July 7, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Tyler Andal’s big weekend!
The Nashville fiddler took home a total of seven awards from the 53rd annual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival over the weekend including the biggest prize, the Berry C. Williams Memorial for claiming the Grand Champion Fiddling Title.
As the 2024 Grand Fiddle Off Champion, Andal will be invited by the Grand Ole Opry to play a ‘fiddle tune’ for the Opry square dancers’ LIVE performance during a selected show. 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.
Darrin Vincent, member of the Grand Ole Opry’s award-winning group Dailey & Vincent, presented the award to Andal at the conclusion of the festival which ended at 11 p.m. Saturday night.
By winning the Junior fiddling contest, Andal edged out two other competitors for a right to advance to the fiddle-off and he out fiddled the senior winner Heather Brown Curry, another past Fiddler’s Jamboree Grand Champion.
This is the 13th 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.
In addition to the Grand Champion Fiddling Title, Andal’s list of awards for the weekend included First Place for Junior Fiddling, Flat Top Guitar, Contest Fiddle (The Neil Dudney Memorial Award), Old Time Banjo, and Mandolin, and Second Place in the Dobro Guitar event.
Winners in the Saturday session of the Fiddler’s Jamboree are as follows:
Junior Old-Time Appalachian Flatfoot Dance (Ages up to 39)-sponsored by Apex Contracting Services: First Place- Jacob Fennell of Dickson; Second Place- Colleena Ralston of Lebanon; and Third Place Keith Symanowitz of Mountain View, Arkansas
Senior Old-Time Appalachian Flatfoot Dance (Ages 40 & Over)-sponsored by DeKalb County Farm Bureau: First Place- Anthony Harrell of Mount Juliet; Second Place- Tammy Scruggs of Lebanon; and Third Place-Danny Campbell of Murfreesboro
Senior Buck Dancing (Ages 40 & Over)-sponsored by DeKalb County Florist: First Place-Jason Wade of Paris, Tennessee; Second Place-Anthony Harrell of Mount Juliet; and Third Place- Danny Campbell of Murfreesboro
Senior Clogging (Ages 40 & Over)-sponsored by Attorney Gayla Hendrix: First Place-Heather Brown Curry of Springfield; Second Place-Jason Wade of Paris, Tennessee; and Third Place- Anthony Harrell of Mount Juliet
Duo Clogging-sponsored by Curtis Supply: First Place- Foster and Hash of Cookeville; Second Place- Patterson and Clark of Orlinda; and Third Place-Ralston and Street of Lebanon.
Bluegrass Banjo-sponsored by Deering Banjo: First Place-Joey Gipson of Manchester; Second Place- Weston Stewart of Anderson, Alabama; and Third Place-Derek Stone of Chattanooga
Junior Fiddlers (Ages 13-39): First Place-Tyler Andal of Nashville; Second Place- Trenton Caruthers of Cookeville; and Third Place-Eric Cameron of Adairville, Kentucky
Flat Top Guitar-sponsored by the Arts Garage: First Place- Tyler Andal of Nashville; Second Place-Rob Pearcy of Smyrna; and Third Place-Nick Norris of Denton, Texas
Contest Fiddle (Neil Dudney Memorial Award)-sponsored by the Dudney Family: First Place- Tyler Andal of Nashville; Second Place-Bonnie Norris of Denton, Texas; and Third Place- Kadence Edington of Nashville. The Neil Dudney Award was presented to Andal by Dudney’s daughter Janet England, two of his grandchildren, Ethan and Brandon Shaw, great grandson Carson Shaw and great granddaughter Addah. 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- sponsored by the Male Room Brotique: First Place- The Unofficial Smithville Fiddlers of Smithville; Second Place-Flatt Earthers of Rockvale; and Third Place- The Radio Boys of Cookeville
Senior Fiddlers (Ages 40 & Over)- sponsored by the Smithville Review: First Place- Heather Brown Curry of Springfield; Second Place-Bonnie Norris of Denton, Texas; and Third Place Tony Haley of Mount Juliet
Square Dancing-Sponsored by DTC Communications: First Place-Jackson Hollow of Franklin; Second Place- Tennessee Dance Alliance of Mount Juliet; and Third Place- Smithville Select of Smithville.
Fiddle-off Champion (Berry C. Williams Award)- sponsored by the Williams Family: Tyler Andal of Nashville