by Joyce Knauer
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A Clarridge won the Grand Nationals yet
again at the 2005 National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest Saturday night.
This time, however, it was the big sister’s time to win the
spotlight. Tashina Clarridge, 23, of Mount Shasta, Calif., outlasted and out-played all competitors to earn the prestigious award and bronze statue sponsored by Washington County Title. As you may recall, Tashina has placed second behind her brother Tristan at the last two contests, 2003 and 2004. Tristan was |
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| ineligible this year due to the three-peat rule, but that did not stop him from being on the stage lending his guitar as | This year's champion of the Grand Nationals, Tashina Clarridge (left), poses after her Saturday night triumph with mom Jan (center) and brother Tristan, who had won the title the preceding three years. |
accompaniment to his sister in her performances.
Each contestant had to play a hoedown, a waltz, and then a tune of their
choice, but never the same tune twice. Think about that. There were six
rounds of three tunes each for a total of 18 songs to practice! When I spoke
with Tashina, that was one of her comments, that she did not have to
practice for awhile. Yikes! I did ask her what she did for fun and her
answer was: “I like to jam all night long. I would have jammed with my
brother last night, but of course I had to rest for today.”
It’s a good thing she did rest because the competition was stiff. She won by
only 15 points. Tashina has been playing the fiddle since she was two years
old. Her very first win in Weiser was in 1995 when she won the Junior-Junior
division.
Rounding out the top ten are names that should come as no surprise. Placing
second behind Tashina was Kimber Ludiker, 20, of Spokane, Wash., a
University of Washington student. Third went to Monte Gaylord, 42, of
Oolagah, Okla., fourth to Katrina Pearce, 22, of Boise, Idaho, and fifth to
Luke Price, 19, of Meridian, Idaho, a University of Utah student. Sixth
through tenth are as follows: Seth Mattison of Nampa, Idaho, Katie Glassman
of Boise, Tony Ludiker of Rathdrum, Idaho, Tonya Hopkins of Porter, Texas,
and John Francis of Berkeley, Calif.
Let’s not forget the all-important accompanists. Even though Rod Anderson
did not play on Saturday night, he still won the top award with a total of
162 appearances on stage to help out a fiddler. Anthony Mature followed him
with 132, Matt Hartz with 76, Royce Franklin with 66, and Darren Meeks with
64.
What about the judges? They had all the hard work of picking apart each
fiddler’s tunes and finding the best of the best. These judges, too, should
ring a bell in your memory. They were Dick Barrett of Rapelje, Mont.,
Candice Neaves of Missoula, Mont., Danita Rast of Meridian, Idaho, David
Smith of Oshkosh, Wis., and Tom Weigerberger of St. Peters, Minn.
Now let’s talk about the competition itself. There were 393 tunes played by
competitors on Saturday alone, 90 of them played by those who would finish
in the top five. Saturday night’s top 10 was very young in age. Most of
their hoedowns and tunes of choice were quite spirited and fast-paced, show-ing
off their fingering skills. The waltzes sang to the audience. The
competitors would even watch each other after they had performed.
The audience was very good with even the small children being polite and
behaving. Several of the performers had rousing applause as befitted their
efforts.
There were several characters who deserve to be written about. The gentleman
who guarded the performer entrance is a man by the name of Frank Eisenhauer.
He wore a gray cowboy hat with the old-fashioned crease in front like the
Duke wore. He was also wearing cowboy boots, but the in-betweens were a
black tux with tail, black pants, white shirt, and a gorgeous black to red
tie with horses thundering across the front. WOW!
Most of the performers were quite serious when they played. As the rounds
progressed, a few lightened up and even hinted at a smile or two. Monte
Gaylord, however, was an entertainer. He has toured with Brooks and Dunn and
boy does that ever show in his performance. The first time on stage, Anthony
Mature was a bit too close and was almost nailed by Monte’s bow. Talk about
a live wire with expressive movements that just spoke back to his tunes. At
the end of his first number, there were strings from his bow hanging off and
even one or two on Matt Hartz. Luckily, the audience was privileged to see
him perform three times on this night and it was worth the price of
admission. He really put on a show and the audience rewarded him with hoots
and hollers and loud clapping.
Luke Price probably played the fastest and finally loosened up some by the
sixth round and his performance too brought a huge crowd response. But the
sweet sounds that Tashina Clarridge produced from her fiddle were the
deciding factor in this year’s competition. I, for one, having never been to
the competition before, wonder what in the world I have been doing all these
years to have missed this awesome event. One question before I go. Do
fiddlers ever get a chin rash from all that practicing?
--WEISER SIGNAL AMERICAN
6/27/05