Ridge Roberts is a Texas contest fiddler from Granbury who won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville in 2019, at age 16, and won it again in 2024. He came up through the youth divisions at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser, Idaho, taking the Junior-Junior title in 2015 and the Junior title in 2018.
Why Roberts matters
Roberts is a Texas-style fiddler winning on the two biggest contest stages in the country while still in his early twenties. He placed third in the Weiser Grand Champion round at 16 and took the Grand Master title the same year. By 2025 he was judging the Fort Worth Fiddle Showdown for Texas teenagers. For any young contest player, his path shows what the Texas circuit can build.
Life and career
Roberts grew up in Granbury, Texas, southwest of Fort Worth. He was on contest stages by his early teens. At the 2014 Bob Wills Fiddle Fest he placed second in the Junior-Junior division and third in the Bob Wills category at age 11, and he played Right or Wrong on stage with the Time Jumpers.
At Weiser he won the Junior-Junior division (under 13) in 2015. In 2018 he won the Junior division (under 18), placed second in the swing division for players 17 and under, and won the twin fiddle contest with Leah Sawyer. In 2019 he placed third in the Grand Champion round behind Katrina Nicolayeff and Tristan Clarridge.
That September he won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville at age 16. The contest was not held in 2020. In 2024, the first year the Grand Master moved to the Factory at Franklin, Tennessee, he won it again, ahead of Trustin Baker and Jesse Maw. In February 2025 he judged the Fort Worth Fiddle Showdown, a scholarship contest for Texas fiddlers aged 14 to 18 held at the Fort Worth livestock show, with Katie Elmore and Robert Weeks.
Playing style
Roberts plays Texas contest style. His breakdowns build through variations rather than repeating the melody, and his bow is long and smooth, the way the Texas style demands. His waltzes, like Chancellor’s Waltz and Morning Star Waltz from his youth division rounds, lean on double stops and a sustained tone. He also plays swing. His Weiser swing division placing and his Right or Wrong with the Time Jumpers show a player at home with western swing changes, the other half of the Texas tradition.
Influences and legacy
Roberts comes from the Texas contest lineage that runs through Benny Thomasson, Major Franklin, and Terry Morris. He has jammed with Mark O’Connor. He competes against Trustin Baker, Jesse Maw, Katrina Nicolayeff, and Tristan Clarridge. Bluegrass Today credits him with inspiring fellow Texas fiddler Nathan Pedneault to take up the instrument.
Signature tunes and songs
Sally Goodin Grey Eagle Lily Dale Chancellor’s Waltz Right or Wrong.
Awards and honors
National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Junior-Junior Division champion (2015) National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Junior Division champion (2018) National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, Twin Fiddle champion with Leah Sawyer (2018) National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, third place Grand Champion (2019) Grand Master Fiddler Championship (2019, 2024)
Watch and listen
Roberts and Mark O’Connor trade passes on Grey Eagle in a 2024 parking lot jam. Listen for the variations each player adds.
Roberts plays a championship round at the 2019 Colorado Fiddle Championships.
What to learn from Roberts
Learn Lily Dale, the Texas waltz he played at the Bob Wills contests as a teenager. It is slow enough to hear every note, and it teaches the double stops that Texas waltzes live on. The technique to steal is his variation planning. A Texas breakdown is one tune played four ways. Take Sally Goodin, play a plain first pass, then change one thing on each later pass: a bow pattern, a high position, a run into the B part. That is how contest fiddlers build a round, and it works in a jam too.
Sources
Past winners, Grand Master Fiddler Championship 2024 Grand Master Fiddler Championship results, Bluegrass Today 2019 Grand Master Fiddler Championship winners, Bluegrass Today 2019 National Old Time Fiddlers Contest report, Bluegrass Today 2018 National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest and Festival report, Bluegrass Today National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest champions, University of Idaho Library Bob Wills Fiddle Fest, Bluegrass Today 2025 Fiddle Showdown in Fort Worth, Bluegrass Today Chicken and Bread Days celebrates 30 years of fiddlin’ in Texas, Bluegrass Today History, Grand Master Fiddler Championship
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more contest fiddlers. Roberts trades titles with Trustin Baker and Jesse Maw. His Texas style descends from Benny Thomasson, and Mia Orosco is a fellow Texas Grand Master champion.