Instruments
The classic bluegrass band is built around five acoustic instruments: banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass. Each has its own voice and role.
Adam Wright
Adam Wright of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, won the 2001 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield and placed third there in 2012 and 2017. He also won the Wayne Henderson guitar contest in 2000.
Al Cherny
Al Cherny (1932 to 1989) won the Canadian Open at Shelburne in 1960 and 1961 and played fiddle on CBC's The Tommy Hunter Show for a quarter century.
Alex Hargreaves
Alex Hargreaves won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 2007 and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 2009. He has held the fiddle chair in Billy Strings's band since 2022.
Alex Kusturok
Alex Kusturok is a Manitoba Métis fiddler, the son of Patti Kusturok, who won the Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship in 2013 and five Manitoba titles.
Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss (born 1971) won the Walnut Valley fiddle championship at 13, signed with Rounder at 14, and has won 27 Grammy Awards with Union Station and beyond.
Allen Shadd
Allen Shadd is a three-time National Flatpicking Champion at Winfield (1997, 2013, and 2019) and a contest player who has placed in the top three there nine times.
Amy Alvey
Amy Alvey is a California-raised, Berklee-trained old-time fiddler who placed second at Clifftop in 2018 and won adult old-time fiddle at Mount Airy in 2026. She is half of the duo Golden Shoals.
Andrew Hatfield
Andrew Hatfield of Peoria, Illinois, won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2011 and 2017 and the National Mandolin Championship in 2013.
Andrew Small
Andrew Small is a Floyd, Virginia fiddler who won the Clifftop fiddle contest in 2025, apprenticed under Eddie Bond from 2021 to 2022, and plays in the Alum Ridge Boys and Ashlee.
Andy DeJarlis
Andy DeJarlis (1914 to 1975) was a Manitoba Métis fiddler who wrote more than 175 tunes and cut about 25 LPs for London Records. His waltzes defined the Red River sound.
April Verch
April Verch won the Canadian Grand Masters in 1997 and the Canadian Open in 1998. The Ottawa Valley fiddler and step dancer has released 18 albums and earned two Juno nominations.
Art Stamper
Art Stamper (1933 to 2005) was a Knott County, Kentucky fiddler who played with the Stanley Brothers and the Osborne Brothers, then cut old-time fiddle records for County. IBMA honored him in 2004.
Art Wooten
Art Wooten (died 1986) was the first fiddler in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. He also played with the Stanley Brothers and Flatt and Scruggs, and won the Galax fiddle contest in 1950.
Ashley MacIsaac
Ashley MacIsaac is a Cape Breton fiddler whose 1995 album Hi How Are You Today? sold more than 200,000 copies in Canada and put Sleepy Maggie on the pop charts. He won three Junos in 1996 and 1997.
Aubrey Haynie
Aubrey Haynie is a Nashville session fiddler and mandolinist with three Sugar Hill albums and four IBMA awards, including 2003 Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year for The Bluegrass Fiddle Album.
Aynsley Porchak
Aynsley Porchak is the only fiddler to win both the Grand Master Fiddler Championship (2015) and the Canadian Grand Masters (2017). She played with Carolina Blue and taught at ETSU.
Barbara Lamb
Barbara Lamb is a Seattle-born fiddler who co-founded Ranch Romance, played with Asleep at the Wheel from 1993 to 1995, and cut five solo albums starting with Fiddle Fatale in 1993.
Becky Buller
Becky Buller is a fiddler, singer, and songwriter with 10 IBMA awards. In 2016 she became the first woman named IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year and won Female Vocalist the same night.
Ben Cockman
Ben Cockman of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, won the 2014 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield and plays guitar and mandolin in the Cockman Family band.
Ben Plotnick
Ben Plotnick is a Canadian-born, Nashville-based fiddler with the Juno-winning quartet the Fretless and the duo Oliver the Crow. He has played on more than 100 albums.
Benny Martin
Benny Martin (1928 to 2001) fiddled for Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, and Flatt and Scruggs, invented the eight-string fiddle, and joined the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
Benny Thomasson
Benny Thomasson (1909 to 1984) built modern Texas contest fiddling. He won the Texas state title 15 times, three straight world championships, and the 1974 Grand National at Weiser.
Beppe Gambetta
Beppe Gambetta (born 1955) is an Italian flatpicker from Genoa who founded the band Red Wine in 1977 and has recorded with David Grisman, Tony Trischka, and Dan Crary.
Bill Napier
Bill Napier (1935 to 2000) brought lead guitar to the Stanley Brothers and wrote Daybreak in Dixie. He then cut nine King albums with Charlie Moore from 1962 to 1967.
Billy Strings
Billy Strings has won three Grammys for Best Bluegrass Album (2021, 2025, 2026), four IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards, and IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2019 and 2021.
Blaine Sprouse
Blaine Sprouse learned at Kenny Baker's side, joined Jimmy Martin at 17 in 1974, and cut the 1989 twin fiddle album Indian Springs with Baker. Jim and Jesse and Osborne Brothers alumnus.
