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Chad's interest in fiddle music was first piqued when his family moved three houses down from Lundin's Violins, the central shop for the many fiddlers in Spokane, Washington. At the age of 8, Chad befriended the Lundins and by the end of the year he was taking old-time fiddle lessons in their shop. Chad joined the Junior Hoedowners, a fiddle group that played local events around the area as well as the fiddle competitions, introducing him to the world of contest fiddling.
His family also developed an interest in fiddling which gave Chad and his siblings the opportunity to spend much of their life engulfed in music. Each year Chad would travel to the fiddle contests. He has won a number of titles including two Washington State Junior Fiddle Championships and placing in the top five in the Junior and Adult divisions at the National Old Time Fiddler's Contest held in Weiser, Idaho.
At Weiser Chad was introduced to the fiddling of Jimmy Don Bates, Matt Hartz, Joey Mckenzie and other Texas Style players. Recording as many jam sessions and collecting as many Texas recordings as he could Chad delved into Texas-Style fiddling, inspired by great players and innovators such as Benny Thomasson, Orville Burns, Major Franklin and the late Terry Morris.
As a teen Chad's love of Texas Oldtime fiddling crossed into Western Swing and since then Chad has continued to passionately explore, study and enjoy the roots of oldtime and bluegrass fiddling.
While Chad attended Whitman and then Whitworth College in Washington State he and his family formed country band Homeward Bound playing at fairs and festivals. The band produced two CDs of orginial country music that were favorites on the airwaves throughout the Pacific Northwest. After graduating from college with degrees in Creative Writing, Literature and Philosophy Chad moved to San Francisco to pursue his writing and continue playing music. Since his move to the Bay Area, Chad's writing has appeared in a number of literary journals and he has recorded two solo albums, In the Midst and Old Gnarly Oak.
For the last 6 years Chad has been a member of The David Grisman Bluegrass Experience alongside Jim Nunally, Keith Little, Sam Grisman and his long-time musical hero David Grisman. Chad has been fortunate to get to play in bands with many of his favorite musicians including J.D. Crowe, Tony Trischka, Scott Nygaard, Alan Munde, Rob Ickes, Ronnie McCoury, Herschel Sizemore, Ron Block, Laurie Lewis, Mike Compton, Bill Evans, Ivan Rosenberg and Michael Manring. This year, Chad also had the opportunity to play on stage with The Del McCoury Band, Chris Thile, Noam Pickelny, Gabe Witcher, Sam Bush and Vince Gill.
