TOTFA Stories
Jordan Franklin ~ Our Pick of the Month
Jordan Franklin has been singled out as the featured personality for the February issue of the newsletter. This is because she represents one end of an ongoing continuum of traditional Texas style fiddling activity that is closely connected with a name and family of Texas-style fiddlers with which we are all well acquainted. The name includes that of her Great-Grandfather, Major Franklin, also Louis and Larry Franklin (the Major is Louis' Uncle), her Grandfather, Royce Franklin, who is her principal guitar accompanist at contests, along with her Great-Uncle, Ray Franklin, another guitar accompanist of some repute.
Jordan is 13 years old and lives with her parents, Paul and Kim Franklin. in Burleson. She attends school there and is in the 8th grade. Her long-range plans include a career in music education for the elementary student. Her interests and hobbies are history and archeology and she pursues an interest in collecting "Titanic" memorabilia. She enjoys the company of her younger sister, Taylor, age 9, and surrounds herself with two baby goats, two "dawgs," a cat and her "fish in a bowl."
Jordan's interest in fiddling began quite early at the age of two, when Valerie O'Brien presented her with her first fiddle. Unfortunately, due to a lengthy illness, she was forced to delay serious music activity until certain physical corrections were made and by age ten, she was ready for making musical inroads and for some three years has been under the direction of Sherry McKenzie of Burleson. This has enabled her to compete in fiddling contests and has been doing so for the last two years throughout much of the State.
Important sources of inspiration for Jordan have been from the "Major," also, Louis and Larry Franklin. Among her favorite fiddle tunes are "Blue Eagle" that she attempts to play in the style of Major Franklin and "Franklin Swing" from the CD, "Now and Then" by Larry Franklin. Jordan has been a competitor in her age division in quite a number of contests from Weiser, Idaho, to Blue Grove, Texas, and has been a winner in several. They include contests at Crockett, Hallettsville, New Braunfels, and Nacogdoches. Jordan is the "kind of folks we need" in the Association to help keep the Texas-style of traditional old time fiddling ongoing, alive and well. We salute you Miss Franklin for your contribution and fine effort as an up and coming Texas fiddler!
Charles Gardner