Bluegrass banjo
Mastering the bluegrass banjo is a journey filled with rich history and captivating melodies. This unique instrument, known for its twangy resonance and fast-pa…
Bluegrass bass
The bass is the rhythmic backbone of any string band. And bluegrass bass is no different - this vital instrument keeps everyone together as a tune chugs along. …
Bluegrass fiddle
The fiddle gives bluegrass its high lonesome voice. Bluegrass fiddling blends bluesy tones, old-time bowing patterns, and bold improvisation. This guide covers …
Bluegrass guitar
Mastering the bluegrass guitar can feel like a steep mountain to climb. When it's time to take your strumming skills up a notch, the bluegrass guitar can be a c…
Bluegrass instruments (guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass)
There are five traditional bluegrass instruments in a bluegrass band. They are all acoustic string instruments: - guitar - bass - fiddle - mandolin - banjo In a…
Bluegrass mandolin
Mastering the bluegrass mandolin is an adventure filled with high notes and string melodies. The journey, however, can be daunting for beginners and even season…
Bob Wills
Bob Wills (1905 to 1975) led the Texas Playboys for four decades and made fiddle the lead voice of western swing. Country Music Hall of Fame 1968, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1999.
Bobby Hicks
Bobby Hicks (1933 to 2024) recorded Monroe's classic 1950s instrumentals, then spent 23 years with Ricky Skaggs. Three Grammys and a 2017 Bluegrass Hall of Fame induction.
Brittany Haas
Brittany Haas (born 1987) toured with Darol Anger at 14, played five years with Crooked Still, co-founded Hawktail, and joined Punch Brothers in 2023.
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes won IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022, a Grammy with Molly Tuttle's Golden Highway in 2024, and now leads her own band as Bronwyn.
Bruce Molsky
Bruce Molsky (born 1955) is the leading old-time fiddler of his generation. Clifftop champion in 1999, Grammy nominee with Fiddlers 4, and a Berklee visiting scholar.
Bryan McDowell
Bryan McDowell won the Winfield flatpick, mandolin, and fiddle contests in one week in 2009, the first player to do it, then spent years with the Claire Lynch Band.
Bryan Sutton
Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is a ten-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year, a Grammy winner with Doc Watson, and the guitarist in Hot Rize since 2002.
Buddy MacMaster
Buddy MacMaster (1924 to 2014) was the patriarch of Cape Breton fiddling. He played dances for 70 years, recorded his first album at 65, and joined the Order of Canada in 2000.
Buddy Spicher
Buddy Spicher (born 1938) is a Nashville A-team fiddler who has played sessions since 1958 and set the standard for double-stop harmony fiddle. National Fiddler Hall of Fame, 2010.
Byron Berline
Byron Berline (1944 to 2021) won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 1965 and 1970, brought Texas fiddling to Bill Monroe in 1967, and played on records by the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
Calvin Vollrath
Calvin Vollrath (born 1960) is an Alberta fiddler and composer with about 700 tunes and more than 70 albums. He wrote five tunes for the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
Carl Miner
Carl Miner won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 1999 and 2025, and in 2025 also won the National Mandolin Championship. He is a Nashville session guitarist.
Carter Stanley
Carter Stanley (1925 to 1966) sang lead, played rhythm guitar, and wrote more than 100 songs for the Stanley Brothers over 20 years with his brother Ralph.
Casey Driessen
Casey Driessen (born 1978) is a five-string fiddler who turned the chop into a full rhythmic language. Grammy nominee, Béla Fleck and Steve Earle sideman, and co-author of the Chop Notation Project.
Charles Sawtelle
Charles Sawtelle (1946 to 1999) played guitar in Hot Rize from 1978 to 1990. The band won the first IBMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1990 and entered the hall of fame in 2025.
Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels (1936 to 2020) put a fiddle duel on the pop charts with The Devil Went Down to Georgia in 1979. Grammy winner, Opry member, and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee in 2016.
Chris Eldridge
Chris Eldridge co-founded the Infamous Stringdusters and Punch Brothers, won a Grammy with Punch Brothers in 2019, and studied guitar with Tony Rice at Oberlin.
Chris Luquette
Chris Luquette played guitar in Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen for 11 years, won two IBMA group awards, and earned two Grammy nominations with the band.
Christian Sedelmyer
Christian Sedelmyer has held the fiddle chair in the Jerry Douglas Band since 2014, is half of 10 String Symphony, and won an IBMA award in 2018 for Squirrel Hunters.
Chubby Wise
Chubby Wise (1915 to 1996) fiddled on Bill Monroe's 1946 and 1947 Columbia sessions, then spent 16 years with Hank Snow. He entered the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1998.
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (1924 to 2005) played Texas blues on guitar and fiddle for 58 years. He won a Grammy in 1983 for Alright Again! and entered the Blues Hall of Fame in 1999.
Clarence White
Clarence White (1944 to 1973) made the acoustic guitar a lead instrument in bluegrass with the Kentucky Colonels, then played electric guitar with the Byrds from 1968 to 1973.
Clark Kessinger
Clark Kessinger (1896 to 1975) cut more than 60 sides for Brunswick from 1928 to 1930, then came back in the 1960s to win Weiser's senior division in 1966 and Galax in 1970.
Claude "Fiddler" Williams
Claude "Fiddler" Williams (1908 to 2004) played jazz violin in Kansas City for 75 years, from Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy to Jay McShann. He won an NEA National Heritage Fellowship in 1998.
