Bonnie Rideout (born 1962 - Saline,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

USA) is an American fiddler. She is especially known for her traditional Scottish style and fiddle piobaireachd playing. She is a graduate of the

University of Michigan School of Music The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance (SMTD) is the undergraduate and graduate school for the performing arts of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The school was founded in 1880 as the Ann Arbor School of Music ...

. She is a recording artist, her touring career spanning three decades.

Background

Rideout was born into a musical family of Scots descent and grew up in the rural communities of Saline, Michigan and Cliff Island,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. Without television, her family spent much of their time playing music. Rideout attended Saline High School and studied under Robert Phillips. She graduated from the

. Rideout signed with the Maggie's Music Record Label between 1994 and 2001. In 2003 she incorporated her own independent record label, Tulloch Music, Ltd. Rideout's popular album, ''A Scottish Christmas'', became a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''‚ "Top Ten Holiday Best Seller". Its success prompted a touring show, which ran for over fifteen years across North America. Her popular recording, "Gi' Me Elbow Room" received the National Parent's Choice Gold Award. In 2007, the Mel Bay Publishing Company credited Rideout as one of America's most influential traditional fiddlers of the 20th century. She is a member of the

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

(NARAS), having served on the Board of Governors for the

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

branch. Rideout is the only American to hold the honor of representing Scottish fiddle music at the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

. She is the first woman to hold the National Scottish Fiddle title and the youngest to have garnered the U.S. Championship, winning it for three consecutive years. Rideout discontinued competing to become an adjudicator and professional recording artist and has maintained a consistently high profile in the Celtic music scene.

Reception

Bonnie Rideout has been featured on the BBC, CBS,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

‚

Performance Today ''Performance Today'' is a classical music radio program, first aired in 1987 and hosted since 2000 by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations. ...

, and

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

. She is also consistently played on NPR's The Thistle and Shamrock. In addition to authoring seven music books for

Mel Bay Publications Melbourne Earl Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997), known professionally as Mel Bay, was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His '' Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'', first published in 197 ...

, Bonnie has recorded over fifteen solo albums and appeared as a guest artist on dozens of CDs for Sony, BMG, Time Life, EMI, Ryco Disc, Maggie's‚ Music, Dorian, and Rounder Records. In 2003, she incorporated her own record label, Tulloch Music, Ltd.

Discography

Feature Projects

*''Soft May Morn - MM208 - 1991, 1994'' *''Celtic Circles - MM209 - 1994'' *''Kindred Spirits - MM214 - 1996'' *''A Scottish Christmas - MM215 - 1996'' *''Gi' Me Elbow Room - MM219 - 1998'' *''Scottish Fire - MM222 - 2000'' *''Scottish Rant - MM223 - 2000'' *''Scottish Reflections - MM225 - 2003'' *''Scottish Inheritance - TM501 - 2003'' *''A Scottish Christmas, THE CELEBRATION - TM502 - 2004'' *''Bonnie Rideout LIVE - TM503 - 2005'' *''Scottish Fiddle Collection - MM306 - 2006'' *''Scotland's Fiddle Piobaireachd - Vol. I - TM504 - 2010'' *''HARLAW, Scotland 1411 - TM505 - 2011'' *''Scotland's Fiddle Piobaireachd, Vol. II - TM506 - 2012''

Collaboration Projects

*''Music in the Great Hall/Ensemble Galilei - MM226 -1992'' *''Ancient Noels/Ensemble Galilei - MM108 - 1994'' *''Celtic Roots/Hesperus - MM220 - 1999'' *''The Art of Robert Burns I - SCTM001 - 2003'' *''The Art of Robert Burns II - SCTM002 - 2005''

DVD

*''A Scottish Christmas, Featuring Bonnie Rideout - 2001''

Musicians Bonnie Rideout has recorded with

Bryan Aspey, Matt Bell, Barnaby Brown, The City of Washington Pipe Band, Chris Caswell, Tony Cuffe, John Doyle, Ensemble Galilei, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Paula and Charlie Glendinning,

Grace Griffith Grace Bernadette Griffith (née Sisson; October 30, 1956 – June 5, 2021) was a folk and Celtic singer based in Washington, D.C. She has been honored with multiple Wammie awards by the Washington Area Music Association. In 1998, she was diagnos ...

, Grant Herreid,

Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus (; ) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. A son of the dawn goddess Eos ( Roman Aurora), he is the half-brother of her other son, Phosphorus (also called Eosphorus; the "Morning Star"). Hesperus' Rom ...

, Steve Holloway, Andy Hunter, Billy Jackson, Linda Kirk, Allan MacDonald, Ronn MacFarlane, Kevin McCrae, Patrick Molard, The Musicians of Edinburgh, Abby Newton, Chris Norman, Simon O'Dwyer, Jerry O'Sullivan, Al Petteway, John Purser, Sue Richards, Betty Rideout, Eric Rigler,

Maggie Sansone Maggie Sansone is a hammered dulcimer player and recording artist from Miami, Florida. Biography Sansone started recording her music in 1984. Since then, she has made over a dozen recordings, both solo and as a guest artist or in collaboration w ...

, Elizabeth Stewart,

Sweet Honey in the Rock Sweet Honey in the Rock are an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are a three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song, dance, and sign language. Originally a four-person en ...

, Bill Taylor, Athena Tergis.

Record Labels representing Bonnie Rideout

Tulloch Music, Virtual Label LLC,

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

Time Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

, Maggie's Music, Dorian,

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

, and Scotstown Music.

External links

*
Bio page on Bonnie Rideout's website
' *
Bonnie Rideout's Non-profit Foundation
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rideout, Bonnie 1962 births Living people American fiddlers University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni People from Saline, Michigan 21st-century American violinists Sony BMG artists EMI Records artists Rykodisc artists Rounder Records artists