In December 1999, Chris Carmichael was featured on the cover. Already an accomplished violinist, fiddler and cellist, Carmichael was, at that time, touring with Kathy Mattea as well as playing with several local groups and had credits on a number of hit records. Carmichael’s list of credits has grown exponentially in the years since.

Utilizing modern technology, much of Carmichael’s work is done in his home studio and provided to collaborators via the internet. He has contributed arrangements and performances to several Grammy winning records including Steve Earle’s The Revolution Starts Now and Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster.

In addition, his arrangements and performances can be heard on songs in major motion pictures such as The Rookie, Shrek II and Role Models as well as throughout Edward Norton’s Down In The Valley.

Carmichael’s arrangements and performances have appeared on live television with Tim McGraw and Def Leppard. And he has written orchestral arrangements that have been performed by top tier organizations like the Boston Pops.

According to Chris, “My primary role these days is as an arranger who happens to be able to flesh out his own arrangements to create authentic sounding large ensembles – though I still get calls for my fiddle playing for recordings from folks like Toby Keith and others.”

Listen for Chris Carmichael in the recent movie release Billy: The Early Years about the life of Billy Graham. On November 8th he can be seen on CMT Crossroads leading the string section whose part he wrote for the collaboration between Def Leppard and Taylor Swift.

Kim Mason is the Content Manager of the Amplifier which was founded by her in 1995. She serves as Executive Director for the BG International Festival and designs websites. www.kimmason.ky.net