Art Stamper, 71; Fiddler Who Helped Define Bluegrass
LA Times
Art Stamper, 71, a leading fiddle player who performed with the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, died Sunday in Louisville, Ky., after a four-year battle with throat cancer.
A member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, Stamper was a native of Hindman in eastern Kentucky and a longtime resident of Shepherdsville, near Louisville. His father, Hiram, was an accomplished old-time musician, and Stamper followed suit at age 9. He was a professional by 16 and joined Ralph and Carter Stanley’s band in 1952, just in time to help define a new genre of music eventually called bluegrass.
Stamper retired from a full-time music career in 1956 to raise a family. He returned to music full-time in 1978, sitting in with a variety of bands, including Monroe’s, and recording two highly regarded albums: “The Lost Fiddler” and “Goodbye Girls, I’m Going to Boston.”
