Fiddler Joe Thompson dies at 93

Posted: Tue., Feb. 21, 2012, 11:24am PTBy ASSOCIATED PRESS Joe Thompson, a nationally renowned old-time fiddler and folk musician died Monday of natural causes in Mebane, N.C. He was 93. Taught by his father how to play the fiddle, Thompson mastered a style of African-American country fiddling that has largely disappeared. In 2007, he won a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com