David Blackmon

About me:

I started classical violin training at the age of 9. I took up fiddling a couple of years after that. My father, brother and I started a Bluegrass band...The Crackerland Bluegrass Boys around then. Played in numerous regional bands through my teens. In 1981 I joined Jerry Reeds band and moved to Nashville TN. Did that through 1984. Moved back to Athens GA and started playing with The Normaltown Flyers. Around 1987 a then local band Widespread Panic asked me to play fiddle on there first album Space Wrangler. Then I started playing some shows with them off and on all over the country. The most memorable of those times was the Sit and Ski tour 1996. I've been lucky enough to share the stage and play with some of the greats. Benny Martin, Vassar Clements, Col. Bruce Hampton, Derek Trucks, Glen Campbell, Jerry Reed....to name a few. I now play in Blueground Undergrass and play with my wife in a new project called Curley Maple. I had a life changing experience in 1999. I broke my neck and was paralized from the neck down. The people who knew more than I did said my chances of walking were slim and playing the fiddle was even less. Well, I am walking again and playing the fiddle too. People wonder why I always sit when I play....becuase it hurts like hell to stand for any length of time.... end of story. I wake up every day thankful for being alive and given a second chance playing music !! Inspiration: Vassar Clements, Byron Berline, Richard Greene, Darol Anger, Mark O'Conner Chris Thile, Stuart Duncan, Aubrey Haynie, Casey Driessen, David Grisman, Sam Bush, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruuggs, The Stanley Bros., Scotty Stoneman, Benny Martin, Kenny Baker, Chubby Wise, Tim O'Brien, John Hartford, Flatt and Scruggs, New Grass Revival, Area Code 615, Mac Gayden, Barefoot Jerry, Stanley Brothers, David Grisman, Col. Bruce Hampton, Jerry Reed, WSP, Mike Marshall, John Doyle, Liz Carroll, Joe Craven, Richard Thompson, Solas, Allman Bros., Al White Motors, Bennie Garrick, Arnie Swinson, Barney Swinson, Roscoe Garrick, Dell's Den, John Bean, Lee Roy Mercer, Bill Morgan, Roy Mullens...........also see www.myspace.com/bluegroundundergrass and www.myspace.com/curleymaple