“I ALWAYS WANT TO BE A BETTER MUSICIAN, AND I FEEL LIKE ALL MY HEROES ENCOURAGE ME TO BE JUST THAT.”
BY WARREN DENNEY
J
enee Fleenor is a giver. It’s her obvious nature. She does not crave the spotlight, but rather constantly craves to play — and write — good music. That desire is at the heart of her success as a multi-instrumentalist, primarily with the fiddle, and the driving force that has led to her being named the Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year two years running. Fleenor is the first woman to have earned that distinction, in 2019, and the first fiddle player so awarded in two decades. Since arriving in Nashville in 2001, she has spent countless hours in the studio recording with an endless roster of Nashville artists, including Blake Shelton, Reba, Trisha Yearwood, Trace Adkins, Rascal Flatts, Ashley Monroe, Terri Clark, Don Williams, Jon Pardi, Cody Johnson — you get the idea. Fleenor has been a longtime member of Blake Shelton’s band, and has toured with many of those for whom she’s recorded, including Shelton, Clark, Martina McBride, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. She’s also performed regularly with the house band on NBC’s The Voice. As Fleenor’s name has grown in peer recognition, so too has her own recognition of self. And, in 2020, a year so restrained by the effects of Covid-19, she may have
discovered more about music than ever before — its healing power, and her own place within it. She and her husband both experienced their own bouts with the virus last year, forcing her to miss the CMA Awards show which so honored her. She accepted the award, at times tearfully, via her own home video, in which she listed so many of her influences and peers who have allowed her career to flourish. It was a bittersweet moment for a musician who thrives on live performance. “I know in my career where I am,” Fleenor said recently, from her home just outside Nashville. It was the holidays, but she was nonetheless feeling the disappointment of being unable to attend the event. Still, she leaned on the hope that lives on in this whole sordid mess. “I’m just playing and listening to a lot of records anyway, but so many musicians I’ve talked to are saying it’s been the busiest year they’ve had. So much music is getting people through this. “I know that touring is shut down right now, so some people only have the choice to record. But, my God, the songs that are flowing out of people, the writers who I’ve talked to — and I love to write myself. Things have become really focused.” The life of a touring and recording musician demands a sacrifice in the
service of others, leaving little time for self-reflection. You have to make a living, after all. But, in a year like no other, Fleenor found that time. She thought about her influences, and the road to her historic recognition. “I think this year I really had a minute to think about it [winning the CMA award],” Fleenor said. “And I just named off probably 20 or 30 — and I could have named off 130 — musicians that have impacted my life so much. And a lot of them have passed on, but a lot of them I work with today. “I always want to be a better musician, and I feel like all my heroes just encourage me to be just that.” Her fiddle playing can range from the joyous to the fierce, to the supple and melodic. Witness the broad range of her collaborations. Her musical foundation includes a childhood filled with classical training, though she has flourished as a country, bluegrass, and yes — rock & roll — fiddler. Fiddle players are perhaps the most misunderstood musicians on the spectrum, from preconceived notions of instrument and identity. For instance, the devil’s been known to play the fiddle. continued on page 20
JAN – MAR 2021 19
