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Judges

RED HENRY
Red Henry has played mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and guitar since the 1960s. He and his wife Murphy made their living for many years playing bluegrass full-time, and they recorded a dozen band LPs and CDs.
Since 1982, Red and Murphy have taught several thousand people to play with their extensive and successful “Murphy Method” series of bluegrass music-instruction tapes and DVDs, marketed worldwide.
Red has helped judge many contests over the years, including the prestigious national music championships at Winfield, Kansas, the Maryland State Fiddle Contest, the Shenandoah Banjo and Fiddle Contest in Virginia, and the official Georgia State Fiddle Convention. He is always “pulling” for the contestants and hoping that they will play their very best.

 

CHUCK NATION
Chuck Nation (fiddle/mandolin/guitar), from Gainesville, GA, has performed across the U.S. and in 20 different countries.  In addition to his singing and songwriting skills, Chuck is equally skilled at playing fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and guitar.  Chuck has performed at the Grand Old Opry, New Orleans World’s Fair, Savannah Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, Smoke On The Mountain, Always Patsy Cline, and The High Lonesome Mass. He has opened shows for a diverse list of folks ranging from Ernest Tubb to Mother Maybelle Carter, Mac Davis, John Hartford, Charley Pride, John Anderson, and Bill Monroe.  He was a member of the historic band from Louisville, Kentucky—The Bluegrass Alliance (whose alumni includes Vince Gill, Sam Bush, & Tony Rice)—which paved the way for the modern “Newgrass” music style.  Besides being an in-demand studio musician for others, Chuck has recorded two solo projects:  Fiddle Favorites and One Man Band.

 

AL SMITH
Raised in the north Georgia region, Al has been a lover of all forms of music through out his childhood, teens, and adult life. Primarily focusing on folk, bluegrass, and acoustic jazz music in his adult life. He began playing guitar at the age of nine and banjo at the age of fourteen. He played in his first bluegrass band at the age of seventeen, playing the banjo. Later, he began to compete in bluegrass competitions playing banjo and guitar. In 1983, he competed in the National Flatpick Championship in Winfield, Kansas, winning a guitar. He was featured in teh January/February issue of Flatpick Guitar Magazine. In 2024 he won the guitar category at Fiddle Fest in Alabama.

Other than competition, Al has performed through his life with some of Bluegrass’s most prominent entertainers such as Alison Krauss, Tony Rice, David Grisman, Mark O’Conner, Randy Howard and many others.

For thirty-five years, he has owned and operated a stringed instrument repair business, Goodwood Guitars located in Jasper, Georgia.