NEWS

The Duo Clogging competition has been added for 2023

We are excited to add DUO CLOGGING to this year's schedule.
To review the rules please go to our RULES section under Specific Guidelines, rule 21

Noah Goebel, from Elkton, KY and 2022 Grand Champion Fiddler of the Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree, performs at the Ryman Auditorium

Noah Goebl(L) & Darren Vincent(R) 13-year-old Noah Goebel, Grand Champion Fiddler at the 51st Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival performed Saturday, January 28, 2023 at the Ryman Auditorium.

The Elkton, Kentucky resident, who also won the Junior Fiddling contest here, beat out the Senior Fiddling Champion Heather Brown Currie of Springfield, TN in the showdown for the Berry C. Williams Memorial Award. Currie claimed the Grand Champion Fiddling Title in 1999 and 2001.

As the 2022 Grand Fiddle Off Champion, Goebel played both shows- 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm on Saturday - a ‘fiddle tune’ for the Opry square dancers LIVE performance. Darrin Vincent suggested this date to Dan Rogers, VP at the Ryman Auditorium. It was Bluegrass Night with Vincent & Dailey also performing. Noah also played with Dailey & Vincent.

"Noah is one very impressive young man. He is very talented, and the Jamboree Committee is so proud that he is representing us at the Ryman – The Mother Church of Country Music" , said Jamboree President Kim Luton.

In 2021, Goebel competed as a child in the James G. "Bobo" Driver Fiddlers Jamboree’s National Championship for Country Musician Beginners and won the Beginners Fiddling Title.

Noah stated "I'm honored to be playing the Opry at the Ryman this weekend. I am so grateful for the Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree, Darrin Vincent, Dan Rogers and all who made this possible."

Now accepting Applications for Arts & Crafts
for 2023

Arts & Crafts Application Form

PLEASE READ THE CHANGES FOR CONTESTANTS

Contestant Rules & Regulations ~ Revised June, 2022

For more information and updates

Join us for the 52nd Annual Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival coming Friday, June 30th and Saturday, July 1st, 2023 to Downtown Smithville, Tennessee. Each day begins at 9am with over 35 music and dance categories, streets full of hand-made crafts, and food booths galore. Come and see for yourself why this FREE family-friendly festival has been named the official Jamboree & Crafts Festival of the State of Tennessee.

The old-time Fiddlers' Jamboree is a DeKalb County tradition that draws musicians, craft artists, and spectators to the Smithville Square each summer around the Independence Day weekend. Over time, the festival became a broader tribute to Appalachian art and culture. Thousands of tourists visit the festival every year, along with television viewers across the country via DTC-TV, WCTE-TV and various PBS stations nationwide.

The Grand Ole Opry, the world’s longest-running radio show and the show that made country music famous, is proud to announce that it has invited the 2023 Grand Fiddle Off Champion of the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival to perform on its legendary stage, the biggest stage in country music. The Smithville Jamboree, held annually on the Friday and Saturday nearest the Fourth of July in Smithville, Tennessee, is a major event that draws hundreds of musicians and crafts people, as well as thousands of spectators from around the world. The festival showcases the best of old-time Appalachian-style music and dance, as well as authentic Appalachian and handmade crafts.

East Nash Grass Named 2023
Fiddlers’ Jamboree Blue Blaze Award Winner

The Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival has awarded East Nash Grass the Blue Blaze Award for the 52nd annual event. The Blue Blaze Award is given to artists for continuing and promoting bluegrass music. East Nash Grass is considered "Nashville’s newest bluegrass ambassadors". Featuring a who’s-who of Nashville’s hottest young pickers, the joy and passion these musicians feel towards the genre is infused in every note they play and every word they sing.

"We are thrilled to give this year’s award to East Nash Grass. James Kee (guitar & vocals) has been playing at the jamboree for many years. You could often find him with the shade tree pickers. Kee is also the leader of the Jamboree House Band. Maddy Denton (fiddle), a jamboree favorite and Grand Master Fiddler, started competing in fiddle contests very young and has won many of the Fiddlers’ Jamboree awards, from National Beginner Fiddler to Junior Fiddler to Grand Champion Fiddler", stated Jamboree President Kim Driver Luton. Other notable members of the band include Gaven Largent (dobro), Jeff Picker (bass) and TWO! IBMA Momentum Award-winners for Best Instrumentalist, Cory Walker(banjo) and Harry Clark (Mandolin). The award will be presented on Saturday, July 1st @5:00 pm – followed by music provided by East Nash Grass. The Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree & Craft Festival is free to the public.

We would like to thank our 2023 partners!

Live Streaming will start 9am, July 2

WJLE Radio AM 1480-FM 101.7 has been broadcasting LIVE the on-stage entertainment of the Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival since its beginning in 1972. The first of any electronic media to do so. Listeners can also catch the Fiddlers Jamboree music LIVE on the web stream at www.wjle.com throughout the annual two day festival.