Robert C. Byrd: "My coal miner dad took me to Beckley one evening in the back of a large, old truck. That was a payday; he bought a fiddle for me.

Then when I ran for the House of Delegates, I knew a lawyer friend up in Beckley and he said, 'Now, Robert, take that violin with you, play a tune, they'll remember you.' That's what I did. Everywhere I went, I took that violin and I played a tune, and if I found two persons who wanted to hear a tune, I played it for them.

That's how I fiddled in that first race and won the House of Delegates. I was an unknown, but with that violin, I opened doors."