Ranelle Dietrich at the Artist Entrance to the Grand Ole Opry
We’ve written several times about The Arizona Wildflowers, a young family band in Casa Grande, AZ, made up of the four unusually talented Dietrich siblings.
The oldest is Ranelle, who at 15 years of age, won the Youth Division of the Grand Master Fiddler Championship last year. Now aged out at 16, she placed 10th this year in the Open Division against top fiddlers from all over the world! That’s quite a jump for this gifted young lady.
Her younger sisters and brother also did well, with Brie, Sawyer, and Isley all showing up in the top 10 of the Youth Division winners for 2024.
Ranelle was invited to perform on the Grand Ole Opry as well, and her family put together this collage of photos set to a song the Wildflowers recorded, written about getting to see your musical dreams fulfilled. Check out the images and their song, Small Town Girl, which the Dietrich sisters wrote jointly.
There is also a video from Ranelle’s moment on the Opry the evening before the Championship – her 16th birthday! – playing a tasty version of Beaumont Rag. Also appearing in the video are Tessa McCoy fiddling Durang’s Hornpipe, and former Open Division Champion Jimmy Mattingly tearing up Sally Gooden.
Well done all!
