I know I’m a little late in this post, but I wanted to let everyone know what a great time the Grand Master’s Fiddle Contest is. I also want to give a special thanks to Ed Carnes, Howard Harris, and the rest of the GMFC board who have worked so hard to bring this great event back to us.

The Grand Master’s takes place in Nashville during the IBMA Bluegrass festival, and is one of the most competitive and prestigious fiddling contests in the United States.

The Grand Master’s consists of an open preliminary round, where anyone can come and compete, a second round where the finalists from the preliminaries face 10-15 invited fiddlers, and the championship round where the top 10 contestants from the second round compete for buckets of cash.

If jamming is your thing, there is plenty of that as well. If Old-Time Fiddling is your thing, you will want to stay in the Downtown Nashville Hilton. It is just a couple of blocks from the contest, and is where the fiddle jamming is. Jamming happens on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, but Saturday is usually the biggest jam night, since everybody is done competing.

The thing that I like most about the Grand Master’s is the wide array of fiddlers that come out for the contest. I get to see fiddlers from all of the US, that I seldom get to hang out with. I know it will sound strange to those of you who aren’t fiddlers, but these are some of my closest friends, even though I see them at most 5-10 days a year.

I highly recommend coming to the Grand Master’s Fiddling Championship. I also highly recommend getting the Grand Master’s Championship round CD’s. I have been wearing out the 2006 CD. Hope to see you all there.

Here are some pictures from the 2008 Grand Master’s:

Vi Wickam (fiddle) warming up with Terry Ludiker (guitar)

Vi Wickam at the 2008 Grand Master's with Terry Ludiker and Anthony Mature

Vi Wickam at the 2008 GMFC with Anthony Mature and Al Mouledous

Warmup Room: Vi Wickam, Joel Whittinghill, Wes Westmoreland, Bill Jones and Doug Fleener

Young Person's Jam at the Downtown Nashville Hilton