A century-old tradition is getting ready to make a little more history.
The Mountain City Fiddlers’ Convention returns October 2–3 to Heritage Hall Square, one year after celebrating its 100th anniversary and 101 years after musicians first gathered in Mountain City for a fiddlers’ convention that would become part of Appalachian music history.
This time, organizers aren’t looking backward quite as much.
They’re opening the door on the convention’s second century.
The 2026 event will combine youth and adult competition, six live musical acts, workshops, food and vendors, more than $12,000 in competition cash and prizes — and free admission for spectators. The Grand Champion of this year’s Fiddle Off will also leave Mountain City with a custom Jason Barie fiddle valued at approximately $5,000.
And the entertainment lineup stretches from some of bluegrass music’s youngest emerging performers to artists who have spent decades on some of the biggest stages in American roots music.
It Starts With the Next Generation
Friday, October 2 — 6 p.m.
Denim & Plaid will open the weekend Friday evening, and there may be no more appropriate way to begin the convention’s second century.
The five young musicians actually met through fiddlers’ conventions and music festivals in North Carolina and Virginia — the same kind of gatherings that have helped Appalachian music move from one generation to the next for more than a century.
The award-winning group has already appeared at MerleFest, FloydFest, WoodSongs and the IBMA World of Bluegrass festival. The current lineup includes Tucker Conner on guitar and vocals, Hollace Oakes on fiddle and vocals, Berkley Stewart on banjo and vocals, Truett Wagner on mandolin and Elliot King on bass.
Bringing It Home: The Kody Norris Show
Friday, October 2 — 7 p.m.
For Kody Norris, this weekend is considerably more personal.
The Mountain City native and The Kody Norris Show stepped in to revive the convention in 2023 following its pandemic-era hiatus and have continued leading the event into its next chapter.
Norris grew up in Mountain City listening to the music of artists like The Stanley Brothers and began playing mandolin at age nine. Today, The Kody Norris Show performs more than 100 dates annually across the United States and internationally and has appeared multiple times on the Grand Ole Opry. The group’s current lineup includes Norris, Mary Rachel Nalley-Norris, Charlie Lowman and Jim Hensley.
The group also enters this year’s hometown show following the June release of its newest album, “Spirit of America.”
For Norris, helping preserve the convention means more than simply adding another date to the touring calendar. It brings a national touring act back to the community where his own musical story began.
A Bluegrass Mainstay: Lonesome River Band
Friday, October 2 — 8 p.m.
Friday night closes with one of bluegrass music’s established names.
Lonesome River Band has built a reputation over decades for a driving, contemporary acoustic sound while remaining firmly rooted in traditional bluegrass.
The group is led by Sammy Shelor, a five-time International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year and recipient of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. The current lineup also includes Jesse Smathers, Adam Miller, Mike Hartgrove and Kameron Keller.
For longtime bluegrass fans, their 8 p.m. Friday set makes the first night of the convention a destination in itself.
Saturday Belongs to the Fiddlers First
Before the concert stage comes alive again Saturday evening, the focus turns to the reason the event exists in the first place: the competitors.
Registration opens at 8 a.m. inside Heritage Hall Theatre, followed by the Youth Contest at 10 a.m. and Adult Contest at 1 p.m.
More than $12,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded across the youth and adult categories.
The headline prize is the custom Jason Barie fiddle, valued at approximately $5,000, awaiting the winner of Saturday night’s Grand Champion Fiddle Off.
And when the competition wraps up for the afternoon, the concert schedule picks right back up.
Remedy Tree Brings a Different Branch of Roots Music
Saturday, October 3 — 5:30 p.m.
Saturday evening begins with Remedy Tree, a Florida-based Americana group whose sound draws from bluegrass, old-time and folk traditions.
Founded by Gabriel and Abigail Acevedo, Remedy Tree also includes Nathan Beaumont on mandolin and Isaac Taylor on banjo. The band signed with Mountain Fever Records in 2024 and has since performed internationally as well as across the United States.
The group was also named a 2026 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year nominee, making their Mountain City appearance particularly timely.
Their 2025 album, “Beyond What I Can See,” combines traditional influences with original music — a good fit for a convention that has always existed at the intersection of preserving old music and encouraging musicians to make it their own.