Clay Hess
Clay Hess played lead guitar for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder from 1999 to 2002, won a Grammy for Soldier of the Cross, and leads the Clay Hess Band.
Clayton McMichen
Clayton McMichen (1900 to 1970) was the Skillet Lickers' lead fiddler from 1926 to 1931, led the Georgia Wildcats to 1939, and billed himself as national champion from 1934 to 1949.
Cody Kilby
Cody Kilby won the National Flatpicking Championship in 1998, played 14 years with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, and now plays guitar for the Travelin' McCourys.
Contest breakdowns: the required fast tune
What counts as a breakdown (hoedown) in a fiddle contest, what judges listen for, and the most common contest breakdowns from Sally Goodin to Bill Cheatham.
Contest waltzes: the required slow tune
What counts as a waltz in a fiddle contest, why the slow tune decides more contests than the fast one, and the most common contest waltzes.
Courtney Hartman
Courtney Hartman is a Colorado flatpicker and songwriter who played guitar in Della Mae from 2009 to 2016 and earned a Grammy nomination with the band in 2014.
Curly Ray Cline
Curly Ray Cline (1923 to 1997) fiddled for Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys from 1967 to 1993 and cut 14 solo albums as the Old Kentucky Fox Hunter.
Dale Potter
Dale Potter (died 1996) was a Missouri-born Nashville fiddler who recorded with Chet Atkins, Homer and Jethro, and Bill Monroe and taught Bobby Hicks his swing style.
Dan Crary
Dan Crary (born 1939) co-founded the Bluegrass Alliance in 1968 and cut one of the first solo flatpicking albums in 1970. His band California won IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year three times.
Dan Tyminski
Dan Tyminski played guitar and sang with Alison Krauss and Union Station for more than 30 years. He has won 14 Grammys and sang Man of Constant Sorrow in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Daniel Gervais
Daniel Gervais of Edmonton won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship in 2011 and 2016, the first Albertan to take the title.
Daniel Lapp
Daniel Lapp is a British Columbia fiddler and trumpeter who founded the BC Fiddle Orchestra in 1994 and played the 2010 Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies.
Danita Rast Hartz
Danita Rast of Idaho won the Grand National Championship at Weiser three times (1998, 2000, 2001) and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship three times (1990, 1994, 1996).
Darol Anger
Darol Anger (born 1953) co-founded the David Grisman Quintet and Turtle Island String Quartet and won the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2020.
David Grier
David Grier (born 1961) won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year three times (1992, 1993, 1995) and built a solo career on crosspicking and improvised fiddle tunes.
Deanie Richardson
Deanie Richardson is a two-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year (2020 and 2024) and a founding member of Sister Sadie, the 2020 IBMA Entertainer of the Year.
Del McCoury
Del McCoury (born 1939) sang lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe in 1963, then led the Del McCoury Band to ten IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards and two Grammys.
Dennis Ludiker
Dennis Ludiker is a contest fiddler from the Ludiker family who has played fiddle and mandolin with Asleep at the Wheel since 2016. He won the 2025 Lee Stoneking Memorial open division.
Dick Barrett
Dick Barrett won the Grand National Championship at Weiser four times (1971, 1972, 1975, and 1976) and the 1973 Grand Master Fiddler Championship. Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame, 2004.
Dillon Hodges
Dillon Hodges won the 2007 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield at age 17, played guitar for Missy Raines, and records pop music as firekid.
Doc Roberts
Doc Roberts (1897 to 1978) was a Kentucky fiddler of the 78 rpm era. He recorded more than 200 sides for 11 labels between 1925 and 1934, many with guitarist Asa Martin.
Doc Watson
Doc Watson (1923 to 2012) made flatpicked fiddle tunes a guitar standard. He won seven Grammys, a National Heritage Fellowship in 1988, and the National Medal of Arts in 1997.
Don Messer
Don Messer (1909 to 1973) led Don Messer and His Islanders on CBC radio from 1944 and on television from 1959 to 1969. His show made Down East fiddling Canada's national sound.
Donnell Leahy
Donnell Leahy led the Ontario family band Leahy from 1996 to 2013, winning three Juno Awards, and now tours and records as a duo with his wife, Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
Doug Kershaw
Doug Kershaw (born 1936) is the Ragin' Cajun, the Louisiana fiddler who wrote Louisiana Man in 1961 and took Cajun fiddle to the Johnny Cash Show, the Fillmore East, and the Apollo 12 mission.
Dudley Connell
Dudley Connell founded the Johnson Mountain Boys in 1975 and sang lead for the Seldom Scene from 1995 to 2024. He won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2000.
Eck Robertson
Eck Robertson (1887 to 1975) cut the first commercial country records for Victor in 1922. His solo Sallie Gooden, with its stack of variations, is the founding document of Texas contest fiddling.
Ed Haley
Ed Haley (1885 to 1951) was a blind West Virginia and Kentucky fiddler who refused to record for labels. His family's home discs became a core text for old-time fiddlers.
Edd Mayfield
Edd Mayfield (1926 to 1958) played guitar with Bill Monroe in three stints between 1951 and 1958. He recorded twenty songs with Monroe before leukemia took him at 32.
