Lindley wins first in 2024 Gone to Texas Fiddler’s Frolic

14 fiddler players from all over the country showed their exceptional talent as they competed in the Gone to Texas portion of the 53nd annual Fiddlers Frolics held at the Hallettsville KC Hall April 27. These players, from as far as Oregon to Ohio faced off in three rounds – with the top three going head to head in a freestyle round performing six styles of fiddler’s music.

The competition, titled after the Lone Star State itself, was intense. It started with the first round as fourteen players played two tunes back to back. The two tunes played from the competitors had to be both a breakdown and a tune of choice. Heather Bennett from Santa Monica, California kicked off the round playing “Billy in the Low Ground” and “Hot Foot.”

The first round truly showed all fiddle players giving it their all.

You could tell fiddle playing truly runs in the family of some of these contestants as three siblings, Elijah, Trustin, and Carina Baker from Birch Tree, Missouri, played up against each other. Trustin Baker has been playing at the Gone to Texas fiddle contest for years. In fact, he won the title as prizewinner of the Freshman Division years back earning him a brand new fiddle. Recently, the Baker family performed as a band down in the valley playing bluegrass music.

Only seven of the 14 players advanced to round two. Folks from Tennessee, Oregon, Missouri, California, Ohio, Kentucky, and Oklahoma all competed in the second round.

Some of these players are notable including Ed Carnes from Franklin, Tennessee. He actually puts on a fiddle contest in Owensboro, Kentucky. Also, Kerry Varble from Salem, Ohio was one of the judges of Fiddlers Frolics, so she now knows what it feels like to be on the other side of the competition.

All of these players had to play a waltz of their choosing in round two. After each player serenaded both the audience and the judges, the waiting game for the final three began.

Round three was the most challenging round of them all. Advancing in the top three was the aforementioned Trustin Baker, Tashina Lindley from Hugo, Oregon, and Monte Gaylord from Nowata, Oklahoma. Each of these players had to play improvised tunes with specific fiddling styles.

Known as the Round Robin portion of the finals, each player remained poised on stage leading the accompanists in the performance of their choosing, provided the song of choice adhered to the chosen song category.

These genres styles were picked with the draw of a domino, done by Kenneth Henneke, one of the three founding members of the Hallettsville Fiddlers Frolics.

“It’s special because I’ve been here for a very long time and I thank God for everyone that’s come out here to show their talents,” Henneke said prior to the drawing of the dominos. “Everybody that helps at this contest is vital, including the guitar pickers, the MC’s and of course the fiddle players. Without everybody’s support, we have nothing.”

The first genre drawn was swing music. Gaylord began that round performing “Lady Be Good.” He truly had charisma and was one of the most energetic performers of the bunch. Honestly, every part of his body was animated as he was playing.

The next genre drawn was a rag, which is a fiddle tune played with syncopated rhythm. After that came a break down, a horn pipe, and the niche sounds of polka music.

This wasn’t all! For the first time in Gone to Texas history, there was a tie. Each player had to play a reel, the last style of music not drawn. A reel is a folksy dance uptempo song. There was lots of energy in this final round, with folks shouting “there you go!”

As judges submitted their final scores, the competition ended with all three players playing together.

As this concluded the playing of the evening, the final results were then announced. In third place was Gaylord, second place was Baker, and the winner of the contest was Lindley, who accepted the title with humble pride.

“I don’t care about winning very much, but the nicest thing of this competition is just to come down here and listen to everyone playing,” Lindley said. “Players like Monty knows a lot of stuff that I don’t know. I had no expectations of winning whatsoever. I was just thinking about a fiddle contest I went to out in Idaho of June last year and Monty must have gotten fifteenth place and I got twelfth. All in all, we’re all the same players playing in different ways. I do love coming to fiddle contests and it’s an honor to be chosen (as the winner), but it’s also just as rewarding when other players get chosen as the victor as well.”