The thirty-fifth annual National Flatpicking Guitar Championship was
held on Saturday, September 16th in Winfield, Kansas, in conjunction
with the Walnut Valley Festival. The talk amongst spectators and competitors
during and after each round was that this year¹s competition was
the toughest that they have ever experienced. In the preliminary round
there were at least 12 to 15 competitors (which included six past winners‹three
of them being two-time winners) who played well enough to make the top
five cut.
The top five contestants who were chosen to come up and participate
in the final round were Roy Curry from Tennessee (past two-time winner
1980, 1991), Alan Shadd from Florida (past winner 1997), Gary Cook from
Colorado (pat two-time winner 1989, 1996), Matt Arcara from Boston,
MA (2nd place in 2004), and Brandon Davis from Virginia. Each of the
five finalists played extremely well in the final round. The championship
could have gone to any of them.
The judges selected Matt Arcara
as the winner and Matt chose the Collings guitar for his prize. Additionally
he was awarded a two-thousand dollar check, a guitar case, belt buckle,
and custom hat. Second place was awarded to Alan Shadd and he chose
the Martin guitar as his prize. Third place went to Gary Cook, who selected
the Taylor guitar for his prize. Every year, the National Flatpicking
Guitar Championship is more about old friends getting together to play
music than it is about the contest itself. Year after year the same
contestants come back, and while the contest is taken seriously, the
backdrop of jamming and hanging out with old friends is what makes the
long trip to Kansas worth it for most of these pickers. Even performers
who were not part of the contest, like former three-time winner Steve
Kaufman and former two-time winner Jimmy Gyles, came out to visit with
their old friends and cheer them on in the competition. Below are photos
taken back stage in the warm-up area. The atmosphere is more like a
family reunion than it is a competitor¹s ready room.
