Amber’s Biography
I grew up listening to lots of music; I always remember music being played through at
least one stereo at all times in our house. I also have very early memories of attending
bluegrass festivals and jam sessions. My parents did a great job laying the foundation
for my love of music. When I was two years old, I began asking my parents if I could
play the fiddle. I remember the story well: while sitting at a bluegrass festival watching a
great band, I picked up two pencils, looked towards my Dad and said, “fiddle Pa, fiddle!”
(I know, how cute is that!) My parents finally found me a fiddle teacher when I was four
years old.
Since that time, I’ve attended hundreds of festivals, jam sessions, camps and private
lessons. I remember sitting under Dad’s chair, being quite young, while he was taking
mandolin lessons; I remember stomping around our dining room table pretending to be
in a marching band while I attempted to play my fiddle; I remember getting to play on
the MAINSTAGE at the Walnut Valley Festival for the first time with acoustic kids.
During high school you could say someone lit a fire under my behind, when I attended a
fiddle camp in Oklahoma and was put in the INTERMEDIATE class. OH MY! I was
SURE I was more advanced than that, so I vowed to NEVER be put in the intermediate
class EVER again. Later in my high school career, I attended a fiddle camp in Montana where I got to study under the legendary
Bobby Hicks. He was very encouraging and really pushed me to work harder. Shortly after meeting Bobby, I decided to buy a new
fiddle. I spent all but $100.00 of my life savings on the fiddle I currently
play! It was a very exciting moment in my life.
As I was getting ready to decide which college I wanted to attend and what
career path I was interested in, I was leaning strongly towards following in
my mother’s footsteps by becoming a Physical Therapist. That sounded
great until I discovered I would not be able to attend any festivals in the fall
or spring sessions of school. I began telling Dad how wonderful it would be
to study music. It came as a shock to everyone in the family, since I had
always been the one to drag my feet; I didn’t want to be on the road, and I
didn’t want to be famous! Dad had heard about South Plains College
through the years and he had the school send me a catalog in the mail.
The day that catalog arrived for me I spent lots of time reading up on the
degree plans, the ensemble choices, and all of the classes offered
including “History of Bluegrass”. It didn’t take me long to decide that was
the college I wanted to attend.
In May of 2010 I graduated from South Plains College as Miss SPC, with
an Associates degree in commercial music and a certificate in music business! I learned so much in my two years at South Plains
College. I really enjoyed all of the classes I took, from recording classes, to live sound, bluegrass, irish and jazz ensembles, video
production, and web design. Plus, the extracurricular jams were great! Now, as you can see, I’m traveling full time with my sister
Erin. We are having such wonderful adventures! My dreams are to travel, to teach at camps and festivals, and to eventually do
session work for recording studios. I want to inspire other young players much like I was inspired through the years. When I’m not
on the road with Scenic Roots, I’m playing Irish fiddle as much as possible, attending festivals and jam sessions, and putting in a
lot of practice and office hours.
Thanks for stopping by our website! If you’re interested on what’s going on in the life of traveling musicians on a day to day basis
check out my blog. http://scenicrootsduo.blogspot.com/
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