I had a short conversation one night in Nashville with Joe Spivey the fiddle player in the band. He was playing in the house band at the Scoreboard sports bar and his playing was so spot on. I was never a fiddle fan until seeing Joe play. He was always the right tone and never overpowered the sound like so many fiddle players do.
It's funny how when you hear greatness you know it.
Joe Spivey - A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Joe Spivey has been playing fiddle since he was 16, influenced primarily by the great Chubby Wise and Tommy Jackson. After working at a gospel radio station (where he eventually rose to the rank of program director), he served from 1977 to 1982 as the music director for the revamped Louisiana Hayride. In 1984, he moved to Colorado Springs and formed Cimarron, a band that went on to win the state championship in the Marlboro Country Music Roundup competition. Spivey moved on to Nashville in 1986 and joined John Anderson’s band in July of that year. He continues to tour with Anderson. As a studio musician, he has recorded with Anderson, Merle Haggard, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, Hank Williams Jr., Clay Walker and many others. His hobbies include studying music history and collecting cameras and Victrola phonographs.
Joe Spivey was inducted into The National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2017.