2021 Emerging Fiddlers’ Contest Winners: Stewart Werner III (first place, left), Colby Helms (second place, top right), and Cheyenne Grantham (third place, bottom right).
Ferrum College hosted the first annual Ferrum Fiddlers Festival, which was held virtually on Saturday, January 23, 2021. The event, presented by the Appalachian Music Program and the Department of Music, included workshops, concerts, and the Ferrum Mountain Emerging Fiddlers’ Contest. The contest was open to musicians and singers aged 24 and under.
Three young Franklin County musicians took home top prizes in the competition which included entries from as far away as Georgia. Stewart Werner III, a Franklin County High School senior from Rocky Mount took home the top prize, which included a $4000 Ferrum College scholarship, for his performance on the banjo. Colby Helms of Boones Mill, a 2020 graduate of FCHS, won second place, including a $2000 scholarship to Ferrum College, for his performance of an original song about the Franklin County moonshine conspiracy. Eleven-year-old Cheyenne Grantham, also of Boones Mill, took third place with her old-time fiddle contest entry.
The festival took place online via YouTube, Zoom, and Facebook, and drew viewers from around the United States and the world. Contest judges and guest artists included Tyler Hughes, Tray Wellington, Martha Spencer, Rachel Eddy & Emily Hammond, and Shohei Tsutsumi, who gave the day’s final performance from his home in Osaka, Japan. View photos from the event on the Ferrum College Flickr album.
Ferrum College offers a four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Music degree as well as major and non-major studies woodwinds, brass, piano, percussion, voice, and Appalachian Music. Visit here or email music@ferrum.edu to learn more.
This article was written by Director of Appalachian Music and Adjunct Lecturer of Theatre and Music Emily Blankenship-Tucker.
