Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Matt Downer, organizer of the second annual Great Southern Old Time Fiddlers Convention, about his expectations this year, what’s been changed and what bands he’s excited to see.
CP: What was the reaction like to last year’s convention?
MD: It was great. It was very good response and great weather. We got a little over 400 people out and over 60 entered to compete. For the first year back, I thought it went really well. I was pretty optimistic. I was shooting for 300, so we beat that. It was pretty much full up in there. We put out 150 chairs, and they were all full pretty much the whole time.
CP: How soon after the first convention was over did you discuss bringing it back this year?
MD: We talked about it even that day that we would do it. We set the date in May within two months.