Welcome to the Grand Master Fiddler Championship!
The GMFC is sad to report the passing of our very good friend and supporter H.G. Roberts. H.G. held the record of attendance at the GMCF - he been to EVERY contest since 1972, not missing even one! For many years H.G. was the owner/operator of the Fiddler’s Bar-B-Q and provided a great Bar-B-Q buffet for all the fiddlers the night before the competition. He was one of fiddle music’s biggest and will be greatly missed.
Graveside services will be conducted Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. at Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. https://www.woodbinefuneralhome.com/obituary/h-g-roberts
The Forty-Nineth Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship will be held on Saturday September 5th and Sunday September 6th, 2020 (Labor Day Weekend), in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the Ford Theater. Contestants from all over the world will come to compete. In 2019, Ridge Roberts of Texas claimed the Championship. Who will the 2020 Champion be?? Please plan to join us for the competition!
On Saturday, the GMFC welcomed our special guest Ketch Secor, the fiddle player and founding member of the Grammy award winning group Old Crow Medicine Show. Ketch will be serving as a judge for the Traditional category and will be performing in the afternoon.
On Sunday, the GMFC welcomed back our youngest champion ever, Mark O’Connor. Mark was honored with the Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler, for his contributions and support for fiddle and fiddle music. Mark and his wife Maggie did an amazing performance on Sunday afternoon, and had a lot of great information about the O'Connor Method, a new American School of String Playing.
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 donate 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.
2019 Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler Award Recipient Mark O'Connor.
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