Carson Peters & Iron Mountain
Saturday, October 3 — 6:30 p.m.
East Tennessee will be well represented when Carson Peters & Iron Mountain take the stage.
Peters, from Piney Flats, became known at a young age for his fiddle playing and has since developed into a touring bluegrass performer and bandleader.
Today, Carson Peters & Iron Mountain draw musicians from Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina and have built a following around energetic traditional bluegrass, strong instrumental work and close vocal harmonies. The group records with Billy Blue Records and has appeared multiple times on the Grand Ole Opry.
That makes Peters especially fitting for this particular festival: a young East Tennessee fiddler taking the stage at an event built around keeping the region’s fiddle tradition alive.
From Mountain City to the Grand Ole Opry — and the Wild West
Saturday, October 3 — 7:30 p.m.
Then the cowboys ride into Mountain City.
Riders In The Sky will headline Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., bringing nearly five decades of Western music, harmony, musicianship and comedy to Heritage Hall Square.
The group traces its beginnings to Nashville in 1977 and became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1982. Along the way, Riders In The Sky have recorded dozens of albums, earned two Grammy Awards, appeared in television and radio productions, and introduced themselves to an entirely different generation through their work with Disney and Pixar — including performing “Woody’s Roundup” for “Toy Story 2.” (Riders In The Sky)
The current quartet features Ranger Doug, Too Slim, Woody Paul and Joey the CowPolka King.
Their show blends Western music with comedy, yodeling and the traditions of performers such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry — which should make for a distinctly different finale to the convention’s concert lineup. (Riders In The Sky)
Then Comes the Awards!
Even Riders In The Sky aren’t quite the final act.
After the applause comes to a close for their amazing set, we all get to congratulate and cheer for this year’s winners including the 2026 Mountain City Fiddlers’ Convention Grand Champion.
It is perhaps the most appropriate way possible to end the weekend.
Not with a touring star.
With a fiddler.
A Tradition That Started Here
That distinction matters in Mountain City.
The first Mountain City Fiddlers’ Convention was held in May 1925, drawing musicians whose names would later become deeply connected to the story of Appalachian music, including “Fiddlin’ John” Carson, Charlie Bowman, Dudley “Fiddlin’ Dud” Vance, G.B. Grayson and Clarence Ashley.
The musicians who played these early conventions helped carry the sounds of the Southern Appalachians into the emerging commercial recording industry.
The convention continued in different forms through generations, supported over the years by organizations and individuals including the Mountain City Rotary Club, Johnson County Chamber of Commerce and Doug and Jackie Warden, who hosted it for years at Old Mill Music Park in Laurel Bloomery.
Following a three-year pandemic hiatus, The Kody Norris Show revived the event in 2023. In 2024, the convention welcomed its first international Grand Champion Fiddle winner, Timon Veelenturf of the Netherlands.
And in 2025, Mountain City marked the convention’s centennial.
Now comes 2026.
No centennial countdown.
No once-in-a-lifetime anniversary.
Just the beginning of the next hundred years.
What You Need to Know
The 2026 Mountain City Fiddlers’ Convention will be held Friday and Saturday, October 2–3, at Heritage Hall Square in downtown Mountain City.
Admission is free for spectators, and visitors should bring their own chairs.
Food trucks and vendors will be on site, along with Mountain City Fiddlers’ Convention and performer merchandise. Workshops inside Heritage Hall Theatre are also free and open to the public.
The event will be held rain or shine, with performances and competitions able to move inside Heritage Hall Theatre if weather requires.
Competition registration opens at 8 a.m. Saturday, and entry is $15 per person, per category. Complete competition information and schedules are available from the Mountain City Fiddlers’ Convention website. Cash, debit & credit cards accepted.
Friday, Oct.
6 p.m. — Denim & Plaid
7 p.m. — The Kody Norris Show
8 p.m. — Lonesome River Band
Saturday, Oct. 3
10 a.m. — Youth Contest
1 p.m. — Adult Contest
5:30 p.m. — Remedy Tree
6:30 p.m. — Carson Peters
7:30 p.m. — Riders In The Sky
8 p.m. — Grand Champion Fiddle & Band
For more information, visit MountainCityFC.com.
