Robert Russell Wise, known to the world as Chubby, did not pick up a fiddle until age 12, having spent his early years in St. Augustine, Florida on banjo and guitar. This episode argues that late start was his secret weapon: years of rhythm playing hardwired a metronome into his bow arm, freeing him to master pitch on a fretless fingerboard and develop the aggressive, rhythm-heavy bowing that became his trademark.

The conversation follows him from the Jubilee Hillbillies in 1938 to Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1942, where he helped forge a genre that did not yet have a name live on the Grand Ole Opry. After leaving in 1948 he worked with Clyde Moody, the York Brothers and Flatt and Scruggs, then spent 16 years with Hank Snow's Rainbow Ranch Boys from 1954 to 1970 while recording Nashville sessions and releasing solo instrumental albums. ...