Fiddler's Curse: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse, Chubby Wise, Johnny Cash, and The Orange Blossom Special (Revised and Updated)

One of the most bizarre stories in all of popular music is the history of Orange Blossom Special, arguably the century's best-known fiddle tune. The man credited with its ownership, Ervin T. Rouse, endured tragedy, alcoholism and mental illness. He spent his last years fiddling for tips in isolated taverns at the edge of the Everglades, and died all but unknown. The man who claimed co-ownership, Chubby Wise, achieved fame as the seminal fiddler of the bluegrass genre, but struggled to overcome personal demons and to heal the scars of childhood abandonment and abuse. Johnny Cash, the tortured superstar who made the song a mainstream hit, quietly championed Rouse and earned the enmity of Wise. This trio's disparate legacies are here told and forever linked with the legendary diesel steamliner.

Randy Noles is a magazine publisher and editor, and the author of three nonfiction books: Orange Blossom Boys (Centerstream Publishing, 2002), Fiddler's Curse, (Centerstream Publishing, 2007) and Rollins After Dark (2019, Story Farm). Orange Blossom Boys and Fiddlers's Curse formed the basis of a 2008 documentary film that appeared on PBS. He is also an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in dozens (perhaps hundreds) of periodicals. Editor and publisher of Winter Park Magazine, Noles earned a Master of Liberal Studies degree at Rollins College.