BONNER, MOSES J. (?–1939). Moses J. Bonner, fiddle player and recording artist, was one of the earliest Texas country musicians to record and one of the first to play a radio "barn dance." His family moved to Texas in 1854. Bonner joined the Twelfth Texas Cavalry (Confederate) in May 1864 and served until the end of the Civil War. Little is known of his life until 1901, when he, with Henry Gilliland and others, formed the Old Fiddlers' Association in Fort Worth.
Bonner participated in local and regional fiddle contests during the early twentieth century. In 1911 he tied with Gilliland and Jesse Roberts for the world's championship. On January 4, 1923, he broadcast a program of old-time fiddle music over WBAP in Fort Worth, thus becoming one of the earliest radio fiddle players. His radio popularity led to a recording session with Victor on March 17, 1925. Accompanied by Fred Wagoner on harp guitar, Bonner waxed medleys of "Yearlings in the Canebrake"/"The Gal on the Log" and "Dusty Miller"/"Ma Ferguson." His rendition of "Dusty Miller" has become a classic of old-time fiddling.
Like Gilliland, Bonner was active in Confederate veterans' affairs and was eventually elevated to the rank of lieutenant general in the United Confederate Veterans. He died in Fort Worth on September 2, 1939.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Keith Chandler, notes to Texas Fiddle Bands (Document Records DOCD-8038). Kevin S. Fontenot, "Country Music's Confederate Grandather: Henry C. Gilliland," Country Music Annual 2001 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001). Bill C. Malone, Country Music U.S.A. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968; rev. ed., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985).
