ASHLOCK, JESSE (1915–1976). Jesse Ashlock, fiddle player, was born in 1915. He started playing violin at age nine. In 1930 he began going to the Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion^qv in Fort Worth where James Robert (Bob) Wills^qv played with his band. Wills bought Jesse a fiddle, taught him to play, and included him in a few of the band's performances at Crystal Springs. In 1932 Ashlock joined Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies.^qv Brown was Wills's chief competition in Western Swing.

In 1935 Ashlock joined Wills's Original Texas Playboys as a fiddle player. He stayed with Bob Wills throughout the rest of Wills's career and continued playing shows until three days before his death. While playing for Wills he became an integral part of the band. He was known as a practical joker. He once told Bob Wills during a performance that his pants were unzipped, causing Bob to stop playing his chorus and double over trying to cover up the offending opening. During his career with Wills, Ashlock was also involved with the movies that Wills made.

Ashlock's playing style had its roots in jazz. His fiddle style was characterized by hot breaks and hot choruses. His idol was jazz violinist Joe Venuti. Ashlock's attempt to play his fiddle like a horn earned him placement in the category of the "hot fiddlers." He died on August 9, 1976, in Austin where he had moved from Claremore, Oklahoma, the previous year. At the age of sixty-one he had performed at the Broken Spoke,^qv a country club, three days before his death from cancer. In 1990 Ashlock was inducted into the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Charles R. Townsend, San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob Wills (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976). Vertical Files, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Matthew Douglas Moore