July 6, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
A Greenbrier girl won the top Jamboree award Saturday as the best fiddler in the National Championship for Country Musician Beginners.
Hailey Bryant 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 Bryant including Mickey and Debbie Driver, Logan Michael Beachamp, Jimmy Driver, Kim and Bill Luton, and Bert Driver
Meanwhile Sarah Brooke Richardson of Arrington was named 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. Richardson won the Flat Top Guitar and received second place in the Dobro Guitar and Mandolin categories.
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- Hailey Bryant of Greenbrier; Second Place- Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky; and Third Place- Radnor Walters of Lebanon..
Buck Dancing: First Place- Jacob Fennell of Dickson; Second Place Arlee Fowlkes of Hurricane Mills, and Third Place- Treble Chunn of Greenbrier
Clogging: First Place-Emily G. Brown of Hartsville; Second Place-Treble Chunn of Greenbrier; and Third Place- Shelby Ballington of Columbia.
Dobro Guitar: First Place- David Wheeler of Smithville; Second Place- Sarah Brooke Richardson of Arrington.
Mandolin: First Place-Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky; Second Place- Sarah Brooke Richardson of Arrington; and Third Place- Harlan Cope of Spring Hill.
Five String Banjo: First Place- Gideon Shepherd of Henry, Tennessee; Second Place- Conner McMeans of Athens, Alabama; and Third Place-Joseph Palmore of Springfield
Flat Top Guitar: First Place- Sarah Brooke Richardson of Arrington; Second Place-David Wheeler of Smithville; and Third Place- Isaiah Bush of Gordonsville