Jim Shumate, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJim Shumate
American musician
Date of Birth: 21-Oct-1921
Date of Death: 10-Oct-2013
Profession: fiddler
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About Jim Shumate
- Jim Shumate (October 21, 1921 – October 10, 2013) was a fiddler that played with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys from 1943–1945.
- Shumate's main influences were Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Curly Fox, and his uncle who played the fiddle while he was growing up.
- Shumate joined the band after Bill Monroe heard him playing on the radio station WHKY from downtown Hickory, North Carolina, and asked him to join the Blue Grass Boys.
- Howdy Forrester, who was Bill Monroe's fiddle player at the time, gave his notice and was going into the Navy.
- At age 20, Shumate became the fiddler for the Blue Grass Boys, and he sang bass on gospel songs.
- During this time, the Blue Grass Boys were also a baseball team, so they would arrive early to towns they were playing at and challenge the local baseball team.
- Unfortunately, there were no recordings made while Shumate was in the Blue Grass Boys. During a visit to Nashville, Shumate met Earl Scruggs, who he knew because they were both from Hickory, North Carolina, and encouraged Scruggs to audition for Bill Monroe.
- During the time that Scruggs auditioned for Monroe, the band members were Jim Shumate, Lester Flatt, Sally Ann Forrester, Jim Andrews.
- By the next week, Howdy Forrester had returned from the Navy.
- He came back to play fiddle for the Blue Grass Boys and Jim Shumate left to work in the furniture business in North Carolina.
- Although Shumate convinced Earl Scruggs to audition for Monroe's band, he did not end up playing when Scruggs joined.
- In 1948, the band members of the Blue Grass Boys changed again.
- Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs started their own band, The Foggy Mountain Boys, with Cedric Rainwater and Jim Eanes.
- Soon after, Jim Shumate joined them and played the fiddle on their first recording session.
- That same year, he competed against some of the best fiddlers in the United States and won the National Fiddler's Convention in Richlands, Virginia.
- He was known for his innovative, bluesy fiddle style and his mastery of syncopation and speed. In 1995, Jim Shumate received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award.
- He performed as a solo artist, composed sacred songs, and also played with his band, Sons of the Carolinas.
- In his final years, Jim had been battling kidney failure and dementia.
- On October 7, 2013 he became very ill.
- The next day, he took a serious fall and was taken to the hospital.
- He was later transferred to Catawba Regional Hospice near his home in Hickory, North Carolina where he died at the age of 91.
Read more at Wikipedia