Inducted 2000 Randy Elmore
Randy Elmore was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on the 13^th of June, 1954, to James and Glee Elmore. The oldest of six children, Randy started out on the guitar at age nine. At age eleven he picked up the fiddle for the first time. From the very first awkward pull of the how and the squeak of the string Randy knew he had found the instrument that would allow him to convey his feelings to the folks in the audience. Randy says, "There was something unexplainable about the sound that came out of that fiddle, and to this day I’ve never been able to put it down".Randy played for the first two years under the instruction of Mr. Kenneth Pitts, who was once the fiddler for the Lightcrust Doughboys. It was about this time that he met fiddlemaker and repairman Mr. L.T. Childress, who introduced Randy to the world of contest fiddling. Through Mr. Childress he met fiddlers Bill Gilbert and Norman Solomon who would become Randy’s main teachers for the next few years. Once Randy obtained his driver’s license he started going to the homes of Vernon Solomon, Benny Thomasson, Claude Henson, Sleepy Johnson, Major and Lewis Franklin, E.J. Hopkins and many, many other fiddlers, who were always willing to teach a young fiddler a new tune or a new way to play a tune. Randy said "I’ve never heard a fiddler that I couldn’t learn something from. They have all got their own ways of playing and they’re all good." Throughout Randy’s high school years he played square dances with Vernon Solomon and went to every fiddle contest he could get to. In 1970 Randy met fiddler Johnny Gimble, who introduced him to western swing music and playing in a band. Because of Randy’s immediate love for this type of playing, upon graduating from high school, he joined his first band, "The Ramblin Rhythm Band". In 1973 he joined Warren Edwards Band then went on to the Stagecoach Band in Fort Worth, Texas, which were both western swing dance bands.

In August of 1975 Randy joined Red Stagall and the Coleman County Cowboys and oured the United States and Europe until the end of 1980. In April of 1981 Randy went to work for Lone Star Gas Co. as a heavy equipment operator and later became supervisor of a pipeline construction crew. After three years of pipelining Randy found himself traveling more for the gas company than he did when he was playing music for a living. Randy was offered a job with country singer Reba McEntire, so he quit pipelining and went back on the road playing the fiddle. After eleven months Randy was offered a job with singer Mel Tillis which lasted until the end of 1992.

At the beginning of 1993 Randy went to work for himself as a freelance musician doing recording sessions, concerts, shows, and dances under his own name. Randy also teaches fiddle camp workshops around the country for six weeks every year. Randy has five albums to his credit and has played fiddle, mandolin, and guitar on about 100 albums for other singers and musicians.Randy won the Texas State Fiddling Championship in 1975, 76, and won the World Fiddling Championship in 1978and 1984. Throughout his career he has won first place and grand champion in over 500 contests. In 1998 Randy was voted "Instrumentalist of the Year" at theLincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso, New Mexico. In 1999 Randy was inducted into the "Western Swing Hall of Fame" in Sacramento, California.

In 1973 Randy married Deborah Allbright and they have two sons, Jody and Jerry. At this writing Randy and Deborah also have three grandsons. Randy has achieved Texas, United States, and World titles for his fiddling abilities and readily admits that his talents are a gift from God. Randy has said many times, "as long as the good Lord will allow me to make a sound on the fiddle and folks will keep coming to hear me play, I’m going to keep fiddling."