Episode 110: Nancy Kamm does something few people do well. She takes a bow stretched tight with horsehair, moves it across violin strings, and creates sounds that transport listeners to another dimension. The first time I heard Nancy do it was about 20 years ago in a recording studio. She arrived to record violin tracks on PrinceRodriguez’s Ballad of Pedro Nix, my first album with Phillip Rodriguez. Someone had referred Nancy to us, and we called and booked her without having heard her play. We wanted a dynamic violin track to spice up a Spanish ballad with several key changes and minor-major transitions. We’d tried another fiddler earlier without success. When Nancy arrived, we played the song for her once as she tuned and noodled around. Afterward, she said she was ready. She nailed it on the first take. In 2017, I called Nancy to record several songs on my last album, Feeling Van Gogh. She wowed again. That’s why she was first to pop into my mind when Director Wyatt Newquist and I wanted today’s show to feature a comforting instrumental song. Nancy saw her first violin during a sixth grade music class. Nobody played music in her family, and they were poor, but Nancy asked her parents for a violin that night. Later, she eavesdropped on them wondering how they could afford to rent such an instrument. “When I heard that, I silently vowed to myself at the age of 11 that I would never disappoint my parents with my playing the violin,” she said. Originally from Michigan, Nancy moved to Texas in 1978 and learned country and bluegrass, competed in fiddle contests, and became a member of The Dixie Dewdrops, an all-girl band that performed around North Texas in the 1980s. She is in demand these days as a studio musician. I invited her on the show and asked which song she’d like to play. She picks one of my favorites and does a wonderful rendition. Thank you Nancy! You killed as always! — Jeff Prince
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