Old-Time Fiddlers host state fiddle contest in Effingham
EFFINGHAM, Ill. (AP) - Junior Hobson started playing the guitar at 15 years old and took up the fiddle when he was 25, taking after his parents who were both fiddle players.
"I just grew up with it." Hobson said. "I've always just enjoyed the music."
The Stewardson resident has been a member of the Illinois Old-Time Fiddlers Association since its beginnings in Shelbyville in the 1960s. Now he serves as president of the association, which held its annual state contest at the Thelma Keller Convention Center and hosted a jam session at the Effingham Performance Center over the weekend.
According to Hobson, the Sunday contest is the only state-sanctioned fiddle contest in the state of Illinois.
The organization has been hosting the annual state fiddle contest in Effingham for the past five years and has held contests in several locations around Shelbyville to include the Chautauqua building, Rockome Gardens in Arcola and at the Moultrie-Douglas County Fairgrounds in Arthur in years past.
"One good thing about it is we're getting some kids in it and that's where the future of everything is." Hobson said about the annual contest.
Elijah Doty competed for the first time this year in the Junior division.
"I'm a little nervous." Doty said about the competition. "Any time I have extra. I practice. I don't do much sitting around doing nothing."
Doty started playing the fiddle after his grandfather, Randell Stierwalt of Toledo, gave him a fiddle he had purchased from a co-worker.
"He asked me one day if he could get it out and mess with it and I said 'sure.'" Stierwalt recalled. "And within an hour, I heard him down in the bedroom playing 'Amazing Grace' a little rough, but I could hear the tune."
"That was just before Thanksgiving of last year." Stierwalt added. "And here we are the next year, and he is entering the fiddle contest."
Ironically, Stierwalt is not a fiddle player but several years ago he inherited a fiddle that belonged to his great-grandfather, who purchased it in 1868 and played it at barn dances. Doty, however, will have to wait a few years before he gets to play that fiddle.
"My Grandfather didn't play the fiddle, my father didn't play the fiddle, I never really played the fiddle, my daughter never played the fiddle and now here we are with my grandson playing the fiddle." Stierwalt said.
Teenage boredom was the reason Charlie Walden started playing the fiddle. He has continued playing for the past 46 years.
Walden traveled to Effingham from Evanston to compete in Sunday's contest and led a fiddle workshop on Saturday afternoon at the Thelma Keller Convention Center for the Illinois Old-Time Fiddlers Association. Walden is a three-time state fiddle champion. He, along with his wife, play in several venues around the United States.
Another husband and wife duo didn't have as far to travel. Herman and Lisa Perry traveled to Effingham Saturday from Salem. They participated together in the jam session held at the Effingham Performance Center on Saturday. Herman came to compete in the Sunday state contest in the over 70 division.
Herman learned the art of fiddle playing from 1967 state fiddle champion Jack Busby and has been playing the fiddle ever since. He plays music with his Salem-based band Herman Perry and the Gold Nuggets.
The band attracted fans Gert and Charlie Harris of Effingham to the Saturday afternoon jam session. The couple also had several family members participating in the event.
The Harrises, who have been married 70 years, were one of two couples dancing during the jam session in the lobby of the Effingham Performance Center.
"We love to dance to the music." said Gert Harris.
"We go dancing at least three to four times a month." Charlie Harris quickly added.
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Source: Effingham Daily News, http://bit.ly/2enFMx1
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Information from: Effingham Daily News, http://www.effinghamdailynews.com