Hall of Famer Fiddler Johnston took New Maysville to the Opry

Still doing what he loves well into his 70s, Bobby “Fiddler” Johnston performs with Carl Bentley and the Eagle Creek Band during the 2012 Osceola Bluegrass Festival. The lifelong Putnam County resident, who paid homage to his community with compositions like “New Maysville Stomp” and “Putnam County Breakdown,” died Wednesday at age 78.

Shephard Imageworks/Mark Shephard

The Hall of Fame fiddler who took the name of his tiny Putnam County hometown all the way to the stage of the Ryman Auditorium died on Wednesday.

New Maysville native Robert “Bobby” Johnston Jr., 78, graced the stage of the Grand Ole Opry on a number of occasions, performing “New Maysville Stomp” — which he composed at age 13 — every time he visited.

Born in New Maysville in 1938, Johnston began playing the fiddle around the age of nine. When asked about the childhood hobby that led to so many opportunities, Johnston explained that playing music was just something to do as a country kid in the 1940s.

“We didn’t have television or even electricity back then. So we would just sit around and play together,” Johnston told the Banner Graphic in a 2008 interview. “I learned by listening to recordings and picking out the right note. I would just play around until I found the right one, then write it down.”

During a long music career “Fiddler,” as he was fittingly also known, played with and befriended a number of luminaries of country and bluegrass, including Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Hank Snow, “Jingle Bell Rock” composer and fellow Hoosier Bobby Helms and even the Father of Bluegrass himself, Bill Monroe.

Just a kid of 20 years old but already a veteran of country music’s biggest stage, New Maysville native Bobby Johnston prepares for a 1958 Grand Ole Opry performance. First playing the Opry when he was 13, Johnston performed his “New Maysville Stomp” during each visit.

Courtesy of Bobby Johnston family

The latter gig came when Monroe approached Johnston at a bluegrass jamboree with a job offer. Fiddler never went on the road with Monroe, but played with him on multiple occasions.

“Whenever he was in the area, I would go out and play shows with him,” Johnston said. “Most of the time what I was playing was jamborees when different artists would get together and just jam.”

For his contributions to the genre, Johnston was inducted into the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame on June 17, 2008. At the time of his induction, Johnston donated a 130-year-old fiddle to Monroe’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Country Star Museum in Bean Blossom, Ind.

Locally, a number of Johnston’s fiddles have been on loan to the Putnam County Museum over the years. He also “loaned” another of his compositions, “Putnam County Breakdown,” to the “Putnam County Prime Cuts” compilation CD released in 2011 as a fundraiser for the museum.

Johnston retired from music and his day job at J.C. Products a number of years ago, but continued to freelance for a number of bands from both Indiana and Florida, where he split his time following retirement.

The obituary of Bobby “Fiddler” Johnston, with funeral arrangements, can be viewed here.

Bobby Johnston performs "New Maysville Stomp"