Sharon Bounds: From Uninterested Youngster to Dedicated Fiddle Teacher and Bluegrass Bandleader
- Katherine Armbrester
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
When asked if she always wanted to be a violinist, Sharon Winters Bounds immediately responds with a vehement “No” and a gleeful chuckle. Both of her grandfathers and her father played the old-time style of fiddle, which is derived from traditional European dance melodies. Not all children necessarily want to follow a family tradition, and the young Sharon had no interest in being a third-generation fiddler.
When an opportunity to learn classical music arose in grade school, she warily approached her father. “You can imagine an eleven-year-old girl going up to her father and saying, ‘Look, here’s the deal…” Bounds laughs at the memory and adds that she told her father she would try violin but would stop in six months if she did not enjoy it. “My father, perhaps able to see the bigger picture, said, ‘Sure, if you don’t like it you can quit,’” she says. During her test trial, her parents took her to multiple fiddle contests, and she learned about different forms of fiddle playing, such as Texas-style. She noticed that some styles offered more room to improvise than others. “And I said, ‘I want to do that,’” Bounds recalls. She had been hooked by fiddling.
Early on she listened to recordings by Mark O’Connor and Randy Howard, both known for their virtuosic skill in country and Bluegrass fiddle playing. “Back in the day we did not have people writing out the notation or tablature for us,” Bounds says of the lack of written notation for instrument fingering in the musical genres that intrigued her. “We would take a 33 1/3 record and slow it down, and of course, we would have to retune our fiddle to match the tuning on that lower speed,” Bounds recalls. She was undaunted by the additional labor. “I would sit down and listen to it, pick it apart, learn a part or two, get good at that and listen to the other parts, then you would put it all together and you would have a song,” Bounds concludes, “That’s how determined my generation was, that’s how we learned our songs.”
Now a remarkably versatile fiddle player, Bounds can play Bluegrass, Cajun, country, contest- and Texas-style fiddle, and her talent has taken her from her home in Tuscaloosa to some of the most cherished Bluegrass stages in the southeast. She has only positive things to say about the camaraderie and mutual support she has found in the fiddle competition circuit. “There are fiddlers who also play guitar that will compete in the fiddle contests, then they turn around and back up other fiddlers with the guitar,” Bounds says. “There’s a lot of good friendships in the fiddle community.”
A fiddle competition Bounds holds close to her heart is the Grand Masters Fiddler Championship annually held in Nashville, Tenn. It attracts fiddlers worldwide, and she has made the top ten category on seven separate occasions.“ It’s a very fun competition and over the years you get the opportunity to meet so many outstanding fiddle players. You become friends, and it becomes like going home to a family reunion.” The high stakes of winning have not soured the offstage connections. “Now when you get on stage, you’re serious,” Bounds laughs, “but once you get through competing you’re all friends again.”
Bounds has also won the Mississippi and Alabama State Fiddle Championship several times and has succinct and time-honored advice for fiddlers who are interested in competing. “A lot of practice,” she advises. “Lots of determination, and just because you enter a competition and lose that first one or two, keep your head up and just keep going.”
In addition to competitions, Bounds has kept busy the past several years as a founding member of the band The Ancient Tones. Formed two years ago, Bounds’ band is entirely comprised of Alabama musicians. “We have everything covered as far as Bluegrass instrumentation.” Bounds plays the fiddle; Rick Rorex, a National Mandolin Championship winner, plays the mandolin; Weston Stewart plays the banjo and is a former National Bluegrass Banjo Championship winner; and Jesse Lindsey Smith, who sings, writes music, and plays both bass and guitar for the group. Another member is Alan Tolbert, who plays flat-top guitar. “He’s one of the very best pickers I’ve ever run across,” Bounds says, “And I’ve been around a lot. He reminds me of Tony Rice,” she adds, referring to the late Bluegrass singer and guitarist. “We put the group together because everyone was such a master of their instrument and we thought it would be fun to have a group together,” she says. They have begun crafting a catalogue of original songs for future performances and a potential album.
In the two years since its formation The Ancient Tones has already played twice in the Huntsville-based Bluegrass and BBQ Festival and has also performed at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment Center. Bounds is looking forward to the band performing in May at the extremely popular Bluegrass music venue Everett’s Music Barn in Suwanee, Georgia.
With her experience in the realm of fiddle and Bluegrass competitions, Bounds naturally progressed from the role of contestant to revered judge. “I enjoy that aspect too,” Bounds says. “I still get to participate in the jam sessions, while getting to see a different side as a judge.”
She also enjoys being on the committee for the Southeastern Fiddle Championship, known as Fiddle Fest. 2026 will be the 10th year for the annual one-day festival, which celebrates Bluegrass and fiddle music and takes place on the Shelton State Community College Martin Campus in Tuscaloosa.
Lily Coleman, one of Bounds’s students, performed in the 2025 Fiddle fest and took home the prize for best youth fiddle. The twelve-year-old Vestavia Hills-based student is—like her teacher—a third generation violinist.“What I like most about playing violin is performing for other people because it makes them happy,” Coleman explains. “Miss Sharon has taught me all the best songs, and she has taught me lots of techniques that have improved my fiddle playing, like slides and double stops.”
“She’s doing very well,” Bounds says of her promising three-year student. “She’s one of the ones I can tell is going to do great things with her fiddle.”When Bounds is not teaching students, which range in age from four-year-olds to retirees, she is also in high demand for weddings. She is equally comfortable playing a stately, classical piece such as “Canon in D” as she is picking a rapid-fire fiddle tune on a Nashville stage. Her husband Bill frequently accompanies her at weddings, and he plays guitar and banjo for another local band. “We stay busy,” Bounds laughs. “I love it. I’m either teaching or playing at a wedding or playing in a Bluegrass festival. I just love the music and it’s part of me.”
She may not have intended to follow the family tradition, but Bounds has fiddled her way to an exemplary career, and her oldest son Brandon also caught the fiddling bug, making four generations of violinists. “And my first grandchild is about to be born soon,” Bounds says, continuing with a chuckle, “and you better believe she will have a fiddle in her hand!”
You can follow Sharon Bounds and her band The Ancient Tones on Facebook and on Instagram @sboundsfiddle
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