Biography:Roy Bennett

ROY BENNETT (1895-1986) of Battletown, Meade County, Kentucky, who recorded it in a field recording by Bruce Greene in 1976. Meade County is in the extreme north-central part of the state, bounded on two sides by the Ohio River, across which is the state of Indiana, and Bennett's repertoire shows characteristics of both 'Northern' and 'Southern' fiddling styles. Bennett learned to fiddle at age seven and for much of his life played for local dances and get-togethers in the Meade County area. During the 1920's and 1930's he was one of the best contest fiddlers in central Kentucky and he continued to enter area contests until shortly before his death. There is a June, 1934, picture of Bennett performing (along with Frankie Bennett, Carl Embry, Andy Greer and Sherley Bennett) for a Christian church function in Meade County, Kentucky: A Pictorial History (2001, No. 908). Battletown, Ky., is also the place where renowned fiddler Clayton McMichen died in 1970).