Danita Rast Hartz, who competed as Danita Rast, is one of the most decorated contest fiddlers ever to come out of Idaho. She won the Grand National Championship at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser three times, in 1998, 2000, and 2001. She won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville three times, in 1990, 1994, and 1996. Six national titles across the two biggest contests in the country is a record few fiddlers can match.
Why Rast matters
Rast proved that a fiddler from Weiser’s home state could beat the Texas players at their own game, in Nashville and at home. Her Grand Master wins came in a decade when the Nashville contest was full of Texas and Kentucky champions. Her Weiser wins came against the fiddlers who defined the next era. She also came up through the Weiser divisions in order, junior to ladies to grand champion, which is the path most young contest players follow today.
Life and career
Rast grew up in Idaho in a fiddling family. Her sister Roberta Rast won the Grand Master championship in 1992 and 2005 and took six Weiser division titles of her own. Danita’s first Weiser title came in 1987, when she won the Junior Division for players under 18. She won the Ladies Division in 1988 and 1989.
In 1990 she won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville, listed from Idaho. She won it again in 1994 and 1996. In the 1996 final she finished ahead of Luke Bulla, Joey McKenzie, her sister Roberta, and a young Tashina Clarridge. The Grand Master contest did not run from 1998 to 2004, so her 1996 title stood as the last for eight years.
At Weiser she won the Grand National Championship in 1998, then again in 2000 and 2001. Shane Cook of Ontario took the title between her wins in 1999, and Tristan Clarridge began his run of titles in 2002.
Playing style
Rast plays the Northwest contest style, which grew out of Texas fiddling as it spread to Weiser. That style means a long bow, smooth double stops, and a set of variations that builds from a plain first pass to a busy last one. A champion has to be as strong on a waltz as on a hoedown.
Rast’s record shows that balance. Three Weiser titles and three Grand Master titles mean she satisfied two different judging panels, one in Idaho and one in Nashville, over a span of 11 years.
Influences and legacy
Rast came up in the Idaho contest scene alongside her sister Roberta. The Northwest circuit of the 1980s was shaped by Tony Ludiker, who won his first Grand National title in 1989, and the Texas champions who traveled to Weiser each June, including Dale Morris Jr. and Jimmie Don Bates.
The fiddlers who followed her at Weiser include Tristan and Tashina Clarridge, Alex Hargreaves, Kimber Ludiker, and Katrina Nicolayeff, who carried the Idaho name forward at Weiser. Matthew Hartz, another Grand Master champion of the same years, won that title in 1989, 1993, and 1995 and the Weiser title in 1988 and 1992.
Awards and honors
Junior Division champion, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Weiser (1987) Ladies Division champion, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Weiser (1988, 1989) Grand Master Fiddler Champion, Nashville (1990) Grand Master Fiddler Champion, Nashville (1994) Grand Master Fiddler Champion, Nashville (1996) Grand National Champion, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Weiser (1998) Grand National Champion, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Weiser (2000, 2001)
What to learn from Rast
Learn a contest waltz and play it three times through without repeating a variation. That is the skill her titles rest on. The technique to steal is the build. Play the melody plain on the first pass. Add double stops on the second. Add a run or a shift on the third. Judges at Weiser and Nashville both reward a fiddler who saves something for the end, and a jam does too.
Sources
Champions, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest collection, University of Idaho Library Past winners, Grand Master Fiddler Championship 1996 results, Grand Master Fiddler Championship National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Wikipedia
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle contests guide for the full champion rolls. Matthew Hartz won the same two titles in the same decade. Tony Ludiker won four Weiser titles in the years before her, and Katrina Nicolayeff is the Idaho champion of the years after. Tristan Clarridge took the Weiser crown after her last win.