July 7, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
A Nashville girl won the top Jamboree award Saturday as the best fiddler in the National Championship for Country Musician Beginners.
Uma Peters 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 Peters.
Meanwhile Joshua Palmore of Springfield was named “Entertainer of the Year”. The award is presented to the best overall instrumental entertainer among winners in the dobro guitar, mandolin, five string banjo, and flat top guitar competition. The award was named this year in memory of the late Nolan Turner, a long time Fiddlers’ Jamboree supporter and photographer. Palmore won the Flat Top Guitar and Dobro Guitar contests and received second place in the Mandolin category.
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- Uma Peters of Nashville; Second Place- Radnor Walters of Lebanon; and Third Place- Haven Graves of Goodlettsville
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Buck Dancing: First Place- Jacob Fennell of Dickson; Second Place Delana Ballington of Columbia, and Third Place- Arlee Fowlkes of Hurricane Mills
Clogging: First Place- Arlee Fowlkes of Hurricane Mills; Second Place- Delana Ballington of Columbia; and Third Place- Kaelin Wade of Paris, Tennessee.
Dobro Guitar: First Place- Joseph Palmore of Springfield; Second Place- Kevin Beddingfield of Flag Pond; and Third Place- David Wheeler of Smithville.
Mandolin: First Place-Sarah Brooke Richardson of Arrington; Second Place- Joshua Palmore of Springfield; and Third Place- Kevin Beddingfield of Flag Pond.
Five String Banjo: First Place- Uma Peters of Nashville; Second Place- Conner McMeans of Athens, Alabama; and Third Place- Kevin Beddingfield of Flag Pond
Flat Top Guitar: First Place- Joshua Palmore of Springfield; Second Place- Joseph Palmore of Springfield; and Third Place- Kevin Beddingfield of Flag Pond