“I’ve always wanted to live and work in the country. I have found that piece of paradise here, in Duck River, TN,” says Mark Baczynski, Hickman County’s resident fiddle player. “I often bring my fiddle out to the front porch to practice and listen to the sound of the stream running by the house as I play. I swear the birds and frogs sing along with me sometimes.”

Raised in a suburb of Chicago, Baczynski has been fiddling for over thirty years. He first picked up a fiddle during his senior year in high school. From there, he proceeded to teach himself how to play; and  he hasn’t stopped since.

Baczynski considered himself to be more than just a fiddle player. He was a performer, too, and he yearned for the stage. His theater career began in Branson, MO, when he was called to perform fiddle and tic tac bass in a new production about the music of Patsy Cline. It was here that Baczynski found his niche and from there, his theater credits continue to grow.  He has performed in: Lost Highway, Big River, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, and Fire on the Mountain just to name a few.

Currently, Baczynski hits the road several times a year as a member of a four-piece band for Jason Petty (who is also a Hickman county native).  When he is not traveling, he is restoring old fiddles or giving lessons at his home.