Eric Jepsen (Ione) is an old time fiddler who plays variety of styles. He grew up on a wheat farm in Ione and began playing violin when he was about 5 years old.
Bio
Eric Jepsen grew up on a wheat farm in Ione and began playing violin when he was about 5 years old. He started out taking lessons from Peg Willis, a former Suzuki teacher who taught classical violin as well as fiddle. By 5th grade, he was going to Pendleton to take lessons in contest-style old time fiddle from Dan Emert, a well-known traditional fiddler. From 6th to 10th grade, Jepsen focused on contest fiddling and competed in the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Association contests. By 7th grade he had won the junior division. Jepsen noted that competing was hard, fun, and challenging, whether for old time, Irish, or twin fiddling. Although he stopped competing by the end of high school, he continued to play music. He later added blue grass fiddling to his repertoire and sometimes plays at a jam at the Meacham Store on Hwy 30 the last Saturday of every month. Jepsen now performs with guitar player John Wambeke of Hermiston, and plays for church every Sunday in Heppner.
