Henry Reed Memorial Fiddler’s Convention

 

June 13-14, 2003

$2500 in cash and rosettes

 

Alan Jabbour will be giving Fiddle Workshops on Friday and Saturday 10 AM til noon. Call 202-333-1089 if interested.  Call Chris Via 540-726-3079 for more info.

 

Competition will include Old Time and Bluegrass Bands, Old Time and Bluegrass Banjo, Old Time and Bluegrass Guitar, Old Time and Bluegrass Fiddle, Mandolin, Auto Harp, Dobro, Dulcimer, Old Time Harmonica, Folk Song, and Dance.

 

Bands will compete on both nights.

Admission $6 on Friday and $7 on Saturday.

Gates open Wednesday for campers.

Camping in the rough on the New River is $10 a night.

 

This event was put together to keep traditional music alive and to create a fellowship of musicians and friends.  There wasn’t a better place to do it than in the old hometown of Henry Reed.  Henry Reed was a legendary fiddler who went un-recorded most of his life.  Born in 1884, he learned most of his fiddling from Civil War veteran and fifer Quincy Dillion.  By the time Henry was starting to play, Quincy was already an old man.  So to hear Henry play was a living testament to the fiddle style of the 19^th century.

 

Alan Jabbour (a collector of old time fiddlers) found Henry in 1966 and recorded him.  His fiddling had started to go downhill due to palsy, but he still managed to play out some 160 tunes.  Most would have been lost forever if these recordings hadn’t taken place.

 

Most of the locals that can remember Henry in his prime will tell you that he was one of the best fiddlers around.  We want his fiddler’s convention to have more meaning than just another competition.  We want it to be a memorial of a great fiddler and to carry on the old time music of this region.

 

Located at the Glen Lyn Park in Glen Lyn, VA

On the New River right off Route 460 near the West Virginia state line.