Nashville Girl Wins Jamboree Fiddling Title for Beginners

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.

July 1, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Back-to-back champions!

After capturing the Youth Square Dancing Title for the first time at the Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival last year, Smithville Select, led by Mary Ann Puckett, has repeated as champions again this year. And if that were not exciting enough, the local square dance team has been invited to make an appearance at the world-famous Grand Ole Opry to dance on stage with the Opry Square Dancers at a date to be announced.

Before dancing their way to the title, Smithville Select had to compete against a field of seven other teams during the preliminaries Friday afternoon and scored highest by the judges. Normally the top three finishers in the preliminaries would have competed in the finals Friday night but continuous rain and thunderstorms forced the Jamboree to cancel its Friday night competition.

The Jamboree board decided to award first, second, and third place to the three youth square dancing teams with the highest scores during the preliminaries.

Taking second place in the Youth Square Dancing competition was Tennessee Rhythm of Greenbrier and Third place went to Steppin’ Time of Dickson.

After their title was announced, Smithville Select joined members of the Opry Square Dancers in a performance on the Fiddlers Jamboree stage Saturday.

The following are the Friday winners:

*Old Time Appalachian Folk Singing (Solo):
First Place-Lily Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky
Second Place- Emma Tinch of Cookeville
Third Place-Angelica Branum of Murfreesboro

*Junior Clogging (Ages 13-39):
First Place-Colleena Ralston of Lebanon
Second Place-Makayla Foster of Cookeville
Third Place-Jacob Fennell of Dickson

*Junior Buck Dancing (Ages 13-39):
First Place- Kody Hash of Walland
Second Place- Trebel Chunn of Greenbrier
Third Place-Colleena Ralston of Lebanon

*Old Time Appalachian Folksinging (Duet, Trio, Quartet)
First Place- Brock & Tater of Cookeville
Second Place-Mountain Cove of Chattanooga
Third Place-Nora Jane and Joe of Nashville

*Dobro Guitar:
First Place-Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky
Second Place-Tyler Andal of Nashville
Third Place-Amelia Brown of Springfield

*Mountain Dulcimer:
First Place-Tyler Andal of Nashville
Second Place-Pam Hunt of Mansfield, Ohio
Third Place-Rob Pearcy of Smyrna

*Hammer Dulcimer:
First Place-Nicole Tressler of Madison, Alabama
Second Place-Pam Hunt of Mansfield, Ohio
Third Place-Lisa Tressler of Madison, Alabama

*Novelty Event:
First Place- The Tiny Rice Unit (Sarah Harris)
Second Place-Trenton Tater Cruthers of Cookeville
Third Place-Marshall Murphy of Knoxville

*Autoharp:
First Place- Bill Rothe of Estill Springs
Second Place-Pam Hunt of Mansfield, Ohio
Third Place-Beth Rickert of Inverness, Florida

*Gospel Singing (Solo):
First Place-Emma Tinch of Cookeville
Second Place- Lily Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky
Third Place-Matthew Campbell of McMinnville

*Country Harmonica:
First Place- Rob Pearcy of Smyrna
Second Place- Terry Bartlett of Gallatin
Third Place-Marshall Murphy of Knoxville

*Old Time Banjo:
First Place-Tyler Andal of Nashville
Second Place-Joe Overton of Smithville
Third Place- Trenton Tater of Cookeville

*Youth Square Dancing:
First Place- Smithville Select
Second Place-Tennessee Rhythm of Greenbrier
Third Place- Steppin’ Time of Dickson

*Gospel Singing (Duet, Trio, & Quartet):
First Place-Brock & Tater of Cookeville
Second Place-Mountain Cove of Chattanooga
Third Place-Angelica Branham and Sarah Harris of Rockvale

*Mandolin:
First Place-Tyler Andal of Nashville
Second Place-Noah Goebel of Elkton, Kentucky
Third Place- Reed Stutz of Nashville

*Old Time Fiddle Band:
First Place-The Slim Chance Band of Smyrna
Second Place-Tater and the Po’tates of Cookeville
Third Place-Mountain Cove Old Time Band of Chattanooga

July 1, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A Brentwood teen was the overall winner of the 25th annual Fiddler 5K and One Mile Fun Run this morning (Saturday)

(Click link below for all Fiddler 5K and One Mile Fun Run race results)

https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/143231#resultSetId-389787;perpage:100

16-year-old Callahan Fielder ran the course in 16:16 seconds. Meanwhile 17-year-old Ella VanVranken of Silver Point won the race among females. She ran the course in 20:31 seconds.

Winners in other categories were:

TOP MALE MASTERS (Age 40 and older): 61-year-old James Angel of Smithville at 20:01 seconds

TOP FEMALE MASTERS (Age 40 and older): 43-year-old Melissa Cunningham, Summerville, South Carolina at 22: 05 seconds

One-Mile Fun Run (age 12 and younger) winners:

TOP MALE: 12-year-old L. Brown of Smithville at 6:56 seconds

TOP FEMALE: 10-year-old N. England of Atlanta, Georgia at 9:06 seconds

Funds raised will support Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County.

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