Georgia's Chuck Nation was brought up on bluegrass music, or "brainwashed," as he recalls it, and eventually headed south to make a reputation for himself on the bluegrass scenes in the swampy states of Louisiana and Florida. He has played with groups such as the Bluegrass Alliance and the Deep River Boys, and is one of those pickers who seems like he could play every instrument in the band if such a thing was possible. He is self-taught on more than a half dozen instruments and has played bluegrass since he was 16. The fiddle seems to be his number one, however.

High school history students will study the date that Louisiana entered the nation, but it was back in 1984 that Nation entered the Louisiana State Fiddlers' Championship on a dare from his father. He took first place, the best part for him being a $500 winner's purse since he was unemployed at the time. Winning a fiddle contest in Louisiana was, alas, not an indicator that one was going to become employed, since by the '80s the instrument had been trumped by the accordion on the Cajun scene. As for bluegrass, the genre has never really established itself strongly in that state, crowded out by so many other local specialties such as Cajun, zydeco, New Orleans jazz, and rock roll, and so on into the gumbo. Which could explain why Nation's next stop moving through the country was the Florida parishes. But he was part of what existed of the Louisiana bluegrass scene, putting him in the company of mandolinist Luke Thompson, one of a pair of brothers who are generally credited with putting down roots for bluegrass in Cajun country. In 1968, Nation played guitar with Thompson and the Green Valley Cutups at what was the first bluegrass festival ever organized in Louisiana. The third member of this trio was banjo player Allen Shelton. From 1970 through 1974, Nation continued on guitar in a bluegrass combo with Thompson, plus Johnny Rushing on bass and Dennie Blunt on banjo. Since moving to Florida, many of his bluegrass collaborations have been with bands based out of his home state of Georgia. An example is the Country Comfort band, with whom he played and recorded in 1992. His wife, Susan Nation, plays bass in this group, which also features banjoist Jim Pankey. In 1998, Nation joined a new version of the Bluegrass Alliance with banjoist Barry Palmer, guitarist Johnny Martin, mandolinist Tom Hicks, and La Rita Buchanan on bass. Nation joins a long line of bluegrass players who have passed through the revolving doors of this band. The original Bluegrass Alliance included many famous members such as Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, and Dan Crary. The band recorded nine albums, toured nationally, and performed at the Grand Ole Opry nearly a dozen times. The new formation is based out of Atlanta.

In addition to music, Nation keeps busy as an ordained Baptist minister and part-time carpenter. He also gives private instruction on all of the instruments he plays, in itself enough to fill a datebook up with scribbles. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi