Twin Lakes National Fiddler Championship

11/11/2025

A few upcoming Contests in 2026

2026
JAN 10,11 Denver, CO Colorado Fiddle Championships
The 23rd Annual Colorado Fiddle Championship will be held on Jan 10 and 11, 2026 at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO. Registrations by DEC 31, 2025 will get two free admissions to the venue For More information: https://www.coloradofiddlers.org/

FEB 28 Tuscaloosa, AL Southeastern Fiddle Championship
The 9th Annual Southeastern Fiddle Championship will be held on FEB 28, 2026 at the Shelton State Community College (Martin Campus) in Tuscaloosa, AL. There is no fee to enter the contest. Registration will open at 8 am, and the contest will begin at 9 am CDT. The contest will be followed by a concert at 4pm. For More information: https://www.facebook.com/thefiddlefest

MAR 7,8 Owensboro, KY Kentucky State Fiddle Championship
The 52nd Annual Kentucky State Fiddle Championship will be held on MAR 7 and 8, 2026 at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. There is no fee to enter the contest. Doors will open at 8 am, and the contest will begin at 10 am CDT. For More information: https://www.kyfiddler.com/

APR 4 Llano, TX Llano Open Fiddle Contest
The Llano Fiddle Fest 2026 and the 47th Annual Llano Open Fiddle Contest will be held on SAT Apr 4, 2026 in Llano, TX in the John L. Kuykendall Event Center. The competition starts at 9:30 am to be followed by the Llano Fiddle Fest at 7:30 pm For more information please see: http://www.llanofiddlefest.com/

APR 24-26 Hallettsville, TX Texas State Championship Fiddlers Frolics
The Texas State Championship Fiddlers Frolics will be held on FRI, SAT and SUN Apr 24, 25 and 26, 2026 in Hallettsville, TX. The event has competitions in “Anything Goes” fiddle, 15 and under fiddle, “Gone to Texas” (for out of state fiddlers), Guitar Accompanist contest, 65 and over fiddle, and Texas State Championship Fiddle Contest. For more information please see: https://fiddlersfrolics.com/fiddle-contests

JUN 22-27 Weiser, ID National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest
The 73rd Annual National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest will be held MON – SAT, Jun 15 – 20 in Weiser, ID. Information for 2026 is yet to be posted. For more information please see: https://www.fiddlecontest.org/

JUL 18 Leitchfield, KY Twin Lakes National Fiddler Championship

The 15th Annual Twin Lakes National Fiddler Championship will be held on the courthouse square in downtown Leitchfield, Grayson Co., Kentucky on July 18, 2026. The competition awards over $14,000 in prices and features six age categories of Fiddling, Dancing, Flatpick guitar, mandolin, and banjo. The total prizes over the six Fiddle categories is one of the largest in the US. Registration starts at 8:00 am CDT, contest begins at 9:00 am. After the contest at 8pm there will be a free concert. For More information: https://www.twinlakesfiddler.com/

Fiddle Contest, Fiddling Festival, NOTFA, Weiser, certified, Grayson County, KY, Leitchfield

11/07/2025

THIS WEEKEND!!!

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

11/03/2025

This Week!! See below information!

10/06/2025

Please share!

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

10/02/2025

The Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Athens AL is this weekend!!

I encourage anyone going and competing to pre-register or register as soon as you get on site. Registration for all categories closes 30 minutes before they start (that time varies depending on number of contestants in the previous categories) and you cannot register for a category after it closes - (no exceptions made.) Drawing will be done by random computer assignment and posted at all stages. You have to be ready to play when your number is called else are skipped and eliminated. Again, no exceptions made.

Register here: https://www.tvotfc.org/contestant-registration/

Thanks, Ed

Family, Friends, Fiddlers

09/25/2025

From Ed Carnes:

Athens AL - Tennessee Valley Oldtime Fiddlers Convention Help Needed - OCT 3 and 4

FYI, I am on the Board for this event, and it is REALLY great! They need some more volunteers in case anyone is interested. I think the slots are 2 to 3 hours and they get a weekend pass and T-shirt. I will be judging fiddle events on the Founders Hall stage. We are using my Scoring System I just released for sale so I want any volunteers with Excel experience with me as scorers! 😊
Email Brandy if interested!

Note from Brandy:
I’m reaching out today requesting some help – We need volunteers for the Convention!
With the recent improvements to campus, our craft vendor check-in process has changed. We will now offer 3 check-in locations.
Monteia needs help checking in vendors on Wednesday, October 1st, from 7 am to 12 noon. She is looking for 2 volunteers.
We also have several volunteer spots that need a volunteer during the event on FRI and/or SAT.
We need help in the following areas:
• Ticket Booth – Exchange online tickets for wristbands and sell wristband tickets.
• Contestant Registration – Assist musicians with registration and help organize contestants backstage.
• Information & Merchandise Tent – Share event details, help with cash giveaway registration, and sell Fiddlers merchandise.
• Tallying for Judges – Enter and total contestant scores using Excel.
• Museum Support – Assist in the Fiddlers and Delmore Brothers Museums.
You are welcome to share these with your friends and family as well.

