Fiddle Off Brings to a Close the 52nd Annual Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival (View Videos Here)

July 3, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The Grand Champion Fiddle Off brought to a close the 52nd annual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival Sunday morning at 1:30 a.m.

View the fiddle off (here) between Junior Fiddler Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky and Senior Fiddler Sarah Harris of Rockvale. Goebel won the fiddle off and received the Berry C. Williams Memorial Award for being the Grand Champion fiddler of the festival.

July 2, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Make it two!

For the second year in a row, Noah Goebel has claimed the Grand Champion Fiddling Title at the Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival.

The 14-year-old Elkton, Kentucky resident, who also won the Junior Fiddling contest here, beat out the Senior Fiddling Champion Sarah Harris of Rockvale in the showdown for the Berry C. Williams Memorial Award early Sunday morning. Harris is a two-time Jamboree Grand Fiddling champion from several years ago.

As the 2023 Grand Fiddle Off Champion, Goebel will again be invited by the Grand Ole Opry to play a ‘fiddle tune’ for the Opry square dancers’ LIVE performance during a selected show as he did last year. The Opry has partnered with the Smithville Jamboree since 2022 to offer this exciting opportunity to the fiddle champion, as a way to honor the tradition and talent of country music fiddlers.

Only two years ago, Goebel competed as a child in the Fiddlers Jamboree’s National Championship for Country Musician Beginners and won the Beginners Fiddling Title. He is the youngest fiddler to have ever claimed the Jamboree’s Grand Champion award and now he has done it twice.

This is the 12th year in a row (not counting the 2020 virtual jamboree) that a Junior Fiddler has beaten the Senior Fiddler for the Grand Championship of the Festival.

Kim Luton, President and Coordinator of the Fiddlers Jamboree presented the award to Goebel at the conclusion of the festival which ended at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

By winning the Junior fiddling contest, Goebel edged out two other competitors for a right to advance to the fiddle-off.

Unlike Friday night, when all the finals of the Jamboree competitions were cancelled due to stormy weather, the Saturday session of the festival was completed as scheduled except for a rain delay of more than three hours during the afternoon which caused the program to go into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Winners in the Saturday session of the Fiddler’s Jamboree are as follows:

Junior Old-Time Appalachian Flatfoot Dance (Ages up to 39): First Place- Jamie Hash of Walland; Second Place- Elizabeth Clark of Springfield; and Third Place Colleena Ralston of Lebanon

Senior Old-Time Appalachian Flatfoot Dance (Ages 40 & Over): First Place- Danny Campbell of Murfreesboro ; Second Place- Tammy Scruggs of Lebanon; and Third Place-Anthony Harrell of Mount Juliet

Senior Buck Dancing (Ages 40 & Over): First Place-Tammy Scruggs of Lebanon;  Second Place-Tim Hartman of Lyles; and Third Place- Danny Campbell of Murfreesboro

Senior Clogging (Ages 40 & Over): First Place-Anthony Harrell of Mount Juliet; Second Place-Jason Wade of Paris, Tennessee); and Third Place- Tammy Scruggs of Lebanon

Duo Clogging (NEW CATEGORY): First Place-Makayla Foster and Jamie Hash of Cookeville; Second Place- Elizabeth Clark and Kamry Patterson of Springfield; and Third Place-Ralston-Fowlkes of Lebanon

Bluegrass Banjo: First Place-Alex Davis of Manchester; Second Place- Axel Rico of Smithville; and Third Place-Cody Harvey of Chattanooga

Junior Fiddlers (Ages 13-39): First Place-Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky; Second Place- Tyler Andal of Nashville; and Third Place-Joe Overton of Smithville

Flat Top Guitar: First Place- Rob Pearcy of Smyrna; Second Place-Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky; and Third Place-Ty McMeans of Athens, Alabama

Contest Fiddle (Neil Dudney Memorial Award): First Place- Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky; Second Place-Tyler Andal of Nashville; and Third Place- Sarah Harris of Rockvale. The Neil Dudney Award was presented to Goebel by Dudney’s daughter Janet England, two of his grandchildren, Ethan and Brandon Shaw, and great grandson Carson Shaw. Dudney, who passed away in October, 2018 served as President and Coordinator of the Fiddlers Jamboree for 16 years until he stepped down in 2008.

Bluegrass Band: First Place- Clearview of Hilham; Second Place-Blue Cove Mountain Grass of Chattanooga; and Third Place- First Southern Flavor of Salem Virginia

Senior Fiddlers (Ages 40 & Over): First Place- Sarah Harris of Rockvale; Second Place-Rob Pearcy of Smyrna. NO THIRD PLACE

Square Dancing: First Place-Jackson Hollow of Franklin; Second Place- Tennessee Dance Alliance of Mount Juliet; and Third Place- Step Aside of Dickson

July 1, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A Nashville girl won the top Jamboree award Saturday as the best fiddler in the National Championship for Country Musician Beginners.

Summer Edgington won the coveted James G. “Bobo” Driver Memorial Award, named for the man who started the children’s competition during the 1980’s as part of the annual Fiddler’s Jamboree and Crafts Festival. Members of Mr. Driver’s family presented the award to Edgington.

Meanwhile Reagan Brown of Springfield repeated as winner of the Nolan Turner Memorial Entertainer of the Year award. The honor is presented to the best overall instrumental entertainer among winners in the dobro guitar, mandolin, five string banjo, and flat top guitar competition. Turner, who died in October 2017, was a long time Fiddlers’ Jamboree supporter and photographer. Brown won the Mandolin competition, received second place in the Dobro and Flat top guitar category, and third Place in the Five String Banjo contest.

The National Championship for Country Musician Beginners showcases the talents of children up to age twelve in seven categories of competition.

This year’s winners are as follows:

Fiddle: First Place-Summer Edgington of Nashville; Second Place- Kadence Edgington of Nashville; and Third Place- Abigail Ward of Tullahoma.

Buck Dancing: First Place- Eden Harris of Rockvale, Second Place- Brooklyn Frank of Old Hickory, and Third Place- Noah Fennell of Dickson.

Clogging: First Place- Noah Fennell of Dickson; Second Place-Eden Harris of Rockvale, and Third Place- Brooklyn Frank of Old Hickory.

Dobro Guitar: First Place- Eden Harris of Rockvale and Second Place- Reagan Brown of Springfield

Mandolin: First Place-Reagan Brown of Springfield, Second Place- Stephen Stewart of Monterey, and Third Place- Silas Pegg of Gallatin.

Five String Banjo: First Place- Derek Stone of Chattanooga; Second Place- River Smith of Johnson City, and Third Place-Reagan Brown of Springfield.

Flat Top Guitar: First Place- Immanuel Roberts of Fort Payne, Alabama; Second Place- Reagan Brown of Springfield, and Third Place- Campbell Collier of Gallatin.