Fletcher Bright

fiddler, Chattanooga
Tennessee Folklife Heritage Award (2005)

Chattanoogan Fletcher Bright (1931- ) has balanced a career as a successful businessman with a lifetime passion for traditional fiddle tunes. In the 1940s, he and classmates at McCallie School first got interested in country music, and they soon formed a bluegrass band called the Dismembered Tennesseans. As they all became prominent men in the city, they continued to keep the band going. Their spirited dedication, dry humor, and frequent public performances helped build local appreciation for bluegrass over the years. Outlasting most of his bandmates, Bright has continued to keep the Dismembered Tennesseans active with new players. In retirement, he’s redoubled his commitment to fiddling, also performing his large instrumental repertory with his Fletcher Bright Fiddle Band and remaining active as a teacher and participant in traditional music events around the country.

Governor’s Arts Award profile 

Media

  • Dismembered Tennesseans, We’ve Never Sounded Better: and that’s a shame – after 57 years, Three Guys Productions (CD 2004)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, It Just Gets Gooder and Gooder, (DVD 2003)
  • Fletcher Bright Fiddle Band, Live at the Laurel, January 26, 2002 (CD 2002)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, Live at the Laurel (CD 2001)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, Theft Proof, Cassell Tunes/Three Guys Productions 500199-11(CD 1999)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, (2 CD set)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, Singing from the Heart Through the Nose, Three Guys Records DT-595 (CD )
  • Fletcher Bright Fiddle Band, Old Time Tunes, (CD)
  • Fletcher Bright Fiddle Band, Last Night’s Fun, (CD)
  • Fletcher Bright, Fiddle Tunes: They All Sound Alike, Atteiram Records
    API-1710 (cassette)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, Forty Years With the Wrong Band, 37284 (LP)
  • Dismembered Tennesseans, Singing Their Greatest Hits (LP)

More Information

  • Official Website
  • Cardwell, Nancy, “Fletcher Bright & the Dismembered Tennesseans –Sixty-two Years and Counting,” Bluegrass Unlimited 42, #8 (Feb 2008): 42-45.
  • Wood, Jim. “Fletcher Bright: Playing, Teaching, Giving Back.” Fiddler Magazine 14, no. 3 (Fall 2007): 4-10.