Hopkins wins fifth state championship title

The field of talent was stacked high Sunday when 20 of Texas’ very best fiddle players gathered for the official Texas State Fiddle Championship, the crowning event of what’s now been the 51st annual Fiddlers Frolics held at the Hallettsville KC Hall.

Back-to-back, they played, each trying hard to bring the very best of every song they’d practiced and rehearsed for months now.

But this was more than just a competition. It was a comradery, something they all share a distinct passion for, and no matter who might be playing at any point in the day, no one was immune to the contagious nature those tunes seem to have on all, both for the contestants vying for top bragging rights and for those gathered to the hear the day’s performances alike.

And boy, did they deliver!

“That was salty,” guest emcee and 10-time Texas state fiddle champion Wes Westmoreland of Taylor said more than once during the three days of live performance contests, usually to whatever musician had just knocked one out of the park.

Near immediate came Westmoreland’s second part to that statement at almost every utterance, and always directed squarely at the judge’s table. “I’m glad I’m not in your shoes, having to choose between these performances,” he’d tell the judges, words which usually elicited several nods from those rating the show.

He should know what he’s talking about. Westmoreland was 2021 defending state fiddle champ, having picked up his 10th state title last year, bringing his Hallettsville record to twice as many wins than any other fiddler has accomplished here so far.

It didn’t take long, however, for the judges to do some serious culling. They halved the field of 20 musicians after the first song everyone performed. Still left of the original 20 fiddle players after Round 1 were Dennis Ludiker of Austin, Carl Hopkins of Porter, Nathan Pedneault of Fort Worth, Marty Elmore of Bowie, Shira Ellisman of Kingwood and Jason Andrew of Whiteright.

They halved their numbers once more at the end of Round 2, which left just the Top 3 still in the competition as they moved into the Round Robin portion of the contest.

Only Andrew, Ludiker and Hopkins remained.

Just one solitary point is all that separated the Top 3 performers, judges told the audience, confirming just how close they all were headed into that final round.

As if that weren’t disconcerting enough by itself, contestants had two other facts to mull over as well. Not only were each of the three finalists former Texas State Fiddle Champs themselves, each also brought impressive fiddle pedigrees to the table, their families rich in fiddle playing excellence.

As they began Round 3 Sunday, Andrew held the title from 2018’s state competition, and both Ludiker and Hopkins each held four state titles each. Ludiker won the Frolics’ state titles in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2019, and Hopkins held state championship wins from 1996, 1997, 2011 and 2016.

For the Round Robin portion in the final round, each player has to remain front and center on stage, and then lead his band of accompanists in the performance of a song of his choosing, provided the song of choice adheres to the chosen song category.

The song categories get picked with the draw of a domino done by Kenneth Henneke, one of three founding members of the Hallettsville Fiddlers Frolics. Henneke’s draws on Sunday turned up a waltz for the first song category, reel for the second, rag for Category 3, polka for Category 4, and breakdown in the fifth category.

One of the primary difficulties in this style of contest, as fans witnessed earlier that day, is that once a player gets drawn into their opponent’s song, it gets awfully hard to separate it from your own melody, especially if the one you intend to play resembles their chosen song in some way.

One of the original 20 contestants watched the fellow before her perform his third song, and then halfway through her own performance, she switched songs. She was playing his song, not the one she named. Despite stopping and trying to begin again, she just couldn’t separate melodies again and ultimately left the stage without finishing.

So it was in Sunday’s lineup that Hopkins had perhaps the most difficult spot in the show, playing dead last after Andrew—a talented, professional fiddle player who drove all night from an East Texas gig on Saturday to make Sunday’s competition in Hallettsville—and then hearing Ludiker’s performance, another professional fiddler who plays with little group called Asleep at the Wheel.

Not only did Hopkins have Ludikers still playing in his ears whenever he took the stage, there were still elements of Andrew’s piece bouncing about between his ears as well.

Rather than try and combat those forces, however, Hopkins lit up almost immediately Ludiker’s song, choosing the precise title and key for every song he played.

Where Hopkins, a natural showman, truly shined this weekend, came when he somehow managed to work elements of Andrew’s song into his performance version as well, making use of the musical elements that still lingered from Andrew’s performance to essentially create a medley, of sorts, that made use of both his opponent’s songs.

It was a strategy that worked magically for Hopkins on Sunday, one that the judges especially—all of them professional fiddle players themselves—seemed to particularly enjoy and admire.

It earned Hopkins, a 2007 inductee into the Texas Fiddle Hall of Fame, his fifth state championship title in Hallettsville. Hopkins’s father, E.J. Hopkins, won multiple championship titles in his lifetime, plus he was also a 1991 Hall of Fame inductee.

Carl’s son, Hyatt, was at his dad’s side at every performance, laying down the pounding riffs on guitar for which he’s known as an accomplished accompanist, having claimed that title the last two years (2021 and 2019) and taking second behind Anthony Mature in the 2022 contest.

Hopkins won a hand-crafted, pressed-copper placard signifying the 2022 state title, which incidentally was made by Frank Zaruba, 89, another founding member of the Hallettsville Frolics, who after crafting more than 20 such awards in years past, Zaruba announced Sunday that this would be the last trophy that he made for the contest. Hopkins also won a custom belt buckle, and a $1,500 cash prize.

Making Sunday’s win especially meaningful was his mother was in the audience watching, he said. Despite Hopkins regular appearances in Hallettsville these last several years, this weekend marked his mother’s first trip ever to the Fiddlers Frolics.

Other prize winners in the Texas State Fiddle Championship, in the order they finished, were: 2. Dennis Ludiker, Austin, $1,250; 3. Jason Andrew, Whitewright, $1,000; 4. Marty Elmore, Bowie, $600; 5. Nathan Pedneault, Fort Worth, $500; 6. Shira Ellisman, Kingwood, $400; 7. Jason Crisp, Montgomery, $350; 8. Rebecca Glass, Plano, $300; 9. Andrew Wilson, Georgetown, $250; 10. Aimee Petersen, Fulshear, $200; 11. Jessica Henderson, Austin, $125; 12. Kevin Freeman, Nevada, $125; 13. Brent Fralicks, Savoy, $125; 14. Julie Amundson, Austin, $125; 15. Eddie Davis, Palestine, $125; 16. Mike Hilger, Garden City, $125; 17. Cara Wilson, Georgetown, $125; 18. Ryan Elmore, Cleburne, $125; 19. Bill Tuckness, Valley Spring, $125; and 20. Philip Pryor, New Waverly, $125.