The 2014 autobiography of Ozark fiddle legend and long-time Silver Dollar City performer Violet Hensley, Whittlin’ and Fiddlin’ My Own Way: The Violet Hensley Story, has been formatted for digital release, and will be available April 30 on the Kindle platform.
Hensley, now 108 years old, details the first nine decades of her life in this book, written with Randall Franks. It recalls her life growing up in Yellville, Arkansas, how she learned to fiddle in 1928, and was taught fiddle making by her father, George W. Brumley, in Alamo, AR starting in 1932.
She lived into her 50s, raising nine children, before renown came her way in the early days of Silver Dollar City in the late 1960s. Violet was a hit for her plainspokenness about her life, and her fiddle playing, appearing on television programs like The Beverly Hillbillies, Captain Kangaroo, On the Road with Charles Kuralt, and Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee.
This noted musician is a member of the National Fiddler Hall of Fame, and among the few female violin makers of the early 20th century. Hers is the story of a hardscrabble life of doing for yourself, followed by something of a charmed existence in the limelight.
Whittlin’ and Fiddlin’ My Own Way is still offered in paperback from online resellers, and pre-orders for the Kindle edition are enabled now at Amazon.
