The 53rd Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship was will be held on Sunday September 1st, 2024 (Labor Day Weekend), in the Turner Theater, at the Factory in Franklin at Franklin, Tennessee.  This year is a change from the normal two-day event. 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. 

LIVE STREAM the contest on Youtube - 2024 Grand Master Fiddler Championship

 “The Factory at Franklin”, is a lively hub for shopping, dining, events, and more located in a charming historic building, one mile north of downtown Franklin, TN at 230 Franklin Rd, Franklin, TN 37064. There 21 shopping places and over 13 restaurants and eateries. A few pictures we took are attached. Please check out the website at https://factoryatfranklin.com/

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 primary focus is 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 are tax deductible, and we welcome your support to promote and educate about fiddling. Fund-raising efforts are being planned in order to expand the competition, enhance our educational efforts, and to further the awareness of fiddling around the globe.

Fiddling laid the foundation of the WSM Grand Ole Opry and remains important to country and bluegrass music today. For a quarter-century, the contest was sponsored by WSM, the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Association, and later by Gaylord Entertainment.  When financially able, the GMFC makes donations to such charities as the Grand Ole Opry Trust Fund and the Bluegrass Trust Fund which benefit musicians in need.  We do this in honor of the contributions of the pioneers to country, bluegrass and traditional music. Many of these pioneers such as Roy Acuff, Porter Wagoner, "Uncle Jimmy" Thompson, Bill Monroe, Howdy Forrester and Tommy Jackson played the fiddle or were very involved with fiddling. We have also donated fiddles/violins to the W. O. Smith Community Music School in Nashville.

Please tell all your fiddle music friends, websites, 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.



2024 Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler Award Recipient

Jimmy Mattingly

Growing up in Leitchfield, Kentucky, Jimmy Mattingly started playing fiddle at age 8, learning tunes from his father Ed. At age 12, he was a founding member of the Grayson County Youth Orchestra in Leitchfield KY from its beginning until his graduation from high school.

During these years, Jimmy won multiple KY and TN State Fiddling Championships, the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddle Championship, and countless others. He was one of the youngest fiddle champions in the Southeastern US.

At age 18, he won the prestigious Grand Master Fiddler Championship, which earned him his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry as a guest of Roy Acuff. This appearance brought him to the attention of the Bluegrass world, and shortly afterward he joined the groundbreaking band “Spectrum” with Béla Fleck, Jimmy Gaudreau, Mark Schatz, and Glen Lawson, and toured the US and Japan.

After Spectrum disbanded, he went on tour with the Forester Sisters, beginning his career as a utility sideman. He has toured with Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton, Steve Wariner, Reba McEntire, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Rogers. In 1989, Jimmy started touring and recording with the iconic Dolly Parton and has toured and recorded periodically with her since then. He was a founding member of the 2’time Grammy-nominated Rounder Records bluegrass group “The Grascals” earning back-to-back International Bluegrass Music Association Awards for Entertainer of the Year.

Fiddle in hand, Jimmy Mattingly has taken the concert stage with Garth Brooks since 1995, entertaining over 14 million people on Brooks’ record-breaking tours, including more than 3 million on the Garth Brooks Stadium Tour, which averaged 95,000 tickets per city. At LSUʼs Tiger Stadium, when Mattingly kicked off “Callinʼ Baton Rouge,” the combined energy of over 100,000 singing fans registered as an earthquake! Mattingly also appeared on Brooks’ TV concert specials, “Live From Central Park” and “Ireland & Back”. He returned to Dublin's Croke Park as Brooks wrapped his stadium tour with five sold-out shows in front of 400,000 people in September 2022.

In 2023, he was inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame and inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2024.

His contest accomplishments opened doors for what became a long and blessed career. Mattingly currently tours with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

Help Support the Arts in Tennessee by participating in the Tennessee Specialty License Plate Program benefitting the Tennessee Arts Program - proceeds from every license plate go to help fund Arts in Tennessee.  To get more information or order your plate please see https://tnspecialtyplates.org/