The Grand Master Fiddler Championship was the idea of Perry Felton Harris, M.D., D.D.S, Colonel U.S.A.F. and had its origins in the mid-1950’s when Dr. Harris was in Dental School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  

One afternoon, Dr. Harris heard that Roy Acuff and his Smokey Mountain Boys were going to be playing nearby and he and some friends decided to go see them.  Dr. Harris loved fiddle music!  Dr. Harris found his way backstage, met a man by the name of Howard “Big Howdy” Forrester and that began a friendship that lasted for life.  Howdy played fiddle for Roy and did most of the bookings for Acuff-Rose, as well as being a Smokey Mountain Boy and executive at Acuff-Rose Music Publishing (Acuff-Rose Music Publishing was sold to Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2003 and remains one of the most extensive classic song catalogues in music today).

After practicing Dentistry in Pinehurst, NC for two years, Dr. Harris decided to move to Nashville to study Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University Medical School.  While at Vanderbilt, he became Chief Resident and later both taught and practiced Medicine at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Harris’ friendship with Howdy allowed him to spend almost every Friday and Saturday evening at the Grand Ole Opry in Roy Acuff’s dressing room, where there were always jam sessions going on with the best musicians dropping in between appearances on stage.  The Harris family enjoyed many nights backstage at the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium and later at Opryland where President Richard Nixon and Roy Acuff dedicated the new Opry House in March of 1972.

Over the years, Dr. Harris became known as the “Opry Doc” a nickname Roy Acuff put on him that stuck.  Dr. Harris developed many close friendships with various Country Music stars such as Roy Acuff, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Marty Robbins, Bill Monroe, the Osborne Brothers, Jim & Jesse & the Virginia Boys and many others that would later be of support to the Championship.

Another friendship developed when Dr. Harris met E.W. “Bud” Wendell.  Bud was a very successful executive with National Life & Accident Insurance, the parent company of WSM and the Grand Ole Opry. Bud had taken over as the manager of the Opry and he later rose through the ranks to become the CEO. Their friendship would be critical to the Grand Master Fiddler Championship’s beginning.

During the 1960’s through 1971, Dr. Harris was persistent in his lobbying of Bud, Roy and anyone else that would listen, for their support in his sincere belief that the Grand Ole Opry needed a fiddle contest.  In 1971, Bud told Dr. Harris that WSM would provide support for the contest if he would organize it and supply the fiddlers!  Dr. Harris gathered Howdy, Roy, Johnny Gimble and others together to come up with a list of those to be invited to compete in the first Grand Master to be held in June 1972.  The first contest was held in the parking lot of Opryland USA (now Opry Mills) under a tent – as the park was not quite ready for visitors. Vernon Solomon of Texas was crowned Champion and appeared with Roy on his live radio show that Saturday night.  That began a tradition of the Champion playing the Saturday night Opry that continues today.

The Grand Master Fiddler Championship has always been blessed with the greatest contestants and entertainers and the first year was no exception.  The entertainment in June 1972, consisted of Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain Boys, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Marty Robbins and others, who performed in between the judging of the contestants while scores were tabulated.  Roy and Porter never missed a contest and served as Master of Ceremonies each year along with help from Eddie Stubbs, Grant Turner, Kyle Cantrell, Keith Bilbrey and Hairl Hensley.

Two of the hardest workers over all the years were Charlie Bush and Pete “Bashful Brother Oswald” Kirby, who kept things running behind the scenes by rounding up the contestants and side musicians when it was their time to play.  H.G. and Dorothy Roberts were always there to feed the entire group their famous Fiddlers BBQ, simply the best!

The contest was held in Opryland from 1972 through 1997. During that quarter century the preliminaries were held in the historic Ryman Auditorium and the finals and championship rounds were held in Opryland USA through 1997, after which the Opryland USA theme park closed.

Re-establishment of the contest has been under discussion every year since 1997 and is now a reality.  In March 2004, Howard Harris and Ed Carnes formed the Grand Master Fiddler Championship, Inc. as a Tennessee non-profit corporation.  The Corporation applied for and was awarded United States Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) status as a charitable and education corporation in July 2004.  This status marks a major milestone in our progress and allows us to build on our rich history and tradition. It will also allow us to seek and engage sponsorships that otherwise would have been excluded from the organization.

The initial elected Board of Directors for the corporation are: Howard Harris, Chairman, President, and CEO; Ed Carnes, Vice-Chairman, Executive Vice-President and COO; and Charlie Bush, Director.  The Tennessee and United States Trademarks for the name and logo of the Grand Master Fiddler Championship are owned by the corporation.

With support and advice from Bud Wendell, the Grand Master Fiddler Championship organizers held a series of meetings with Dan Hays, President of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), the trade organization formed to support bluegrass music and musicians worldwide, to explore possible ways to work together.  After approval by the Board of Directors of the Grand Master Fiddler Championship and the IBMA,  the competition was re-established and held in conjunction with the IBMA “World of Bluegrass” annual event in Nashville, Tennessee in October 2005.

We are proud to be able to grow the Championship and know that through the hard work and dedication of many involved over the years we will be allowed to expand beyond our current scope of activities to include teaching, support teaching institutions, chair endowments at various universities and many other activities that promote the fiddle and fiddle music.

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