Thank you in advance,
Brandy Conway
Executive Director Foundation & Corporate Relations
Athens State University
[email protected]

Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention offers family fun, fiddler contest, live music, great food, unique crafts, and a celebration of Southern heritage.

09/17/2025

If you are competing in the Tennessee Valley Oldtime Fiddlers Convention this year in Athens, AL - PLEASE READ THIS.

Send a message to learn more

09/06/2025

ANNOUNCEMENT – THE GRAND MASTER FIDDLER CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO A TWO-DAY EVENT FORMAT FOR 2025.

The competition again returns to the Factory at Franklin - but we have a gained an additional new sponsor and venue. The Mockingbird Theater will be the venue for the Youth Competition on Saturday NOV 8. The Open Competition (both Preliminaries and Championship) will complete on Sunday NOV 9 in the Turner Theater (same as 2024).

The Mockingbird Theater is located just outside the Turner Theater across a grassy area (where many of the children in attendance last year played). That area will also be turned into a JAM Session venue - complete with food and drink vendors suitable for All ages! You can expect food, drinks (non-alcohol and alcohol), local Tennessee merchants and A LOT more. PLUS - there is no "time limit" for jamming - play or listen all day or all night, Saturday and Sunday! We are Very Excited about this and owe our thanks to Will Jordan (owner of the Mockingbird Theater) for making this happen.

The 54th Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship will be held on Saturday and Sunday November 8 and 9, 2025 at the Mockingbird Theater and the Turner Theater in the Factory at Franklin. Contestants from all over the world will be competing for the Champion titles in Youth and Open categories. The contest is Free to attend. There is no entry fee and parking is free.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS - SATURDAY AND SUNDAY NOVEMBER 8 and 9, 2025 – at The Mockingbird Theater and the Turner Theater in the Factory at Franklin (same venue as 2024).

Note: Due to loss of funding from our West Virginia sponsor, the Traditional contest will not be held. We hope to bring it back when funding is available.

Schedule of Events
https://www.grandmasterfiddler.com/fiddler-competition/schedule-of-events/

Register Online
https://www.grandmasterfiddler.com/fiddler-competition/registration-and-entry-forms/

Grand Master Fiddler Championship Entry Forms

09/03/2025

Bud Meredith: "A Kentuckian and His Fiddle" "By I. N. Combs, Jr. Courier-Journal newspaper, OCT 1949
Bud Meredith's ancient violin has been with him everywhere, even at bloody Omaha Beach.

As the LST transporting the 160th Combat Engineers plowed through the English Channel toward Omaha Beach on the night of August 11, 1944, plaintive notes of music floated into the dreary air because a real Kentucky fiddler was aboard.

The player was Bud Meredith, and he had brought his fiddle a long way from his native state. Back home in Grayson County, he had certainly never dreamed that he would be giving out with renditions of “Cacklin’ Hen” and “Mockingbird” as he crossed the narrow sea from Southampton on the way to Normandy and battle.

Bud and his fiddle have been almost inseparable ever since he was old enough to hold the instrument. He was born on January 3, 1919, the second son of Minnie Jane Miller Meredith and Charles B. Meredith, at Higdon, Ky. Higdon, which years ago lost its Post Office to the combined assaults of the automobile and better roads, is in the rolling beargrass country and is located southeast of Leitchfield, the Grayson County seat.

Bud says that he did not decide to become a professional fiddler until he had reached the mature age of 10. At that time, he recalls, he heard Mr. and Mrs. Worthel Bocock, who still live near Pine Grove, play the fiddle and the guitar at an ice-cream supper and croquet party given at school.

Fascinated by melodies like “Tennessee Wagoner,” which Bocock had struck from his fiddle, Bud began to spend every free moment from school and from helping on his father’s farm in making his own instrument. The fiddle he constructed was quite an affair. It was made of a cigar box and cord, Bud remembers, while a small tree limb and hairs from a horse’s tail served as the bow. Bud practiced in the loft of the big barn on the farm, trying to imitate fiddlers like Bocock and Turner Gibson, his schoolteacher. Gibson, who explained to Bud how a violin is made, still lives in Grayson County and teaches vocal and instrumental music at Downs School.

After he had learned to play on his cigar box, Bud began to try to needle his father into getting him a violin. Finally his father said, “If you ever learn to strike a tune on that contraption, I’ll get you a fiddle.”

One summer evening, Minor Skaggs, who now lives at Big Clifty, was visiting the Merediths. Skaggs is quite a fiddler himself and, on that occasion, he had done several tunes when Bud asked permission to play; and, to the surprise of everyone gathered in the Meredith living room, the young man struck the tune of “Maggie” from his cigar box. As soon as Skaggs had left, Bud reminded his father of the promised fiddle.

