Bonnie Rideout (born 1962 - Saline,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

USA) is an American fiddler. She is especially known for her traditional Scottish style and fiddle

piobaireachd Pibroch, or is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning "piping" in Scottish Gaelic, has for some f ...

playing. She is a graduate of the

University of Michigan School of Music The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance is an undergraduate and graduate institution for the performing arts in the United States. It is part of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The school was founded by Calvin Brainerd ...

. 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 Cliff Island is an island in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the city of Portland. As of the 2000 census, the island had a year-round population of approximately 60 people. In the summer, the island's population grows to about ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. 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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''‚ "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 The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous f ...

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

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

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 classical music) and the performing arts are i ...

. 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, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

‚

Performance Today ''Performance Today'' is a Peabody Award-winning 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 liste ...

, 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 AM ...

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

Mel Bay Publications Mel Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997) was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His ''Mel Bay's Deluxe Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords, Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'' remains a bestseller. ...

, 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 diagno ...

, Grant Herreid,

Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus (; grc, Ἕσπερος, Hésperos) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is one of the ''Astra Planeta''. A son of the dawn goddess Eos (Roman Aurora), he is the half-brother of her other son, Pho ...

, 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 Al Petteway was an American guitarist known primarily for his acoustic fingerstyle work both as a soloist and with well-known folk artists such as Amy White, Tom Paxton, Jethro Burns, Jonathan Edwards, Cheryl Wheeler, Debi Smith, Bonnie Rideout, ...

, John Purser, Sue Richards, Betty Rideout,

Eric Rigler Eric Rigler is an American player of the Uilleann pipes, Great Highland Bagpipes, and tin whistle. He performs as a solo artist and with the band Bad Haggis, and has been featured on a number of movie soundtracks. He has been described as "the m ...

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 ...

, Elizabeth Stewart,

Sweet Honey in the Rock Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-women band, all-woman, African American, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an United States, American three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song ...

, 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, with sister subsidiaries StarVista Live and Lifestyle Products Group, a holding of Direct Holdings Global LLC, is an American production company and direct marketer conglomerate, that is known for selling books, music, video/DVD, ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

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

, 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 Al ...

, 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 violinists Sony BMG artists EMI Records artists Rykodisc artists Rounder Records artists