Byron Berline, a three-time national fiddle champion and a leading figure on the contemporary bluegrass music scene, died July 10, 2021 – just a few days after turning 77.
According to a family post on his Facebook page: “Byron suffered a stroke in the cerebellum which affected his coordination and vision. He was making improvements with his eyes and coordination, and getting stronger. After a few weeks he began aspirating food into his lungs which led to increased invasive treatments which he couldn’t recover from. Eventually his lungs gave up and so did his heart.”
Berline, who was born in Kansas and lived in Oklahoma, started playing fiddle at the age of five, and played on the Dillards’ Pickin’ and Fiddlin’ album (1965) while still in college. Just after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, he had a short stint with Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys in 1967, before being drafted into the U.S. Army. During that time, Berline co-wrote “Gold Rush,” now a jam session standard, with Monroe.
Here’s a link to short video of Berline and Mark O’Connor playing “Gold Rush” during a workshop at the 2016 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpzsasGvBc
Berline won the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest Championship in 1965, 1967 and 1970. He recorded two albums with The Flying Burrito Brothers, whom he joined in 1971, and briefly worked with Stephen Stills’ band Manassas following the Burrito’s breakup. In early 1972, he helped to form the band Country Gazette before launching Byron Berline and Sundance with guitarist Dan Crary, banjoist John Hickman and others a few years later. Vince Gill later joined the band on mandolin, an instrument that Berline also played.
In 1981, Berline helped form the band Berline, Crary, and Hickman. After a few personnel changes, that band later became California and was named Instrumental Group of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) for three consecutive years (1992, 1993 and 1994).
Berline moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma (his wife’s hometown) in 1995, where he owned and operated the Double Stop Fiddle Shop & Music Hall until his death. Jam sessions there led to the formation of The Byron Berline Band that toured throughout the U.S. and Europe. Although the original shop and most of his prized instruments were destroyed in a fire in 2019, Berline opened another one across the street from it.
Over the years, Berline also created the annual Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival, released several solo albums, and recorded with such notable artists as Alabama, The Byrds, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Denver, Joe Diffie, The Doobie Brothers, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Mickey Gilley, Emmylou Harris, Janis Ian, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Andy Statman, Rod Stewart, and Lucinda Williams. A number of film and television soundtracks have also featured his music. Berline was inducted into The National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2013.
Here’s a link to a 2017 video of Byron Berline in the studios of The Oklahoman discussing how he got into music and learned to play, among other things:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEmO3Lv39Ew
And here’s one of Berline performing in The Oklahoman’s studios:
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