The Forty-second Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship will be held on August 30 and 31, 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Preliminary Round is OPEN TO ALL FIDDLERS. See the "Grand Master Fiddler Competition" section for details.
UPDATES AS OF AUG 22, 2013
1. We will have entertainment by The Riders in the Sky and Texas Lace on FRI and on SAT we will feature clogging and square dancing by the Main Stage Fusion and Explosion dance team.
2. The Violin Shop will be hosting a Jam Session for the GMFC on FRU AUG 30 at 6:00pm at their new location on 2504 Franklin Pike, Nashville TN 37204 (FYI - Franklin Pike is also called 8th Avenue).
The competition features our Open Division where some of the top players in the world compete for the title of “Grand Master Fiddler” and an appearance on the WSM Grand Ole Opry. We also have a Traditional Style Fiddling competition sponsored by the West Virginia Division and Culture and History and the champion receives the Robert C. Byrd Award in recognition of our dear friend and former GMFC Board member. There is also a Youth Division for fiddler 15 and under sponsored by the National Fiddler Hall of Fame from Tulsa, OK.
The Grand Master Fiddler Championship Inc. is organized as a Tennessee nonprofit and U.S. IRS 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, formed to educate about and perpetuate fiddling as an art form and cultural treasure. The corporation's main focus is on promoting and holding the annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship competition - an event that has started many young musicians on their way to a career in music. As a 501(c)(3) entity, all donations and monies we take in are fully tax deductible and we welcome your support to promote and educate about fiddling. Fund-raising efforts are being planned so that the company can expand the competition and support activities to add more education, events and activities to further the awareness about fiddling.
Fiddle playing was an important part of the WSM Grand Ole Opry for many years and from 1972 through 1997 the contest was sponsored by WSM and the Grand Ole Opry and later by Gaylord Entertainment. Once the contest is self-sufficient, we plan on annual donations of proceeds to such charities as the Grand Ole Opry Trust Fund and Bluegrass Trust fund, which benefits musicians in need. We do this in recognition of the contribution of these pioneers to country, bluegrass and traditional music. Many of these pioneers such as Roy Acuff, "Uncle Jimmy" Thompson, Bill Monroe, and Tommy Jackson played the fiddle or were very involved with fiddling.
Please tell all your fiddle and fiddle music friends, web sites, discussion lists and other music sites about this web page! Let us hear from you and we will add you to the GMFC email list.