Biography:Sarah Armstrong

SARAH ARMSTRONG. Fiddler from Derry, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. She was the chief informant of tunes for Samuel Bayard's book Hill Country Tunes (1944), collected in two sessions in November, 1943. Sarah grew up in a musical family; her grandfather was a fiddler, and hs sons Charley (Sarah's father), Laney, Abe, Joss and Dan were all musicians who played a variety of instruments and were accustomed to playing for dance. Sarah began learning fiddle at the age of five, mentored in particular by her uncle Laney, who was the most accomplished fiddler in the family.