Many people remember Robert Byrd as a Senator from West Virginia. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 2010, making him the longest serving Senator in U.S. history. And that is not counting his earlier service in the House of Representatives from 1953 until 1959. But did you know at one time he played a mean fiddle, including a performance on Hee Haw?
Byrd was born in North Carolina on November 20, 1917, and he died while still in office on June 28, 1910. His long service made him the last Congressman to have served while Harry S. Truman was president. Although he had filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act (and earlier been a member of the Ku Klux Klan), he later publicly changed his position on civil rights. And although he had supported the Vietnam War, he received attention near the end of his career as a Republican who strongly opposed the Iraq War.
Byrd also was a fiddle player. He played square dances as a teen and played until 1982 when a benign hand tremor affected his playing. After becoming Senator, he made several appearances with his fiddle, including the Kennedy Center, the Grand Ole Opry, and Hee Haw.
Byrd played fiddle and sang the traditional song “The Roving Gambler” on a 1979 episode of Hee Haw. Unfortunately, that episode is not currently available on YouTube, but in the below video he performs on Pop Goes the Country.
In 1978, the Senate Majority Leader also recorded an album. Appropriately, it was titled, U.S. Senator Robert Byrd: Mountain Fiddler
Below from the album is “Come Sundown,” which was written by Kris Kristofferson and made famous by Bobby Bare.
Who is your favorite performer who recorded as a secondary career? Leave your two cents in the comments. Portrait of Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd by Michael Shane Neal via public domain.
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