Eleanor Townsend
Eleanor Townsend (1944 to 1998) won the women's class of the Canadian Open four times and in 1979 became the first woman to win its open class. She toured and recorded with her husband Graham Townsend.
Émile Benoît
Émile Benoît (1913 to 1992) was a Newfoundland fisherman who became a touring fiddler at 60. He composed about 200 tunes, recorded three albums, and put French Newfoundland fiddling on the map.
Eric Hardin
Eric Hardin of Warrensville, North Carolina, won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship at Winfield in 2004 and the National Flatpicking Championship there in 2024.
Erynn Marshall
Erynn Marshall is a Canadian-born old-time fiddler in Virginia who won the Clifftop fiddle contest in 2008 and Mount Airy in 2019 and wrote Music in the Air Somewhere.
Ethan Harty
Ethan Harty is a three-time Canadian Grand Masters champion (2019, 2022, and 2024) from Alberta. He won his first title at 17, the youngest champion at that time.
Fiddle contests: the written rules, the unwritten rules, and the jargon
How fiddle contests work. Divisions, rounds, judging criteria, contest jargon, tune strategy, and the major contests from Weiser to the Canadian Grand Masters.
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith (1898 to 1971) was the most influential Grand Ole Opry fiddler of the 1930s. His rag-style tunes and blues fiddle shaped bluegrass and contest playing.
Fiddlin' John Carson
Fiddlin' John Carson (1868 to 1949) cut country music's first hit record in Atlanta in 1923. He won the Georgia fiddle championship seven times between 1914 and 1922.
Fletcher Bright
Fletcher Bright (1931 to 2017) led the Dismembered Tennesseans for 72 years, taught fiddle across three countries, and founded Chattanooga's free 3 Sisters Bluegrass Festival.
Gabe Witcher
Gabe Witcher was the founding fiddler of Punch Brothers from 2006 to 2023. He won a Grammy with the band and has produced Grammy-nominated albums for Noam Pikelny and others.
George Shuffler
George Shuffler (1925 to 2014) invented bluegrass crosspicking guitar with the Stanley Brothers, whom he backed on bass and guitar from 1952 to 1966. IBMA Hall of Fame, 2011.
Gid Tanner
Gid Tanner (1885 to 1960) led the Skillet Lickers, the best-selling string band of the 1920s. The band recorded more than 100 sides for Columbia between 1926 and 1934.
Gordon Stobbe
Gordon Stobbe is a Saskatchewan-born, Nova Scotia-based fiddler, teacher, and broadcaster. He hosted Up Home Tonight for eight seasons and holds the Order of Canada.
Gordon Terry
Gordon Terry (1931 to 2006) won the Alabama fiddle championship in 1946, joined the Opry in 1950, fiddled for Bill Monroe, and became a country singer and TV performer.
Graham Townsend
Graham Townsend (1942 to 1998) won the Canadian Open four times, wrote more than 400 tunes, and recorded about 40 albums across every Canadian fiddle style.
Grant Gordy
Grant Gordy played guitar in the David Grisman Quintet for six years, from 2007 to 2013, and co-founded Mr. Sun with Darol Anger and Joe K. Walsh.
Herman Johnson
Herman Johnson, Oklahoma fiddler, won the Grand National Championship at Weiser five times (1968, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1978) and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 1974.
Holten Doucette
Holten Doucette of Waller, Texas, won both the National Flatpicking Championship and the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield in 2022, the festival's 50th year.
Howdy Forrester
Howdy Forrester (1922 to 1987), Big Howdy, fiddled for Bill Monroe in the early 1940s and for Roy Acuff from 1951 until his death. National Fiddler Hall of Fame, 2015.
Ian Ly
Ian Ly, a guitarist from Santa Cruz, California, won the 2023 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield on his fifth try and plays in Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band.
J.P. Fraley
J.P. Fraley (1923 to 2011) was the eastern Kentucky fiddler behind Wild Rose of the Mountain, recorded for Rounder in 1973, and the Fraley Festival at Carter Caves.
Jack Lawrence
Jack Lawrence (born 1953) was Doc Watson's guitar partner for more than 25 years, from 1983 to Watson's death in 2012. He played in the Bluegrass Alliance after Tony Rice.
Jake Workman
Jake Workman played lead guitar for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder from 2015 to 2024 and won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2020.
Jana Jae
Jana Jae (born 1943) won the Weiser ladies division in 1974, joined Buck Owens's Buckaroos as its first woman, and played her blue fiddle on Hee Haw. National Fiddler Hall of Fame, 2015.
Jason Carter
Jason Carter (born 1973) fiddled for the Del McCoury Band from 1992 to 2025 and won IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year six times. He now leads the Jason Carter Band.
Jason Shaw
Jason Shaw of Lincoln, Nebraska, has won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield four times (1993, 2004, 2010, 2021) and the Walnut Valley fiddle championship four times.
Jay Ungar
Jay Ungar (born 1946) wrote Ashokan Farewell in 1982. Ken Burns made it the theme of The Civil War in 1990. He runs the Ashokan fiddle and dance camps with Molly Mason and joined the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2015.
