Maddie Denton is a third generation fiddle player from Murfreesboro, Tennessee who began playing at the age of five. She is the 2016 Grand Master Fiddle Champion, the first Tennessee-born contestant to ever win, plus the 2009 National Junior Fiddle Champion. Since 2008, Maddie has won fourteen state championship titles spread over the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, and Tennessee. She is an accomplished tenor guitar player and frequently backs up her fellow competitors. Maddie also plays mandolin and standard guitar. In addition to her love of contest fiddling, Maddie also enjoys playing a broad range of fiddle styles, her favorite being bluegrass. She currently plays fiddle and sings tenor in the Dan Tyminski Band, in addition to East Nash Grass and Theo & Brenna Band.
Aside from music, Maddie is a recent graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Organismal Biology and Ecology and a minor in music. While at MTSU, she played NCAA Division I golf for four years and helped the Lady Raiders win back-to-back Conference USA Championships. Her first round score of 6 under par (66) at the University of Missouri’s Johnie Imes Invitational still holds the record for the lowest first round score in MTSU women’s golf history. Maddie was also named the Conference USA Player of the Week in October of 2015. She currently teaches Biology and Environmental Science at Siegel High School where she is also the men’s and women’s assistant golf coach.
During the novel coronavirus shutdown, Maddie decided to record her very first album, which she views as a snapshot of the twenty-one years in which she has played the fiddle. In addition to some of the tunes she grew up hearing and playing, Maddie’s upcoming album also features her own original music, as well as songs written by her friends Theo MacMillan and Jason Owen. What she likes the best about her album is that it is comprised of her friends, whom she plays music with regularly. Maddie adds, “It is very special to me that I was able to record my first album with some of my very best friends. Everyone on this album brings a set of unique talents to the table and I feel fortunate to not only work with them, but to call them friends as well.”