Jenee Fleenor is an American musician. A singer-songwriter, she plays the fiddle,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and has performed with various musicians and bands. In 2019, she became the first woman to be nominated and to win the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

's Musician of the Year and the first fiddle player to win the award in over 20 years. She has subsequently won the award a further three consecutive times. Fleenor has performed with artists including Jon Pardi,

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single " Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...

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Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relo ...

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, and

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second co ...

. She has written songs for many of the same musicians, as well as

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, Montgomery Gentry, Del McCoury and Gord Bamford.

Early life

Fleenor was born in

Springdale, Arkansas Springdale is the fourth-largest city in Arkansas, United States. It is located in both Washington and Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas. Located on the Springfield Plateau deep in the Ozark Mountains, Springdale has long been an important ...

. She started learning to play the violin when she was three-years-old. She studied the

Suzuki method The Suzuki method is a music curriculum and teaching philosophy dating from the mid-20th century, created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki (1898–1998). The method aims to create an environment for learning music which para ...

of playing. She played alongside her parents, with her mother playing the piano and her father the violin. Fleenor started playing the fiddle, at the age of five, after hearing the song ''

Faded Love "Faded Love" is a Western swing song written by Bob Wills, his father John Wills, and his brother, Billy Jack Wills. The tune is considered to be an exemplar of the Western swing fiddle component of American fiddle. The melody came from an 185 ...

'' by

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although ...

. She became a fiddle player for the band at a local opry house when she was ten. She found influence in the playing of many Nashville musicians including Brent Mason, Paul Franklin, Rob Hajacos, Mark O’Connor, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Warner and Vince Gill to name a few. She relocated to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

in 2001 to attend college. She sat in with a bluegrass band during a show and

Larry Cordle Larry Cordle (born November 16, 1948) is an American country and bluegrass singer-songwriter . Cordle is most famous for his song "Murder on Music Row", which was recorded by George Strait and Alan Jackson and received the Country Music Associ ...

asked her a few days later to perform with him. She quit college and became full time musician.

Career

Fleenor plays fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar. She also is a singer-songwriter. Early in her career, she toured with

and

. In the 2010s, she began playing mandolin and acoustic guitar to compensate for low industry demand for fiddle. She was named the

's Touring Musician of the Year in 2015. She began performing with Jon Pardi, a neotraditional singer-songwriter credited with helping to keep traditional instruments in popular country. She performed fiddle on Pardi's 2019 album '' Heartache Medication'', including the song by the same title. In 2019, she released her debut album, ''Fiddle & Steel''. That same year, she was nominated for, and awarded, the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year Award, the first for a woman. That same year, she was nominated for the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country musi ...

's Speciality Instrument Player of the Year Award, the only woman to ever be nominated for the award. Fleenor has toured with

, Jon Pardi and

. She also performed in the house band on '' The Voice''. In 2023 she helped launch an American acoustic all-star band, Wood Box Heroes with Josh Martin, Barry Bales, Seth Taylor and Matt Menefee.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleenor, Jenee American bluegrass fiddlers American country fiddlers People from Springdale, Arkansas Country musicians from Arkansas Living people 21st-century American composers 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American women writers American country singer-songwriters American women country singers American women singer-songwriters Country musicians from Tennessee Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women composers 21st-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Arkansas