'Three' Girls Play Fiddle For Camera But Dance Moves Make Them Instant Online Stars

Jan 12, 2021

There has always been a wide range of teenagers and young adults who want to break into the music world. In today's generation, we often see young people who long to be the next Lil 'Wayne or Taylor Swift; however, a girl named Hillary Klug is proving that not all of today's up and rising artists want to be rappers or sing pop music. In this video from March of 2019, she shows off her incredible skills of clogging and fiddling at the same time.

You see, Hillary Klug sings old-time folk music. She accompanies her spectacular voice with her fiddle and a pair of tap shoes that she puts to work in a dance as she performs. She is the new music sensation and is taking the internet world by storm! Videos of her performances have been shared thousands of times, introducing a new generation to her old-fashioned music. This particular video was posted to Youtube on March 19th, 2019, but it was just one of the beginning kickstarts of Klug's booming career and popularity. 

Hillary started her journey toward fame when she was just 8-years-old and became a member of a clogging team, according to a 2019 interview with Strings. Hillary was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee, and home-schooled by her two parents. Although her parents were not particularly musical, she grew an affinity for the arts anyway. During her clogging days, Hillary learned how to dance and grew a love for the art. At 13, Hillary went on to learn to play the fiddle. Together, her two talents meshed perfectly and started her toward a life-long career in the music industry.

However, Hillary told Strings that she didn't think to combine her two passions right at the beginning. The idea came to her when she was teaching a clogging class, but needed slower music to help her students learn the dance gradually. The combination came out of necessity. She explained:

“I needed slower music for my students to be able to practice, but I couldn’t find any recordings of slow fiddle music. So I brought my fiddle and played it myself. The next week I played another tune. We started getting faster with each class until I was able to dance and play at the same time, out of necessity.”

Even after this realization, it took time until Hillary got the idea to start making money from the combination of clogging and fiddling. 

She told Strings it really hit her once she was in Nashville for the Grand Master Fiddler Championship. After a 75 mile drive, Klug realized that the trip was much more expensive than she had originally thought. She recalled:

“Parking was, like, 20 bucks each day for two days. I didn’t know if I’d even be able to break even. But I knew that busking was a thing on Broadway, so I took my fiddle and played for 15 minutes. Nobody wanted to hear it; they just kept walking. Then, I started dancing. I had my cowboy boots on. And everybody stopped. It was astounding. I got a $20 tip from somebody right away. That’s how I discovered that doing both together is very entertaining.”

The combination worked well for Klug, as it combined two of her passions into one act that was certainly new and entertaining for those who were there to see it. After growing up in Fayetteville, Tennessee, Hillary’s dream isn’t to be on MTV, but instead, her greatest desire is to play at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. While Hillary hasn’t made it to perform there yet, she has posted many videos on her Youtube channel to showcase her incredible skills. For example, this video taunts with the title 'triplets' but it's actually just Klug herself performing with the help of some computer generation to allow her to play with two doubles of herself side-by-side. 

At the beginning of the video, it is just Hillary alone, but only a mere two minutes in, and she's playing with two other versions of herself to the popular tune "Cotton-Eyed Joe." With a mix of traditional and new-school variations on popular songs, Hillary Klug has paved her own path in her music genre. She told Strings:

“People in old-time music usually isolate one type from another, like, ‘This is Kentucky style. This is West Virginia–style’. To be traditional, you have to play it exactly the way everyone plays it. They’ll play the tune note-for-note, scratch-for-scratch. But I don’t do that. I am not a purist. With recordings and radio and just going to fiddle competitions, you hear so many styles and can be influenced by so many things. When I listened to the old-time fiddle players, I learned their repertoire but I built on what they did and added to it to find my own style.”

When it comes to advice for others on how to get into busking and playing on the streets, Hillary Klug had nine tips to give Strings:

1. A Note On Tech: “I’d recommend bringing a little battery-operated Pignose-type amp, especially if you’re going to sing. It’s very durable."

2. Keep Track of Your Money: “Don’t leave too much money sitting in your case or tip jar because there are definitely people out there who aren’t honest."

3. Stay Hydrated: “Bring plenty to drink so you can stay hydrated and keep your energy up. I work four hours at a time, so if it’s 100 degrees outside, I have to have a gallon of water with me.”

4. Try Something New: “If you have some new material, try it out on the street."

5. Where To Play: “Try to play at an intersection instead of the middle of the block, because people have to stop while they wait to cross the street.”

6. Be Mindful of Other Buskers: “Play by the rules. When someone has been performing every day or every weekend in one spot, that’s their spot."

7. Network: “Get to know people in nearby businesses. That makes it easier to ask one of them to watch your stuff while you use the bathroom.”

8. Which Fiddle: “Don’t use your nicest instruments on the street.”

9. Overall: “Have fun!"

Whether you're a potential busker, or just a music-lover, these tips were timeless and a testament to just how mature Klug is as a performer. She certainly has a good career ahead of her!

Hillary doesn’t just stay in Tennessee, though! She toured around the United States to places such as Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she was a guest artist in a performance with the Minnesota Orchestra, as seen in her Instagram post.

For those who can’t make it to see her play in person, Hillary has released a CD titled “Hillary Klug” in 2018 and has even released a second CD titled "Howdy Y'all" in 2021. Hillary has also tried her hand at writing and has penned two music books! It seems that nothing is going to hold this young musician down!

Have you ever known anyone who could sing, dance, and play the fiddle all at the same time? Let us know what you think of her talents! We’re so amazed by her and anxious to see what life holds next for this beautiful girl! Don't forget to show her talent to your loved ones! They will love this performance!