Jean Carignan
Jean Carignan (1916 to 1988) was Quebec's master fiddler. He carried some 7,000 tunes, played Newport and Carnegie Hall in 1960, and joined the Order of Canada in 1974 as the greatest fiddler in North America.
Jeff Cook
Jeff Cook (1949 to 2022) played lead guitar, fiddle, and keyboards in Alabama, the band that took more than 30 singles to number one from 1980 to 1993. Country Music Hall of Fame, 2005.
Jeff Troxel
Jeff Troxel, a Wyoming native based in Missoula, Montana, won the 2003 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield. He teaches guitar at the University of Montana and writes Mel Bay instruction books.
Jenee Fleenor
Jenee Fleenor became the first woman named CMA Musician of the Year in 2019 and won it five years running. She fiddles for George Strait and leads the bluegrass band Wood Box Heroes.
Jesse Maw
Jesse Maw won the 2025 Grand Master Fiddler Championship for North Carolina. He grew up in Montana and won two junior titles at Weiser in 2004 and 2005.
Jim Hurst
Jim Hurst won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. He mixes flatpicking with fingerstyle, and he played with Claire Lynch and Missy Raines before going solo in 2010.
Jim Shumate
Jim Shumate (1921 to 2013) fiddled for Bill Monroe in 1945, brought Earl Scruggs to Monroe, and played on the first Flatt and Scruggs session in 1948.
Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin (1927 to 2005) sang lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe, then led the Sunny Mountain Boys for 50 years. He put six songs on the country charts.
Joe Smart
Joe Smart, from Washington state, won the 2005 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield and played guitar on the O'Connor Band's Coming Home, the 2017 Grammy winner for Best Bluegrass Album.
Joe Spivey
Joe Spivey is a Nashville session fiddler, a founding-era member of the Time Jumpers, and a 2017 National Fiddler Hall of Fame inductee with credits on nearly 200 releases.
Joe Venuti
Joe Venuti (1903 to 1978) was the first great jazz violinist. His 1920s duets with guitarist Eddie Lang shaped western swing, and the National Fiddler Hall of Fame inducted him in 2010.
John Arcand
John Arcand (born 1942) is the Master of the Métis Fiddle, a Saskatchewan player, composer of close to 400 tunes, Order of Canada member, and founder of the John Arcand Fiddle Fest.
John Showman
John Showman is the Toronto fiddler who won the Clifftop old-time fiddle contest in 2011. He leads the Lonesome Ace Stringband and has played more than 4,000 shows since 1996.
Johnny Gimble
Johnny Gimble (1926 to 2015) was the Texas Playboys swing fiddler who won five CMA Musician of the Year awards, two Grammys, and a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Johnny Warren
Johnny Warren is the fiddler of the Grammy-winning Earls of Leicester and the son of Flatt and Scruggs fiddler Paul Warren, whose breakdown style he has kept alive since the 1980s.
Jon Stickley
Jon Stickley leads the Jon Stickley Trio, an instrumental band from Asheville with four albums since 2015, and won the 2003 RockyGrass band contest with Broke Mountain.
Jordan Tice
Jordan Tice is a Nashville guitarist, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the string band Hawktail. He has released seven solo records since 2006.
Josh Williams
Josh Williams won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year three years running (2008 to 2010) and played guitar with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, the Josh Williams Band, and the Tony Rice Unit.
Junior Sisk
Junior Sisk leads Ramblers Choice on guitar and lead vocals from Ferrum, Virginia. He won IBMA Album and Song of the Year in 2012 and Male Vocalist of the Year in 2013.
Karrnnel Sawitsky
Karrnnel Sawitsky is a Saskatchewan fiddler and composer of more than 300 tunes who plays in the Fretless, the string quartet that won the 2017 Juno for Instrumental Album of the Year.
Katrina Nicolayeff
Katrina Nicolayeff of Idaho holds the records at both big contests: six Grand National Championships at Weiser (2011 to 2021) and four Grand Master titles (2007 to 2021).
Keith Whitley
Keith Whitley (1954 to 1989) sang lead and played guitar for Ralph Stanley and J.D. Crowe before five straight number one country hits. Country Music Hall of Fame, 2022.
Kenny Baker
Kenny Baker (1926 to 2011) fiddled for Bill Monroe for 25 years across three stints, cut Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe in 1976, and won a 1993 NEA National Heritage Fellowship.
Kenny Sears
Kenny Sears is a Nashville fiddler who turned pro at 11 on the Big D Jamboree, toured with Mel Tillis and Ray Price, played in the Grand Ole Opry band, and fiddled with the Time Jumpers.
Kenny Smith
Kenny Smith (born 1967) won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999 with the Lonesome River Band and wrote the flatpicking standard Studebaker.
Kimber Ludiker
Kimber Ludiker won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 2009 and 2010, then founded the Grammy-nominated band Della Mae in 2010.
King Ganam
King Ganam (1914 to 1994) was Canada's King of the Fiddle. He led the Sons of the West, opened CBC's Country Hoedown from 1956 to 1959, and entered the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks (born 1947) played lead guitar for the Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley, then led the Lonesome Ramblers from 1969. He won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004 and 2005.
Laurie Lewis
Laurie Lewis (born 1950) is a Berkeley fiddler, singer, and bandleader who won IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year in 1992 and 1994 and has made more than 20 albums.
