The 16 former fiddle kings who have reigned during 39 years of competition at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention have spread their musical influence worldwide. They have entertained in places as diverse as the Smithsonian Institute’s Bicentennial Celebration on The Mall in Washington, D.C., onstage at the Grand Ole Opry, and before the U.S. President; recording traditional fiddle tunes for posterity; and mentoring young fiddlers in their own music studios across the country.

This year’s convention, the 40th, will be Friday and Saturday on the campus of Athens State University. Events begin Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 8 a.m. Tickets are $7 for Friday, $10 for Saturday. Call 233-8215 for information.

Fiddlin’ royalty

Of the eight TVOTFC fiddle kings who survive, perhaps the two with the most visible careers are five-time winner and current champion Brandon Apple, who is fiddler in Clint Black’s band, and 1979’s fiddle king Jimmy Mattingly, who is fiddler for The Grascals. But others are equally busy.

Joel Whittinghill, who was fiddle king in 2004 and has won numerous other awards in fiddle, guitar and mandolin competition at TVOTFC, plays in several bands in and around his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky., including Highway 62, named for the road that winds through western Kentucky past Rosine, birthplace of bluegrass legend Bill Monroe.

Two-time fiddle king James Bryan, who was just 17 when he first won the TVOTFC fiddle championship in 1970, went on to perform with Norman and Nancy Blake’s Rising Fawn String Ensemble. In the mid-1980s he recorded “Lookout Blues” and “The First of May” with Rounder Records, a decade later collaborating with guitarist Carl Jones in recording “Two Pictures.” Bryan now lives in Mentone and continues to make musical appearances.

Dick Barrett, 1971’s fiddle king, has been playing fiddle for 79 years and at 85 is still going strong. He and his wife, Lisa, operate a school for advanced fiddlers in Rapelje, Montana.

Mark Ralph, a Huntsville dentist who was fiddle king in 1997 and, like most TVOTFC champs, holds numerous titles from similar competitions across the nation, this year spearheaded the addition of a new event – the Alabama State Fiddling Championship – to the lineup in Huntsville’s Panoply of Arts.

Roy Crawford, a retired systems analyst who won the fiddle-off in 1975 and has taken first place in the senior fiddler division more times than he can remember, lives in Cullman where he is fiddler for Cullman County Bluegrass, a band which performs at special events and festivals such as Mayberry Day, in which the band impersonates the Darlings. Crawford’s most recent recording was “Front Porch Fiddlin,’” a collection of traditional fiddle tunes. And perhaps his fondest memory is being one of four Southern fiddlers selected to perform on The Mall in Washington during the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration. (Two others in that foursome – J.T. Perkins and Frazier Moss – also are former TVOTFC fiddle kings.)

Daniel Carwile, a seven-time winner of the TVOTFC fiddle king title, took his first Athens win in 1987 at the age of 14. Carwile now lives in Lexington, Ky., where he and his wife Amy teach music at their own Carwile String Studio. An Athens native, Carwile has won numerous fiddling championships, including Nashville’s Grand Masters. (Two other former fiddle kings – Jimmy Mattingly and Randy Howard – also have taken first place during the 25-year history of Grand Masters, a contest that each year invites 20 top fiddlers to compete, then ranks the top 10, with the first-place winner performing that Saturday night on the Opry stage. All three were ranked in the top 10 on other years as well. Other former fiddle kings ranking in the top 10 at Grand Masters include Joel Whittinghill, J.T. Perkins, Mark Ralph, Roy Crawford and Brandon Apple.)



Lingering music

Former fiddle kings who are no longer living but whose musical legacy lives on include:

Bill Owens, an Athens man who won the 1966 fiddling contest held at West Limestone High School before the contest was moved to the campus of Athens State. Owens got his first fiddle at 15, when his father swapped a calf for it. He and his brother formed a band, the Elk River Drifters, playing on occasion with the Delmore Brothers. It was Owens’ rendition of “Gray Eagle Hornpipe” that won him the 1966 title. He continued to attend TVOTFC virtually every year until his health precluded it in the 1990s. The 2001 contest was dedicated to Owens, who died shortly thereafter.

Pete McMahan, a Missouri man who has been called “the winningest fiddler in the history of Missouri fiddling contests.” McMahan won the first of many fiddling contests in 1933 at age 15 but said he was proudest of his 1981 win at TVOTFC because “I’m the only man from the North that’s ever won it.” McMahan was one of a dozen Missouri fiddlers featured in a 1990 album, “Now That’s a Good Tune: Masters of Traditional Missouri Fiddling,” that was nominated for two Grammys. McMahan died in 2000 at 81.

J.T. Perkins, a six-time fiddle king who mentored up-and-coming TVOTFC fiddlers including Daniel Carwile and Randy Howard. Perkins, a brick mason from Arab, died in 1998 at 71. Former fiddle king Jimmy Mattingly, who played with Garth Brooks’ road band and now is with The Grascals, names Perkins as an important musical influence.

Bill Mitchell, known as the Fiddlin’ Sheriff. Mitchell, who was fiddle king in 1967, was sheriff and tax collector of Tupelo, Miss.

Frazier Moss, a Tennessean who was fiddle king in 1968 and 1974. When Moss died in 1998 at age 88, “The Tennessean” eulogized him by quoting singer John Hartford, who frequently traveled with Moss to contests including TVOTFC, and music historian Charles Wolfe, who called Moss “one of the last links to the classic Tennessee fiddle tradition.” According to that eulogy, Moss won his first contest at age 12, and once bested Uncle Jimmy Thompson, an early cast member of the Grand Ole Opry. Moss also fiddled on the campaign trail with Albert Gore Sr. and was invited to play for President Franklin Roosevelt.

Bob Douglas, a retired steamfitter who won the 1969 fiddle king title. Douglas made his Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 100. The fiddler, whose accomplishments included winning the Smithsonian Institute’s national fiddling contest in 1975 and performing at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, died in May of 2001 at age 101, just 10 days before he was to have received Tennessee’s highest honor, the Governor’s Folklife Heritage Award.

Clyde Hartman, 1977’s fiddle king. Roy Crawford recalls that Hartman and a half-dozen of his brothers – with not a full head of hair among them – billed themselves as The Bald Eagles and sang songs reminiscent of the Sons of the Pioneers. Hartman died in 1988 at 64.

Randy Howard, who holds the record with eight TVOTFC fiddle king titles. Howard was on the A-list of Nashville studio musicians. His recordings include “Survival of the Fiddliest” and “I Rest My Case.” Howard died in 1999 at age 38.