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First-Year Releases Bluegrass CD

Montana fiddler learned instrument by ear

After playing fiddle for the past nine years, Gabriel J. Jostrom '04 has released his first bluegrass CD this month--weaving various styles from Celtic and old-time fiddling to Texas contest tunes.

Jostrom--who has also competed in fiddle competitions--recorded the CD with a small Montana record label, Lost Dog Productions.

Jostrom comes from Kalispell, Mont., an idyllic ski-resort town only half an hour from Glacier National Park. The small town of 12,000 people has little discernable music scene.

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Gabe was entranced by fiddling from an early age.

"I'd listen to old Vassar Clements records, and I just wanted to play the fiddle," he says.

"I'd play his 33 rpm records at the 45 speed, so that all the fast songs would be really fast," he says.

At the age of nine, Jostrom picked up a fiddle of his own. Within months, he was performing with a local 10-piece band, the Flathead Junior Fiddlers, and performing in the junior-junior division of fiddling contests.

Over the years, Jostrom continued to build a resume in other music styles. In high school, he played for local funk rock and blue-grass bands.

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