Shoji Tabuchi (田淵 章二, Tabuchi Shōji, April 16, 1944 – August 11, 2023) was a Japanese-American country music fiddler and singer who performed at his theater, the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre, in Branson, Missouri.
Tabuchi was inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2020.
Early life
Shoji Tabuchi was born April 16, 1944, in Daishōji, Ishikawa, Japan (now Kaga, Ishikawa, Japan). When Tabuchi turned 7, he went to his elementary school where they had show and tell and one of his classmates played the violin using the Suzuki method. He went back home to tell his mother that he wanted to play violin using this method.
Career
In the mid-1960s, Tabuchi was a sophomore in his college and had heard that Roy Acuff was coming to Osaka, Japan. Tabuchi went to his concert and got to meet Acuff backstage. Acuff's music inspired Tabuchi to pursue country and bluegrass music.
When Tabuchi was in college, he formed a band called The Bluegrass...