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After half a century of continuous fiddling, and nearly as long at the head of a popular band called The Free State Ramblers, John Ashby is still regarded by many as the undisputed king of old Virginia fiddling. Born in 1915 on his family’s Sherbon Farm, which is about three miles from Orlean in the area called The Free State, Ashby was introduced to old-time fiddling by his uncle Joseph and has been playing with family members ever since.
The Ashbys are as old, as big and as close a family as one would hope in find in the entire state, living in Fauquier County since before the Revolutionary War and playing a considerable roll in the history of the county, they have managed to retain a large portion of the land near Orlean and the community of Conde which has been passed down through the generations, sifting with time into the hands of Ashby brothers and sisters.
MUSIC runs in a number of country families and the Ashbys are an example. Following in the footsteps of Uncle Joe, who lived close by, John and his older brother Marshall began playing as boys. Marshall first played the violin and then moved on to the guitar when John started fiddling and finally took up the bass, which he played until he died of a heart attack at the age of 47. The two brothers with their cousins Moffett and Irvin Ashby started a band around 1930 and named themselves The Free State Ramblers. Early in their career as a group, they traveled in a 1927 Chevy over to Front Royal to compete in their first fiddlers convention. After repairing his fiddle, which had taken quite a beating during the jour
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