Later that same summer, Bud remembers, came the golden moment of his life. He had been riding the cultivator in the corn field, when his father called him to the house and told him to take a short rest. They took a drink from the well and then walked into the kitchen. There, on the table, was a violin, bow and case—a present from his parents. Even today, after an interval of 20 years, Bud’s eyes fill with tears when he describes the incident.

By the time he entered high school, Bud had become good enough to attract the attention of L. O. Rust, Leitchfield businessman whose hobby is the fiddle. Rust, who now is in business in Louisville, taught Bud in his Leitchfield office, which fronted on the Grayson County courthouse square. While Bud was under Rust’s tutelage, Stoy C. Willis, also of Grayson County, gave him the instrument he has used to this day. It is over 100 years old.

During his high-school days, Bud played at school dances and at square dances and won quite a number of the fiddle contests in the county. He attended both Peonia and Short Creek High Schools and was graduated from Clarkson High School in 1939.

After Hi**er plunged Europe into war, Bud found making a living by playing the fiddle in Grayson County an impossibility, so he set out for greener fields. Finally, he gave up professional playing for the duration. After taking a welding course he went to work at Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Company, Jeffersonville, Ind. In April of 1943, Bud and his fiddle left Louisville for a training camp.

Basic training at Fort Meade, Md., was followed quickly by unit training at Fort Ethan Allen, Vt.; advanced training at Camp Rucker, Ala.; the crossing to Scotland by convoy, the movement to England and finally the embarkation at Southampton.

From Omaha Beach to Linz, Austria, Bud’s fiddle was always in his platoon’s gear. He had permission from his commanding officer to take it along as a morale builder except when going into combat. A member of the Company A, 160th Engineers Combat Regiment, 20th Corps of General George Patton’s Third Army, Bud earned five battle stars: Normandy Beach, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe.

After the end of hostilities, Bud did a short tour of duty in Linz, Austria. He was discharged on points.

Determined to earn his living as a professional fiddler, Bud returned to his native Higdon and organized the Sunshine Rangers. This string band played at picnics and fairs throughout Kentucky, and won at the past four competitions the prize for the best string band given at the annual Grayson County Day.

At present, Bud is a patient at the Nichols Hospital here. He has a bone disorder from a hip injury and the doctors have told him that he will be in bed in a plaster cast for many months. His wife, the former Miss Mary Catherine French, who takes advantage of every possible hospital visiting hour, is staying with her mother in Louisville at 2733 S. Third. Bud and Mrs. Meredith have one child, 5-year-old Michael Tyrone.

When asked how he feels about his present disability, Bud grinned and said, “If I could live down the name of Vanley, which my parents hung on me when I was born, I can whip this thing and some day go back to making my living as a real Kentucky fiddler.”

08/26/2025

Very Exciting News!! Please share and go check out the NSS website!

New page

08/24/2025

NEW Music contest in Manchester TN on SEP 27, coordinated by Joey Gipson. Primarily focused on bluegrass-style banjo but other instruments have competitions as well.

The 1st Annual Southeast Bluegrass Banjo Championship Get ready to pick, strum, and celebrate the spirit of bluegrass! Join us at Common John Brewing Company in Manchester, Tennessee, on September 27th, 2025, for the inaugural Southeast Bluegrass Banjo Championship. This is your chance to compete al...

08/11/2025

Passing this along for Dave Edgington, Director of Music at Nashville State Community College:

I wanted to share a new opportunity that’s launching this fall at Nashville State Community College. We are starting a new program called Nashville State Roots—a community string group open to students ages 12 and up (adult students too). The group focuses on bluegrass, western swing, world fiddle tunes, and more, while welcoming a wide range of string instruments including guitar, mandolin, banjo, viola, cello, bass, etc.

Students will learn both melodies and accompaniment, with emphasis on harmony, improvisation, and ensemble playing. We have several guest artists that will join us and we will be rehearsing in Nashville State’s beautiful auditorium and rehearsal space. Summer and Kadence will both be participating, and we are so excited—it’s something that’s been in the works for a while as a way to offer weekly instruction at an affordable cost—$150 per semester.

Nashville State Roots
Dates: August 28 - December 11, 2025
Meets: Thursdays from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Location: H Building 306 (NSCC, 120 White Bridge Rd, Nashville, TN 37209)
Registration Fee: $150.00

Here is the link for registration and additional info.

https://ww2.nscc.edu/wconnect/ace1/CourseStatus.awp1?&course=NSCCROOTS1

Info:
“Nashville State Roots is a community-centered music program that embraces tunes from the musical traditions of many cultures in the United States and beyond. Our goal is for musicians of all backgrounds to play in community together, nurturing talent, preserving musical traditions, and building connections across generations. By providing affordable instruction and scholarship support, we aim to ensure that music is accessible and thrives in every corner of our community.”

Nashville State Roots Dates: August 28 - December 11, 2025 Meets: Th from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM Location: H Building 306 Registration Fee: $150.00 There are still openings remaining at this time. OR Description Fees Location Sessions This ensemble is taught by Dave Edginton (guitar) and Meghan Perdue (...