Born and raised in the Ottawa Valley, Dennis Harrington is well known around the region – and far beyond – as a champion fiddler.

Dennis began his fiddling career in 1982 when he took six months of lessons by tablature from Randy Foster, the “Fiddling Fireman.”  Dennis cannot read music and learns the vast amount of his tunes by ear.

He began entering fiddle contests in his early teens, winning titles and accolades around the region and in the Maritimes. Over the years that followed, Dennis composed more than 40 fiddle tunes and has released three CDs with a number of original tunes. In 1999, the traditional fiddle tune “Little Burnt Potato” from Dennis’ Old Time Canadian Fiddling CD went to number one – twice – in the American Folk Music Charts.

Dennis has leant his fiddle talents to a number of local musicians for their recordings over the years, and is still active in a number of Valley bands such as The Countrymen, The Douglas Connection, Upper Ottawa Valley Country – and with his own band, Heritage Country.

His radio show, Cross-Canada Fiddling, can be heard on Valley Heritage Radio every Sunday from noon till 2 p.m.