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