The DC Bluegrass Union, a membership organization which promotes bluegrass music in the greater Washington, DC region (Baltimore to northern Virginia and beyond), has announced the winners of their 2026 Mike Auldridge Instrumental Contest.
The competition was launched by DCBU in 2017 to honor the late resophonic guitar master, who lived in the area all his life, and who contributed mightily to the bluegrass scene for decades. As a founding member of The Seldom Scene he took his instrument all over the world, and recorded numerous projects throughout his lifetime, leaving us in 2012.
With so many song contests available in the bluegrass world, they figured one for instrumentals would be a perfect way to keep Mike’s name in front of people since his passing.
And the 2026 winners are:
- 1st Place – The Cat and the Butterfly by Nick Cameron of Baltimore, MD – $500 prize
- 2nd Place – Carnival by Chris Panfil of Lackawanna, NY – $250 prize
- 3rd Place – Panda’tonic by Chao Tian of Clinton, MD – $100 prize
Honorable mentions were also awarded to:
- Icy Holler by Izaak Schwartz of Bartonsville, PA
- Otter Creek by Brad Kolodner of Baltimore, MD
- Eggshells by Morgan Harris of Portland, OR
You can hear the audio submissions for each of the winning tunes on the DCBU web site.
Congratulations and well done all!
