Passion, drive and determination key for local fiddle player

May 30—Mackenzie Bell, a 15-year-old fiddle player, said it takes drive and dedication to be a musician.

While she does not see many others her own age in the bluegrass music genre, she said she is appreciative to help keep it going.

Bell began playing the fiddle at age 8 after asking her parents for about a year to start her in lessons.

"I always liked the fiddle. I heard a boy play at the church I used to go to and wanted to learn how to play," she said. "It gives me a whole lot of opportunities to express myself. Before I started playing fiddle, I was always shy and I didn't like talking to anybody, but now with the fiddle, I've been able to gain confidence."

Bell said practicing music also gives her the opportunity to travel to new places and meet people from many different walks of life.

Having grown up in Ohio County, the birthplace of bluegrass music, Bell said she was in the perfect setting to be able to cultivate her interest in the music genre.

"It's the only thing I knew. I grew up around it," she said.

Although there are not many people her own age playing bluegrass, Bell said other players are always supportive of her.

"One thing that I do find is that I don't really find a whole lot of young people my age or younger playing fiddle. It's a really rare thing," she said. "The older the age group that you play with, the more they're supportive of you and ... they think it's a good thing that you're young and you're playing music and it's awesome to be able to keep the music alive."

Bell said while playing music is fun, it also takes a lot of practice, determination and perseverance.

She said she takes lessons once a week, in addition to helping teach beginning fiddlers at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, practicing for two hours each day and making time to play with her two cats and dog.

"Some people think you can just play, but really it's more than that. Most importantly, you have to be willing to practice. You have to be willing to practice for hours and hours on end to get one thing right," she said. "You just have to have the drive to keep on learning and also to just not lose hope, like if you're struggling with something — a specific technique or a specific song. You just have to have the drive to keep going."

While COVID-19 has caused cancellations for many music-related events this year, Bell said she and other payers have attempted to keep people involved and interested through Facebook Live video and other methods.

She said she had all of 2020 packed with events and shows but had to cancel almost all of them due to the pandemic.

"I didn't do a lot of shows and I know a lot of my friends didn't either and basically, we just had to do what we could," she said. "Considering COVID is kind of dying down, I'm having a few more things but that's sort of spread out. Not a whole lot of big shows, but just ones that I might pick up."

Bell plans to play at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge this summer as well as the Fried Pickle Festival, the Jerusalem Ridge Festival and the Lanham Brothers Jamboree at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Bell currently has two CDs available at the museum and is working to put out another one this fall that will feature 12 traditional songs and one original.

Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360