At 15, Alex Hargreaves (center) became the youngest ever Grand National Champion, edging out four-time and defending champ Tristan Clarridge (center left).  Rounding out the top 5 are Tashina Clarridge (4th), Justin Branum (3rd) and Kimber Ludiker (5th) (L-R).

Documentary Film Update

Work continues on the documentary film we're making about fiddle music and the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest® in Weiser, Idaho.  Tell your friends about us!

A modest amount of filming this year at Weiser.  Filmmaker Greg Lehman updated attendees on progress in presentations following the judges' meeting and at the Friends Of Fiddle meeting.  Lots of interest, good questions and e-mail sign-ups from the crowd.

We continue working through our backlog of footage, annotating as we go and preparing to edit.  This Fall, we're ramping up fundraising activities, seeking grants and sponsorships to help fund the completion of the film.  More updates in future Newsletters.

By all accounts, another great Weiser - perfect weather, youngest ever Grand National Champion (yeah, Alex!) and that fountain of late night mercy and life support (aka Benny's Tacos) goes mobile as 'Benny's Taco Bus' (impervious to weather, same nuclear-powered hot sauce and plenty o'seats) - Roll On, Benny!

Some folks noticed a few more swing tunes in this year's contest mix.  With all the former
Asleep At The Wheel fiddlers in attendance, is anyone really surprised?

Saturday's Fiddle Parade (Pat Jones, Senior Grand Marshall) featured numerous tributes to departed friend Keith 'Cherokee' Jones, longtime local supporter to whom the contest and parade were dedicated this year.  Cherokee himself would have 'stoically' approved.

By the way, Weiser Films Fiddle T-Shirts now available for purchase on the Weiser Films website. 

• Long Island Fiddle Festival, Stony Brook, NY, August 26, 2007
• Sierra Vista Fiddle Contest, Sierra Vista, AZ, September 22, 2007
• Grand Master Fiddler Championship, Nashville, TN, October 5-6, 2007

Longtime fiddle and old timey favorites Jay Ungar and Molly Mason join Canadian fiddler and dancer extraordinaire April Verch on New York's Long Island.  Jay wrote 'Ashokan Farewell' the moving theme to the Ken Burns 'Civil War' documentary.  Montana-based fiddler Isaac Callender plays guitar in April's band.  This New York area event is a must see.

Arizona fiddler, fiddle teacher and fiddle contest organizer David Kaemmer tells us the Sierra Vista Fiddle Contest features an 'OBS Blowout' competition.  Contestants play one round apiece of 'Orange Blossom Special', stepping up to the mic in a non-stop fiddle express with the locomotive (rhythm section) running full throttle . . . .  Sounds fun.

The Grand Masters Fiddler Championship invites fiddle champions and strongly encourages competent newcomers to sign up and join the fray.  Staged in conjunction with the International Bluegrass Music Association ('IBMA') Bluegrass Fan Fest.  Lots of good fiddling at this Nashville event.

Check out Weiser Blog posts with many more upcoming fiddle contests and fiddle events.  The Weiser Links page presents a growing list of links to fiddle contests, fiddler conventions and fiddle festivals throughout the year around the US, Canada and around the world.

Fiddler and fiddle teacher Megan B. Lynch (marked 'absent from Weiser') has been spotted!  And she's been fiddling.

Megan's the fiddler in 3 Fox Drive, playing 'almost all original' contemporary bluegrass, all over the country including three gigs on the Grand Ole Opry.

Megan played and sang with songstress Pam Tillis on a Direct TV special and is running her own fiddle camps in 2008.

Gosh, she's busy . . . maybe next year at Weiser?

Fiddle contest emcee team Tex Ash and wife Sharon (organizers of the Western Open Fiddle Championship, Red Bluff, CA) have amassed and analyzed the data on tunes played onstage at the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest®.

Can fiddle tunes be 'number crunched'?  Apparently so.  Here's what Tex and Sharon found:

• 325 fiddlers from 21 states and 3 foreign countries, including Canada,
  Japan (hello, Mr. Sumi!) and Texas, competed in 8 separate divisions;
• 545 contest rounds (each a hoedown, waltz and tune of choice) played onstage; and
• a grand total of 1,635 tunes, including 436 different tunes, scored by contest judges.

Of the 436 different tunes, here are the top 15, with the category and frequency of each:

Names and spellings of tunes submitted by contestants before each round were conformed by Tex and Sharon to the generally accepted standard name for each.  By example, they cite 'I Don't Love Nobody' which contestants also called 'I Love Everybody' (ain't no double negatives fer that fiddler, donchano), 'Nobody Loves Me' and 'I Don't Nobody to Love'.

Is this a great analysis - or what?!  Thanks, guys.

Yep, we're running another drawing for a FREE Weiser Films Fiddle T-Shirt and it's going on now.

Join the e-mail list, register on the site or make a purchase to automatically enter.  Winner announced in this space.

Weiser Films Fiddle T-Shirts are more than plain cool.  Purchases help fund this documentary film about fiddle music and Weiser.

Let us know if there's an oldtime fiddle contest or festival, fiddle association, or something or someone with a website related to oldtime fiddle music which we ought to include on the Weiser Links page.

Tell your friends if you find our site worthwhile.  We aim to grow the audience for fiddle music, the documentary film we are making and www.weiserfilms.com - the website to support it all.

Join the e-mail list to receive future Newsletters.  Check the Weiser Blog and www.weiserfilms.com for more fiddle info.  All Weiser Films Newsletter editions archived on the Newsletter page.

Thank you for your interest and support.