remains popular in bluegrass to this day.

When Vassar Clements joined The Bluegrass Boys, he pleased Bill Monroe with his ability to play the Chubby Wise version of the band’s repertory. He went on from there to create a unique style that was his signature sound. It was unmistakable when you heard it. It was bluesy, rakish, jazzy and often a mind boggling display of musical genius.

These three titans of fiddling, taken together, suggest that blues is the common denominator of Florida fiddling. And yet, if you travel around the state, you will not find this to be true.

At one place you find a strong contingent of ardent Appalachian style fiddlers. In many places you find contra dance style the governing genre. And all over you find fiddlers in bluegrass bands playing classic bluegrass style.

Here’s another clue. I’ve noticed that most of the younger fiddlers have a pull towards Irish fiddling. They are playing the tunes and using the ornaments associated with the Irish folk music tradition.

While younger fiddlers are expanding into Irish fiddling, two preeminent Irish fiddlers, Eileen Ivers and Liz Carroll, are showing influence of American style fiddling.

When I heard Eileen Ivers in concert play Rights of Man I woke up to the new reality. Her extreme bluesy playing on this tune said, “Tradition doesn’t matter. If the music is in your heart to play, just do it.”

Despite some grumbling against this by traditionalists, the writing is on the wall. Blues and jazz, the uniquely American contribution to world music, must infect other traditions. It’s only a matter of time.

Similarly, Liz Carroll’s Potato on the Door could be a Texas style tune with Irish ornaments. When she plays her original tunes and even traditional tunes on her last three albums, you can hear her go “outside” briefly on many of them with a melodic or rhythmic jazzy lick.

Today we describe the combination of two musical styles as fusion. This term is so widely used for so many combinations, it cannot stand as a unique style unto itself. There is no one unique fusion that dominates a common genre as does rock, or folk, or jazz.

If we were allowed to apply the term fusion retroactively, we might say the three fiddlers described earlier were fusionist in spirit.

My conjecture, then, it that fusion is the key to Florida fiddle style. To illustrate the point, I could say I know two fiddlers in Florida who incorporate Stephane Grappelli into their bluegrass licks. It’s a fusion move.
Florida is such an amalgam of cultures and traditions, it is no surprise that fusion fiddling would find a home here. We are almost comfortable being the cutting edge of folk tradition.