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Best of State in North Ogden:
Music Champions Among the Hales Family
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BY JENNY GOLDSBERRY
To accommodate all the instruments, the Hales Family have two music rooms. Some of the older instruments are hung up and displayed as wall art. Hales Family Music is North Ogden’s own local band that is undoubtedly the “Best in State.” However, they also have national awards to boot. We have the scoop on how the family came to win so many musical competitions. First, the band would not be where it is today without their matriarch, Grandma Linda Child. She started what we now know to be the Utah Old Time Fiddlers. Linda and Jim Shupe were founders of their Pioneer Chapter in the Ogden area.Today, it’s a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion, perpetuation, and enjoyment of Old Time music. “Our purpose is to encourage musicians of all ages and to provide them with opportunities to improve their skills by performing in public,” their website reads. “If you live in Utah and enjoy the music of the fiddle tradition, then this is the place for you.” Now, it is a group of people in the area
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who get together about twice a month to rehearse and twice a month to perform. In Linda’s time, she played the violin and raised her daughter, Cindy, to do the same. Cindy teaches from the fiddle books and CDs Linda made as teaching resources. Her family even produced a CD together. Her dad played the harmonica, and some of her siblings played the fiddle, guitar, and bass. Her mother’s teaching would help her win many state fiddle contests. She would go on to learn to play the banjo, guitar, mandolin, piano, and organ. In fact, she played on her grandmother’s pump organ, which was brought across the plains via train by her pioneer ancestors. The Old Time Fiddlers aren’t the types of performers to play their piece and leave, either. Often, they stick around events to brighten the lives of their audience beyond a song, with a smile and conversation. While Linda has passed, other founding members have been
northogdenconnection.com | February 2022
known to play with the group into their nineties. Amidst all the Old Time Fiddlers’ jam sessions, Cindy met Brent Hales. He and his family played alongside the fiddlers and were some of the original members. In addition to the violin, Brent plays the piano, tuba, and bass. Brent came from a musical family, and his parents D. Brent and Elaine worked hard to create their own family band called the Hales Family Fiddlers. His family had likewise produced a CD together, and they have been performing at events for over 40 years. All of Brent’s siblings play many instruments such as fiddle, guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin, piano, and are still performing today. Brent and Cindy were excellent matches. But, since they were both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they decided to serve missions before pursuing a romance together. Cindy was a missionary in San Bernardino, and Brent