Lester Flatt
Lester Flatt (1914 to 1979) sang lead and played rhythm guitar for Bill Monroe, then co-led Flatt and Scruggs for 21 years. His G run is in every bluegrass jam.
Louis Franklin
Louis Franklin (1923 to 2009) of Whitewright, Texas, learned from his uncle Major Franklin, recorded Texas Fiddle Favorites for County in 1966, and entered the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 1990.
Louis Schryer
Louis Schryer won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship four times (1991, 1992, 1993, and 2007), the most in the contest's history, and entered the Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour in 2012.
Luke Bulla
Luke Bulla won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 1996 at age 16, after six youth titles, then spent 14 years in Lyle Lovett's Large Band.
Luke Lovejoy
Luke Lovejoy of Indiana won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2018 at age 16, on his first trip to the festival, after four years of playing.
Luke Price
Luke Price of Portland, Oregon, has won the Grand National Championship at Weiser five times (2014, 2015, 2017, 2022, and 2023), second only to Katrina Nicolayeff in the modern era.
Mack Magaha
Mack Magaha (1929 to 2003) was the dancing fiddler of Reno and Smiley's Tennessee Cut-Ups from 1955 and of Porter Wagoner's Wagonmasters from 1964, and he wrote We'll Get Ahead Someday.
Maddie Denton
Maddie Denton of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, won the 2016 Grand Master Fiddler Championship and the 2025 IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year award with East Nash Grass.
Major Franklin
Major Franklin was a Texas contest fiddler, the elder of the Franklin fiddling family, and a 1979 inductee of the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame. He recorded for County in 1966.
Mark Cosgrove
Mark Cosgrove won the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Championship in 1994 and the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 1995, then played in David Bromberg's band from 2013 to 2020.
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor won four Grand National Championships and three Grand Master titles as a teenager, then won three Grammys and six straight CMA Musician of the Year awards.
Mark Sullivan
Mark Sullivan of Bowmanville, Ontario won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship three times (2001, 2004, 2005) and now leads the association that runs it.
Matthew Arcara
Matthew Arcara won the 2006 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield, founded the Boston string band Joy Kills Sorrow, and now builds guitars in Maine.
Matthew Hartz
Matthew Hartz won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 1988 and 1992 and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 1989, 1993, and 1995, then taught Luke Price, Luke Bulla, and Alex Hargreaves.
Maybelle Carter
Maybelle Carter (1909 to 1978) played guitar in the Carter Family from the 1927 Bristol sessions on. Her thumb-brush style, the Carter scratch, made the guitar a lead instrument.
Megan Lynch Chowning
Megan Lynch Chowning won seven division titles at Weiser between 1983 and 2015, the 2014 Grand Master traditional championship, and a 2018 IBMA Momentum Award for her Nashville camps.
Melvin Wine
Melvin Wine (1909 to 2003) was a Braxton County, West Virginia fiddler who carried more than 250 old tunes and won a National Heritage Fellowship in 1991.
Mia Orosco
Mia Orosco of Lorena, Texas won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 2012 and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville in 2017.
Michael Cleveland
Michael Cleveland (born 1980) is the most awarded fiddler in IBMA history, with 12 Fiddle Player of the Year wins, a 2020 Grammy, and a 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellowship.
Mike Barnett
Mike Barnett is a Nashville fiddler who played with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder from 2016 to 2020 and earned a Grammy nomination for Portraits in Fiddles in 2019.
Molly Tuttle
Molly Tuttle was the first woman to win IBMA Guitar Player of the Year, in 2017. She won it again in 2018 and won back-to-back Grammys for Best Bluegrass Album in 2023 and 2024.
Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster (born 1972) is Cape Breton's best known fiddler, with two Juno Awards, the Order of Canada in 2006, and a touring career that began at age 16.
Ned Landry
Ned Landry (1921 to 2018) won the Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers' Contest three times, recorded eight LPs for RCA Victor, and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1991.
Norman Blake
Norman Blake (born 1938) brought old-time fiddle tunes to the flatpicked guitar. He recorded more than 40 albums and joined the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2022.
Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon was a Texas contest fiddler inducted into the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 1992 and the 1993 Senior division champion at Weiser.
Oliver Schroer
Oliver Schroer (1956 to 2008) was a Canadian fiddler and composer who wrote more than 1,000 pieces, recorded Camino on the pilgrim trail in Spain, and won two Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2008.
Orville Burns
Orville Burns was a Texas-style contest fiddler inducted into the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 1987. Oklahoma champion Greg Burgess counts him among the players who shaped his sound.
Papa John Creach
Papa John Creach (1917 to 1994) was a blues and jazz violinist who joined Jefferson Airplane at age 53 and played electric fiddle in rock bands for 24 years.
Pat Flynn
Pat Flynn (born 1952) played guitar and wrote songs for New Grass Revival from 1981 to 1989, then cut more than 400 Nashville sessions. Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 2020.
Patrick M'Gonigle
Patrick M'Gonigle is a Canadian fiddler, producer, and podcaster based in Nashville. He co-founded the Lonely Heartstring Band in 2012 and produced Bella White's debut album in 2020.
