Whitetop Mountaineers - jacksonsshop

The Whitetop region in southwestern Virginia has a long tradition of fine luthiers. Martha Spencer's uncle Albert Hash was a well-known and respected fiddle maker that shared his knowledge of the craft with countless people. His daughter Audrey Hash Ham learned the fiddle making craft from her father as a teenager and has carried on the tradition since Albert passed in 1983. She has been featured in numerous articles, and radio/television programs such as CMT for her fiddle making.
Jackson Cunningham has been apprenticing under Audrey in the fiddle making tradition of Whitetop for the last two years.

Jackson grew up in southern Oregon and was immersed in woodworking from as early as he can remember. His step-father was a skilled carpenter and craftsman, always having woodworking projects around the house he built from the local sugar pine and Douglas fir trees. Jackson learned these skills at a early age and has been a carpenter and woodworker for over 15 years. So, it was natural to combine his music and his craft to become a luthier.
After making and repairing various instruments over the years, he moved to southwestern Virginia. After meeting Audrey Hash Ham of Lansing, North Carolina in 2005, he immediately began building fiddles.
He currently works out of his shop at home in Whitetop, Virginia, making custom fiddles.

You can see and play one of his fiddles at Whitetop Mountaineers and Whitetop Mountain Band shows as well as displays at Gathering in the Gap Festival in Big Stone Gap,VA, Floyd Fest,The Albert Hash Memorial Festival, ASU Fiddlers Convention in Boone, NC

For more info on the fiddle making tradition and Jackson's fiddles, email: lonelyoaks@yahoo.com, or call: 540-239-6906

"Because he's a fine bluegrass and old-time musician, Jackson has a natural knowledge of the purpose of a good instrument. He also sees the beauty of the instrument and strives to make a beautiful instrument as well as a usefull one.
The tone and craftsmanship in his fiddles is excellent. He has extreme patience in making sure his fiddles are of the finest quality." -Audrey Hash Ham, Virginia Master Fiddle Maker

See Audrey in the book "In Good Keeping", a collection of Folk Artists from Virginia.
www.virginiafolklife.org/apprenticeships/ingoodkeeping.html
www.virginiafolklife.org/apprenticeships/2002-2003.html

Pics

Martha Spencer of The Whitetop Mountain Band plays fellow bandmate Jackson Cunningham's handmade fiddle, Both Martha and Jackson learned there crafts from former masters of the VFH aprenticeship program