Dewey Frederick Dowell, Sr. (1899-1995) was a fiddler from North Carolina active from the 1920s until about 1976, when he stopped playing due to old age. His band ("Dowell String Band") was the first to win the Union Grove Fiddling Competition in 1924, where he continued competing until the late 1940s. Dewey first learned banjo at age 8, teaching himself in secret on his brother Jim's banjo while the rest of the family was out farming. The next year, Jim bought a fiddle, and Dewey again taught himself how to play.