Cathy Pearson can be heard with Robin Kessinger on "Duets," a new album of traditional and contemporary fiddle classics.

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Cathy Pearson stunned the traditional music world in 1998 when she came from "nowhere" to win the Walnut Valley Old-Time Fiddle Contest.

The Russell, Pa., fiddler journeyed to Winfield, Kansas, for the first time that year to support her husband in the mandolin competition. She did that all right -- but she also took home a Sam Ray Compton Fiddle for her efforts in the tough fiddle contest.

A recent college graduate with a degree in nursing, Pearson spends her time giving fiddle lessons and entering some contests along the East Coast.

"I'd like to thank my grandmother for getting me started on fiddle," she says, "and I'd like to take Dad and Mom for taking me everywhere to play so that I would keep interested in music -- and for not letting me quit when I was inclined to do so!"