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.