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DePue named “Fiddle Champ”
Athens, Ala. – Alex DePue was named “Fiddle Champion” at the 40th annual Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention at Athens State University on Saturday night.
DePue of Philadelphia, Penn., won the title by winning the “fiddle off” which traditionally pits the top fiddlers from the junior and senior divisions. Wayne Jerrolds of Savannah, Tenn., finished runner-up. DePue, who won the junior fiddle division, earned the convention’s top prize of $1,000. He also was awarded a fiddle. It was DePue’s first convention championship.
The convention is sponsored by the Athens State University Foundation and the Athens-Limestone Chamber of Commerce. The convention has contributed more than $500,000 to Athens State to fund student scholarships and university projects.
- Athens State University
Alex DePue is that rogue fiddler you've heard about. Rogue in that he prefers to play swing and bluegrass over the classical playing for which his family is famed. (Ask him how many orchestra members there are among his sibs; I've lost count!) Putting that classical touch and tone to the service of rhythmically compelling music leads to some breathtaking playing. (Saturday)
—M.A. - Philadelphia City Paper
"He chooses great tunes and great collaborators. (Alex DePue is one of my favorite musicians) and Mike Ihde and the others made this project more than an instrumental steel guitar album. It's GREAT MUSIC. Mike also did a great job with the cover art. Jim also has a great ear for an arrangement and we all know he's an excellent steel guitarist. A Great Album for driving down the road!" -- Larry Bell, Michigan Steel Guitar Hall of Fame - CDbaby
Discography
The Fiddler - 2000
Alex DePue Live
Working on 2nd Studio Release
see: myspace.com/alexdepue
Streaming Myspace tracks updated regularly.
Photos
Bio
THE FIDDLERAlex DePue
Alexander Paul DePue, the second of four sons born to Wallace Sr. and the late Linda DePue was born into a musical family. His father is a professor of music; his mother was a concert pianist. Following in his older brothers footsteps, he began taking violin lessons at age five. He has studied classical violin with Dr. Bernard Linden, Dr. Paul Makara, and Camilla Wicks.
Alex won his first major competition at age 10 and has continued to win competitions and appear as a guest soloist with orchestras and at festivals nationwide. In 1988, he won a competition that entitled him to perform at Carnegie Hall with the National Guild Youth Orchestra under the direction of Joseph Silverstein. Alex has appeared with the Bowling Green State University (OH) Orchestra, the Flint (MI) Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo (OH) Symphony Orchestra, the Bowling Green (OH) Symphony, the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Hamilton-Fairfield (OH) Symphony, and the Clermont (OH) Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also performed at the Batiquitos Music Festival (La Jolla, CA) and the Angel Fire Music Festival (NM).
Alex attended Bowling Green State University as a violin performance major. While attending school, he organized and played (viola) in the universitys first undergraduate string quartet.
Despite all of his classical training, Alex also has an interest in improvisational music, or "fiddling. He became interested in fiddling at age seven, and began competing in old-time fiddle contests at the age of 12. He has won numerous trophies and has held the Mid-American, Ohio, and Wood County fiddling champion titles. Alex reigned as the Michigan State Fiddling Champion from 1994-1998; won the first-place trophy at the Walnut Valley National Fiddling Championship in Winfield, Kansas in 1999 and 2005; and won first place in the Halletsville, TX Gone to Texas National Fiddling Championship in 2000. He has been ranked among the top 10 fiddlers in the nation at the Grand Masters Fiddling Championship (Nashville, TN). In 2005, Alex placed fourth at the GMFC. Alex toured with Capitol Recording artist Chris Cagle from 2000-2006, with whom he regularly appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Television, Great American Country, and VH1 Country. Alex also held the position of Musical Director for Cagle.
In addition to performing, Alex is a published composer and arranger of music. At age seven, he and his older brother, Wallace Jr., tied for first place in a field of 250 contestants in a composition contest offered by a Toledo Symphony support group. He also won first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs national composition contest. He is currently arranging music for the DePue Brothers, composed of Alex, Wallace Jr., and their younger brothers Jason and Zachary. Recognized as the 1989 Outstanding Musical Family of the Year by former president George Bush, the group performs for sell-out audiences nationwide. They produced their first CD, Classical Grass in 2003. With this CD, the DePue Brothers introduce a new style of music to mainstream America. This style combines great classical music with a bluegrass feel, as traditional folk instruments will be used in the arrangements.
Alex has a self-produced CD available which features pieces he arranged and/or composed. He is in the process of working on his second CD. In addition to his own CD, he has produced recordings for other singers and instruments, and records sessions in his off time from the tour. With his brothers, Alex played on the soundtrack for the Philadelphia Orchestra documentary, Music from the Inside Out. Alex also composed one of the pieces recorded for the documentary.
With a background in both classical violin and fiddling, and an ability to play not only the violin but also the viola, mandolin, guitar, double bass, percussion, and piano, Alex is an artist that can produce any style of music.
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