Mackenzie Bell

Photo by Arnold Flenor

Mackenzie Bell is a 15-year-old fiddle player who was born in Guatemala, adopted at the age of seven months, and has grown up just 10 miles from Bill Monroe’s hometown of Rosine, Kentucky.  When she was 7-years-old she heard a friend play the fiddle and thought that this was something that she wanted to learn.  She said, “My friend, who lived nearby, was taught by his grandfather.   I heard him play and I told my parents that I wanted fiddle lessons. They thought that it might just be a childhood phase, so they said, ‘If you still want to play when you turn 8, then you can take lessons.’” 

When she turned 8, Mackenzie was still interested and started taking lessons from Wendell Snodgrass of Morgantown, Kentucky.  Since then, her enthusiasm for playing the fiddle has never wavered.  She quickly progressed from playing simple melodies like “Twinkle Little Star” to performing fiddle tunes like “Liberty.”  By the time she was 10 she started taking lessons at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum with the museum’s music director Randy Lanham.  Less than a year later she was participating in the weekly jam sessions held at the museum.     

When asked what it is that she likes about bluegrass fiddle playing, Mackenzie said, “I like to express myself playing bluegrass fiddle.”  Her current favorite fiddle players are Kenny Baker, Charlie Daniels, and Michael Cleveland.  Mackenzie had the opportunity to meet Charlie Daniels when he was performing in Beaver Dam, Kentucky.  After playing “Old Joe Clark” for Daniels, he gave her one of his fiddle bows.     

Charlie Daniels is not the only celebrity that has heard Mackenzie play the fiddle.  In January of 2020, she was invited to play at the swearing in ceremony for Kentucky’s constitutional officers (Secretary of State, Secretary of Agriculture, etc.).   She first performed “Old Joe Clark” for the Governor of Kentucky in his office.  During the ceremony she performed “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” and “My Old Kentucky Home.”  In January of 2021, she was once again back in the capitol to perform in the Senate Chamber during the casting of the electoral college votes.     

Mackenzie loves to perform and does so as much as possible.  She plays at festivals, on radio shows, at churches, and rest homes.  She said that she either performs by herself or she plays along with a recorded rhythm track.   She also sometimes performs with her fiddle teacher, Randy Lanham, at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum.  When asked about Mackenzie, Lanham said, “What sets her apart is how bad she wants it.  After I teach her a lesson she works hard and comes back the next week and has it nailed.  She has had the push and the drive for it since day one.”

When asked about her thoughts regarding inclusion, diversity, and equality in bluegrass music, Mackenzie said, “Music is a language that crosses all cultural backgrounds.  I am very proud to be a girl from Guatemala playing bluegrass music.”