Patrick McAvinue
Patrick McAvinue is the 2017 IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year. He played 11 years with Audie Blaylock and Redline, then Dailey and Vincent, and joined the US Navy Band's Country Current in 2020.
Patti Kusturok
Patti Kusturok won the Canadian Grand Masters three years running (1994 to 1996), the first woman and first Western Canadian to take the title. Manitoba's Métis fiddle voice.
Paul Warren
Paul Warren (1918 to 1978) fiddled for Flatt and Scruggs from 1954 to 1969 and for Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass until 1977. He played on about 250 Flatt and Scruggs recordings.
Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (born 1942) sang and played rhythm guitar for Bill Monroe from 1964 to 1967, then co-founded Old and in the Way. He wrote Panama Red and Midnight Moonlight and won a Grammy in 1997.
Pharis Romero
Pharis Romero is a guitarist, singer, and banjo builder from Horsefly, British Columbia. With Jason Romero she has won four Juno Awards for Traditional Roots Album of the Year since 2016.
Pierre Schryer
Pierre Schryer won the first Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship in 1990 and the Canadian Open in 1988 and 1989. One of the Schryer triplets, he has recorded since 1982.
Randy Howard
Randy Howard (1960 to 1999) won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 1984 and IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year in 1999, the year cancer took him at 38.
Rebecca Frazier
Rebecca Frazier is a Virginia-born flatpicker who founded Hit and Run in 2001 and became the first woman on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine in 2006.
Red Smiley
Red Smiley (1924 to 1972) sang lead and played rhythm guitar with Don Reno in Reno and Smiley from 1951 to 1964. The IBMA put him in its hall of fame in 1992.
Ridge Roberts
Ridge Roberts of Granbury, Texas, won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 2019 at age 16 and again in 2024, and took the Junior title at Weiser in 2018.
Riley Puckett
Riley Puckett (1894 to 1946), the blind guitarist and singer of the Skillet Lickers, made more than 200 records and put bass runs at the center of country guitar.
Robert Shafer
Robert Shafer is a West Virginia flatpicker who won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield twice, in 1983 and 2000, and records with mandolinist Johnny Staats.
Ron Stewart
Ron Stewart (born 1968) won IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year in 2000 and Banjo Player of the Year in 2011. He co-founded the Boxcars and joined the Seldom Scene in 2017.
Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff (1903 to 1992) fiddled and sang on the Grand Ole Opry for 54 years, co-founded Acuff-Rose in 1942, and backed the Grand Master Fiddler Championship from its first year in 1972.
Roy Curry
Roy Curry of Chattanooga, Tennessee, won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield three times (1980, 1991, and 2012) and placed in the top three eight times.
Rufus Guinchard
Rufus Guinchard (1899 to 1990) played dances on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula for 80 years, made his first record at 77, and joined the Order of Canada in 1986.
Rufus Thibodeaux
Rufus Thibodeaux (1934 to 2005) was the King of the Cajun Fiddlers. He backed Jimmy C. Newman for decades, played on Neil Young's Comes a Time, and joined the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2010.
Russ Barenberg
Russ Barenberg (born 1950) co-founded Country Cooking in 1970 and won an IBMA award for Skip, Hop & Wobble in 1994. He has played in the Transatlantic Sessions house band since 1995.
Russell Moore
Russell Moore has led IIIrd Tyme Out on guitar and lead vocals since 1991. He has won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year six times, more than any other singer.
Sam Bush
Sam Bush (born 1952) won the Weiser junior fiddle title three years running, then founded New Grass Revival in 1971 and became the father of newgrass. Three Grammys, IBMA Hall of Fame in 2023.
Sara Watkins
Sara Watkins (born 1981) has played fiddle in Nickel Creek since the band formed in 1989. She has four Grammy Awards with Nickel Creek and I'm With Her, plus four solo albums.
Scott Fore
Scott Fore of Radford, Virginia, won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2002 and 2015 and placed second there in 2000 and 2014. He won the Wayne Henderson guitar contest in 1999.
Scott Woods
Scott Woods won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship in 1998 and 1999. The Fergus, Ontario fiddler now tours Canada with a fiddle variety show that plays more than 100 concerts a year.
Scotty Stoneman
Scotty Stoneman (1932 to 1973) was the wild fiddler of the Stoneman Family and the Kentucky Colonels. His 1965 live tapes with Clarence White still sound dangerous. National Fiddler Hall of Fame, 2019.
Shad Cobb
Shad Cobb is a Wisconsin-raised, Nashville-based fiddler who has played with the Osborne Brothers, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, John Cowan, and the Tim O'Brien Band since moving to town in 1995.
Shane Cook
Shane Cook of Dorchester, Ontario, won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 1999 at age 17 and the Canadian Grand Masters three times (2000, 2002, and 2003). He leads Shane Cook and the Woodchippers.
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli (1908 to 1997) co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt in 1934 and played jazz violin for six decades. His swing vocabulary reached American contest and bluegrass fiddlers.
Stephen Mougin
Stephen Mougin has played guitar and sung in the Sam Bush Band since 2006. He runs Dark Shadow Recording and is a two-time IBMA Sound Engineer of the Year.
Steve Kaufman
Steve Kaufman (born 1957) won the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship at Winfield three times (1978, 1984, 1986) and runs the Acoustic Kamp in Maryville, Tennessee.
