Tony Ludiker loses battle with cancer

A local musical legend has died.

Tony Ludiker, a Spokane Valley native and five-time national fiddle champion, died Tuesday evening after a long battle with kidney cancer. His daughter Kimber, of the Grammy-nominated bluegrass band Della Mae, announced his passing on Facebook: "Tough day for our family, friends, and the fiddle world in whole. Dad lost his battle to cancer this evening. He went peacefully surrounded by family while listening to Benny Thomasson play Sally Goodin. More info to follow. Been a hard day."

Ludiker, who had been living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in recent years, had beat cancer once, but learned in early 2012 that it had returned. This past August, he started a Facebook page detailing his ongoing treatments. But on Nov. 21, he posted this to his personal page, "Huge change. Leaving Colorado tonight for Spokane to die soon - unless something happens on the alternative front Washington. My days are bad and getting worse."

In addition to playing - and excelling at - old-time fiddle music, Ludiker was an accomplished classical musician who served as concertmaster for the Coeur d'Alene Symphony a decade ago. He also performed with Rod Stewart and Ray Price.

Ludiker was 52. 

Correspondent Jill Barville wrote about Ludiker's cancer battle, and a benefit concert to help offset his expenses, in February 2013. You can find it here. Spokesman-Review photographer Jesse Tinsley, himself a musician, interviewed Ludiker for a story about the fiddling life and the national championships held each year in Weiser, Idaho. That story is here. Tinsley made an audio slideshow of his interview with Ludiker; check it out here (it's playable only in Flash…). To see Ludiker in action, a clip from a performance this past summer in Weiser is below: