Festival Guide: Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention

By Keith T. Barber


The recreational vehicles and trucks with campers in tow begin pulling into Veterans Park in Mount Airy a good week before the Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention gets underway each year. That’s because the musicians enjoy socializing and jamming together as much if not more than competing against one another, said event organizer Gary Willard. The 38th annual Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention will be held June 5-6, and Willard expects upwards of 1,500 campers to arrive at the park in the days before the competition. During those countless jam sessions before the competition, information and wisdom is normally shared about a genre of music that is often overlooked — old time. Willard said old time and bluegrass musicians from around the globe mark the first full weekend in June on the calendars in expectation of the Fiddlers convention.
“In the past, we’ve had up to eight different countries represented — groups from Japan, Ireland and England,” Willard said. “When talking with them, they like to come and compete but they more like to come and learn because the old time is fading out and you have fewer and fewer every year. For some people, from the time they come, they’re at someone’s tent picking and playing together.”
The Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention is a favorite among old time musicians precisely because of its emphasis on the style of music whose roots go back to the Revolutionary War, said Jimmy Vipperman, an old time musician and competition judge.
Winner of nine Fiddlers Convention awards, Vipperman said Mount Airy is the perfect locale for the Fiddlers Convention due to the fact one of its native sons, Tommy Jarrell, is an old time banjo legend. It could be argued that Jarrell is to old time banjo what Doc Watson is to old time guitar. Jarrell’s banjo now resides in the Smithsonian Collection.
“Normally the banjo is the first immediate thing you see (in old time),” Vipperman said. “Bluegrass banjo is normally played with picks. Old time banjo is played with fingers and thumbs. It’s called claw hammer banjo. Old time fiddlers don’t use any vibrato. When somebody takes the lead in bluegrass music, everybody backs off. In old time, everybody takes the lead at the same time.”
Vipperman’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather all played old time and bluegrass music. Vipperman’s father, John Will, had the honor of playing with bluegrass legend Bill Monroe.
Vipperman’s story is reflected in the lives of the more than 1,500 contestants expected for this year’s event, Willard said. For two straight days, musicians will play well into the night for the right to win a coveted Fiddlers Convention title in one of 16 categories.
It all starts at 7 p.m. on Friday night when all the bands perform for the first time. The opening evening session normally runs until 1 or 2 a.m. On Saturday, the convention starts up again at 9 a.m. with the folk song competition. Then, the 4,000 festivalgoers expected this year will be treated to bluegrass and old time banjos performing on the main stage simultaneously. The bluegrass and old time fiddle competition will follow, before the individual competition in each instrument begins. At 5 p.m. Saturday, the children’s dance event kicks off, followed by the second performances by all bands in competition. As judges tally their scores late into the night, the adult dance competition is held.
Vipperman said he sees the older generation of old time players passing the torch to a talented group of young pickers.
“I think the music is going to survive,” he said.
The Fiddlers Convention has evolved into a family event, and that is key to the art form of old time music to continue to resonate with younger audiences, Willard said.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience because a lot of these old time and bluegrass players are aging out and the music is slowly but surely fading out,” Willard said. “If you want to experience the music, especially the old time, this is the place to come. It’s a different breed of people — they pretty much live and breathe the music.”