{"id":253834,"date":"2026-07-28T16:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/253834\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T16:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:19:17","slug":"born-88-years-ago-today-in-pennsylvania-the-grammy-nominated-a-team-fiddler-who-recorded-with-virtually-every-major-country-star-across-three-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/253834\/","title":{"rendered":"Born 88 Years Ago Today in Pennsylvania, the Grammy-Nominated A-Team Fiddler Who Recorded With Virtually Every Major Country Star Across Three Decades"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name a country music A-lister who recorded between 1960 and 1989, and chances are they have enlisted Buddy Spicher\u2019s master fiddler skills. A member of the vaunted Nashville A-Team session musicians, Spicher has recorded with the likes of Reba McEntire, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Paycheck, George Jones, Ray Price<\/a>, and Willie Nelson\u2014just to name a few. You can also hear his distinct style on the 1970 Linda Ronstadt hit \u201cLong Long Time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re diving into the life and career of Norman Keith \u201cBuddy\u201d Spicher. He was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania, on this day (July 28) in 1938.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

Buddy Spicher Owes His Career to This Country Legend\u2019s Widow<\/p>\n

Growing up on a farm roughly 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Spicher learned to play rhythm guitar from his brother, Bill, and fiddle from his uncles.<\/p>\n

By age 13, he was playing with local bands on radio station\u00a0WCED.\u00a0At 15, he joined the<\/a> WWVA Jamboree\u00a0in Wheeling, West Virginia, as a staff musician. Not long after, he began playing professionally with Dusty Owens.<\/p>\n

Three years later, Audrey Williams\u2014widow of Hank Williams\u2014invited Spicher to move to Nashville. He spent the rest of the 1950s and much of the 1960s on the road, playing in the touring bands behind\u00a0Williams,\u00a0Hank Snow, and other stars.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he played in the the staff band on\u00a0The Wilburn Brothers Show as the resident fiddler.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

As a touring musician, Buddy Spicher has shared stages with Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, the Osborne Brothers, Ray Price, and Faron Young.<\/p>\n

A Prolific Session Career<\/p>\n

After spending the better part of two decades on the road, Buddy Spicher returned to Nashville<\/a> as a full-time session musician in 1968. <\/p>\n

He would go on to record with hundreds of country music\u2019s biggest names. Spicher\u2019s resume includes Country Music Hall of Fame members Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Roger Miller, Charley Pride, Marty Robbins, the Statler Brothers, Hank Thompson, and Bob Wills.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Spicher performed with the Nashville supergroup Area Code 615. Consisting mostly of younger session musicians, the group\u2019s members included Charlie McCoy, Bobby Thompson, and Weldon Myrick.<\/p>\n

Area Code 615 recorded two albums, one instrumental and one with vocals, before disbanding.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the Country Music Hall of Fame named Spicher as one of the \u201cNashville Cats\u201d, a designation given to musicians important in country music history.<\/p>\n

However, Spicher didn\u2019t only limit his talents to country music. He has recorded on songs by Rosemary Clooney, the Monkees, Joan Baez, Ian & Sylvia, and J.J. Cale.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: 5 Country Songs by The Monkees]<\/a><\/p>\n

An adjunct professor at Nashville\u2019s Belmont University until 2016, Buddy Spicher continues to tutor; and produce, write, and arrange songs.<\/p>\n

Featured image by Beth Gwinn\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name a country music A-lister who recorded between 1960 and 1989, and chances are they have enlisted Buddy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[108250,108251,6891,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-253834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-1930s","tag-buddy-spicher","tag-country-music","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}