Steve Lewis
Steve Lewis of Jefferson, North Carolina, won the National Flatpicking Championship in 2016 and the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in 2003 and 2009.
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan has been the first-call bluegrass session fiddler in Nashville since the late 1980s. He has won IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year nine times and holds Grammy awards with the Nashville Bluegrass Band and the Goat Rodeo Sessions.
Tashina Clarridge
Tashina Clarridge of Mount Shasta, California, won the Grand National Championship at Weiser in 2005 and again in 2026, 21 years apart. She plays fiddle in the Bee Eaters with her brother Tristan.
Tatiana Hargreaves
Tatiana Hargreaves won the Clifftop fiddle contest in 2009 as a teenager, plays in a duo with clawhammer banjo player Allison de Groot, and teaches bluegrass fiddle at the University of North Carolina.
Terry Morris
Terry Morris (1956 to 1988) was the Texas contest fiddler other fiddlers copied. He won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 1976 at age 20 and entered the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 1989.
Tex Logan
Tex Logan (1927 to 2015) was a Bell Labs mathematician who fiddled with the Lilly Brothers, Bill Monroe, and Peter Rowan, and wrote Christmas Time's A-Comin'.
The big list of bluegrass guitar players: flatpickers, champions, and legends
A big organized list of notable bluegrass guitarists. The founders, the flatpicking pioneers, IBMA winners, Winfield champions, and the players shaping the sound today.
The big list of fiddle players: champions, judges, and legends
A big organized list of notable fiddle players. Contest champions, bluegrass fiddlers, Canadian fiddlers, judges, and the departed legends who built the tradition.
Tim Stafford
Tim Stafford co-founded Blue Highway in 1994 and has won IBMA Songwriter of the Year three times. He played guitar with Alison Krauss and Union Station from 1990 to 1992.
Tommy Jackson
Tommy Jackson (1926 to 1979) was Nashville's first-call session fiddler from the late 1940s into the 1960s, and his square dance albums taught a generation the standards.
Tommy Jarrell
Tommy Jarrell (1901 to 1985) was the Round Peak, North Carolina fiddler and banjo player who taught a generation of old-time revivalists at his home and won a 1982 NEA National Heritage Fellowship.
Tommy Magness
Tommy Magness (1916 to 1972) fiddled on Bill Monroe's first records in 1940, on the first recording of Orange Blossom Special, and with Roy Acuff, then led the Tennessee Buddies.
Tony Ludiker
Tony Ludiker won the Grand National Championship at Weiser five times (1983, 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1994), one of the top title counts in the contest's history.
Tony Rice
Tony Rice (1951 to 2020) set the modern standard for bluegrass lead guitar. He won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year six times and a Grammy in 1983.
Trent Freeman
Trent Freeman is a British Columbia fiddler and a founding member of the Fretless, the Canadian string quartet that won the 2017 Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.
Trey Hensley
Trey Hensley (born 1990) is a two-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year and a Grammy winner who made his Grand Ole Opry debut at age 11.
Tristan Clarridge
Tristan Clarridge won the Grand National Championship at Weiser five times (2002 to 2008) and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship three times (2006, 2008, 2023). He plays cello in Crooked Still.
Trustin Baker
Trustin Baker of Birch Tree, Missouri, won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 2018 and 2022 after three straight years as runner-up. He plays fiddle and banjo with the Baker Family.
Tune of choice: the wildcard round in fiddle contests
What qualifies as a tune of choice in a fiddle contest, the two schools of thought on picking one, and the most common picks from 12th Street Rag to East Tennessee Blues.
Tyler Grant
Tyler Grant won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2008 and the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Championship in 2009, then led the Colorado band Grant Farm from 2010.
Uncle Jimmy Thompson
Uncle Jimmy Thompson (1848 to 1931) played the first broadcast of what became the Grand Ole Opry on November 28, 1925, at age 77. He won eight-day contests in Dallas in 1907 and 1923.
Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements (1928 to 2005) fiddled for Bill Monroe, Old and In the Way, and thousands of sessions, invented hillbilly jazz, and won a Grammy in 2005.
Vernon Solomon
Vernon Solomon won the first Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 1972 and entered the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 1992. He recorded on Texas Hoedown (County, 1965) with Benny Thomasson.
Violet Hensley
Violet Hensley (1916 to 2026), the Whittling Fiddler of the Arkansas Ozarks, built 73 fiddles, played Silver Dollar City for more than 50 years, and entered the National Fiddler Hall of Fame at 101.
Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald
Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald (1914 to 1987) set the recorded standard for Cape Breton fiddle with 78s and LPs on Rodeo and Celtic from the late 1940s on.
Woody Paul
Woody Paul, the King of the Cowboy Fiddlers, has fiddled with Riders in the Sky since 1978. The band holds two Grammys and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1982.
Wyatt Rice
Wyatt Rice (born 1965) played rhythm guitar in the Tony Rice Unit for decades, led Santa Cruz, and teaches guitar at East Tennessee State University.
Zeb Snyder
Zeb Snyder led the Snyder Family Band for 11 years and six albums, then took the guitar chair in Appalachian Road Show. His solo debut came out in 2025.