Paul Warren

Paul Warren was an extraordinary bluegrass sideman who played fiddle on scores of radio and television shows and recording sessions; although he was in the music business over 35 years, he never made a solo studio album. Warren was born and raised in Hickman County, Tennessee; his earliest influences were his father, who played clawhammer banjo, and <a href="spotify:artist:3J64Y43reveNztUVw3fJwZ">Fiddlin' Arthur Smith</a>. He got his start playing high school dances with partner Emory Martin in the mid-'30s. In 1938, he joined Johnnie Wright's band; by 1940, they had become successful enough to abandon their day jobs and focus full-time on music. He remained with Wright and his Tennessee Hillbillies until entering the Army in 1942, where legend has it that he survived capture and two years in a German POW camp because he entertained the guards by playing "Under the Double Eagle" on fiddle. After his discharge, Warren returned to Wright's band. After Wright formed <a href="spotify:artist:2uka1ggrgDYJkt2y3qT68j">Johnnie & Jack</a> with Jack Anglin, Warren played behind them until 1953, and also spent a year playing on <a href="spotify:artist:4fxdqujwhb2NIQyr7qnnPX">Kitty Wells</a> recordings like "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels" and "Release Me." In 1954, he began his long association with <a href="spotify:artist:4UEb5ZsSyDWMAiBuOeKA6W">Lester Flatt</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4NEA48c6ajydrRzCbyll3M">Earl Scruggs</a> when he replaced <a href="spotify:artist:3bmGw1b250EmMTFG9g8xXn">Benny Martin</a> in their Foggy Mountain Boys; he appeared on all of their recordings between 1954 and 1969. When <a href="spotify:artist:1iNNWK8bYjc5EK0waLk1J1">Flatt and Scruggs</a> broke up in the late '60s, Warren played in <a href="spotify:artist:4UEb5ZsSyDWMAiBuOeKA6W">Flatt's</a> <a href="spotify:artist:4SUkmEgrZMy4p3udBc6PNL">Nashville Grass</a> through early 1977 when his health began to fail and he was forced to retire; he died the following year. Although he never recorded by himself, a collection of tunes featuring his work was posthumously gathered by Lance Le Roy, who released them a tribute album in 1979. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi