Roger Howell is a fiddler in Mars Hill, Madison County, North Carolina. A founding member of the Carolina Old-Timers String Band, he has also played with the Carroll Best String Band, Turkey Branch Junction, the Bailey Mountain Boys, and the Bailey Mountain Ramblers. For many years, Roger Howell has performed at most regional festivals, including the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, North Carolina; the Celebration of Traditional Music in Berea, Kentucky; the Fall Homecoming at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee; the Fiddler's Grove Old-Time and Bluegrass Festival in Union Grove, North Carolina; and the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Minstrel of Appalachia Festival in Mars Hill, North Carolina. He has won many awards at fiddlers conventions and festivals. In 2015 he received the Brown-Hudson Folklore Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society.
The guitar was Roger Howell’s first instrument, followed by the banjo, the fiddle, the mandolin, then the dobro, bass, and more recently piano. He plays all his music by ear. When Howell began to learn the fiddle, Madison County fiddlers Tommy Hunter and Woodrow Boone served as his mentors. He counts among his other musical influences Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith, Benny Sims, Byard Ray, Arvil Freeman, Charlie Acuff, John Hartford, Fletcher Bright, and Bobby Hicks. Through his performances, recordings, and instruction, Roger Howell seeks to preserve traditional mountain music. He also repairs and restores instruments in his workshop on Banjo Branch in Mars Hill.