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The bluegrass-centric tune positions Ferrell on fiddle alongside lead fiddler Oliver Craven, while drums, mandolin, banjo and bass flesh out its updated sense of tradition.

The late fiddler was one of the few musicians Bomar knew who held on to decades of archival material.

"Without our traditions," the musical's protagonist Tevye says at the end of the song, "Our lives would be as shaky as . . . as a fiddler on the roof!"

Less, however, has been said of how Mr. Osborne, whose syncopated, lyrical playing was inspired by the jazz-derived solos of old-time fiddlers, broke new ground as a mandolinist.

“Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major,” he sighed, chuckling at the irony of how being the best bluegrass fiddler brought him back to the classical violin he’d quit.