r. Priestman, Mr. Chernyk, and the Denver Public School System lobbied to get Arlene a music scholarship for C.U. in Boulder, Colorado. Arlene, however, chose another route to fulfill her musical ambitions and dreams, by way of Nashville, Tennessee, but only after a move to Telluride, Colorado, a cozy little ski town in 1975. She attended the famous Bluegrass Festivals held there, and was exposed to the fantastic talents of Bluegrass fiddlers such as Vassar Clements, Byron Berline, Darol Anger, and Tim O’Brian. Determined to learn some of the more popular fiddle tunes, she studied by ear as well as from sheet music.

ith a handful of fiddle tunes, and a new found fascination for the fiddle, she returned to Denver in 1980 prepared to get involved in the Denver music scene. There, she made a living for herself, and her daughter, by playing fiddle in country bands. Soon after, she started her own bands, and recorded her first album. She found herself incorporating her vocals with her fiddling. This finally led to a move to Nashville, in late 1984.

n Nashville, she landed many opportunities for herself. She began doing sessions, singing and playing country fiddle for many songwriters, that encouraged her to write her own songs. The best of the best helped hone her writing skills. Bobby Braddock, in particular, became her friend and mentor almost immediately. She sang her way into many of the best Nashville studios and hearts.

or a time, her violin played "second fiddle" to her singing and her yet undiscovered talent as a songwriter. Her unique writing skills were soon to be noticed by Mr. Byron Gallimore, one of Nashville's finest and most respected producers. He hired her as a staff writer at Charley Prides publishing company. There she collaborated with many songwriters of our time, and sang her demos under Byron's direction. This experience, led to much attention from record labels, such as RCA, and Capital Records, where Arlene landed a recording contract, with producer, Mr. James Stroud.

ome of the world's finest musicians joined in with Arlene in the studio. Among these are Paul Franklin, Buddy Emmons, Doug Jernigan, Mark O'Connor, Rob Hajacus, Jerry Kroon, Junior Husky, Matt Rollins and Brent Rowan, just to name a few.

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