maupinfest contest Judges

2024 Singing & Instrumental Judges 

John Fabke
Wes Houp
Josh Smith

2024 Dance Judges

Jake Fennell
Matthew Campbell
Jeff Driggs

Bios Compiled and Submitted by Daniel Rothwell

Jacob began his dancing journey at the ripe old age of 5 with Tommy Jackson out of Franklin, Tennessee. For a couple of years, many wondered if the boy who loved dancing so much would ever figure out how to get his love of dance to his feet, but then, one day, it just clicked, and off he went, and he has not looked back. In or around the year 2016 he started working with Thomas Maupin at various festivals and events. In 2017 he and Mr. Maupin began work with the Tennessee Arts Commission through their Tennessee Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program with Mr. Maupin as the master and Jacob the apprentice. Jacob had already won a few dance competitions prior but after having worked with Mr. Maupin exclusively he began to win everywhere he went including Smithville Fiddler’s Jamboree in buck dance the years of 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, in flatfoot the years of 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, clogging national championship in 2018 and 2019, and in the year 2024, he won first in buck, clog and flatfoot. It is only the 3 rd time in Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree history that the same person won all three of their age categories. In 2024, he also won his age divisions in both buck dance and flatfoot at the Wilson County Fair and won 1 st place in the dance contest at the 2024 Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention and both his age division and the grand championship in flatfooting at the 2024 Appalachian String Band Music Festival. At the Robert Spicer Tennessee State Buck-Dance Championship for his age group for the years 2018, 2019 and 2021 and in 2022 and 2023 he won his age group and the state championship. He won the National Champion Authentic Old Time Dance Jr. Division in 2018 at Uncle Dave Macon Days, and the youth buck dance division at MaupinFest in 2019 and 2021, and in 2022 at MaupinFest, he won the National Buck Dancing Championship. At the ACHF Nationals, he won grand champion in flatfoot for 2021 along with a variety of other ACHF awards in both buck dance and flatfoot. Jacob currently does private lessons for any that want to learn. He has had the honor to teach flatfoot at The Fontana Clogging Workshop, the first time flatfoot has been taught there in its 20 year history and he will be going back again this year. He also did a workshop at the CLOG National Convention in November 2023. He has taught young and old the art of squaredancing and participated on many squaredance teams with first place wins. He loves spending time at The Grand Old Hatchery in Dickson where he also teaches on Saturday nights both buck dance and various line dances to children and adults. He has been asked to dance with The Hickory Flat Hoedowners the past two years at a folk festival in Asheville, NC and at the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention. He also dances with the Cripple Creek Cloggers and just returned from the Czech Republic where he danced representing the United States at a folk festival there and participated in the International Folk Festival held in Murfreesboro each year. He began judging in 2024. 

Matthew Campbell is a third-generation dancer. His grandfather was a member of Ralph Sloan’s influential Tennessee Travelers dance team on the Grand Ole Opry from 1953 to 1956. Matthew’s first competition was at the age of 8 years old. He started dancing with Tommy Jackson and The Little Rock Preview about that same time. He went on to dance with Tommy's Harpeth River and Rocky Top Revue as well. They performed all over the Southeast and competed. They made multiple appearances at the Country Music Hall of Fame, CMA fest, Opryland Hotel, and even performed on Marty Stuart's Late Night Jam at the Ryman Auditorium. Matthew has won multiple National Buck Dance Championships in different age divisions over the years at Uncle Dave Macon Days. He has also won numerous Grand Champion and 1st place Titles in buckdance and flatfoot competitions throughout Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. He has judged flatfoot, buckdancing, and clogging at Bluegrass Along the Harpeth in Franklin, TN and flatfooting at the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddlers Convention in Athens, Alabama.

Jeff Driggs grew up in West Virginia where he learned to clog from watching old time masters like the late D. Ray White, and modern cloggers like Tony Burgess and others. The West Virginia style he developed early on was often referred to as “back-stepping,” a combination of low to the floor flatfooting and buck and Appalachian style clogging which is recognized by its constant drag-slide motion on the flat of the foot with the heel keeping time. He was a Western Style square dancer and caller since his teens and as a clogger also learned to call old time squares as well. Jeff was offered the opportunity to dance with a local team and learned the terminology and techniques of precision clogging. The team performed locally and on the road with cast members of the Hee-Haw Road show and opening in concert shows for Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels and many others. His first festival teaching engagement was at Fontana Village in 1983 and since that time he has taught in all fifty U.S. states, as well as Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and Scandinavia and has received numerous awards and honors, both as a competitor and an instructor. As a performer, Jeff has been honored to dance on the Grand Ole Opry many times through the years – his first time in 1985 after winning the U.S. male clogging title - with Ben Smathers and the Stoney Mountain Cloggers, the Melvin Sloan Dancers and the Grand Ole Opry Square Dancers. He has danced on that hallowed stage many times throughout the years, and in shows with country music artists such as Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers, Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs, and others. His routines are taught and danced worldwide, and his choreography has been performed in international parades and festivals, bowl game halftime shows, theme parks and more. Jeff has written several books on clogging and old-time square dancing, owned and distributed the Double Toe Times magazine read by thousands of dancers worldwide and produced many cued record projects both for Ralph’s Records and his own label. He has served as an officer in many national clogging organizations and has been honored with many awards including the Clogging Champions of America’s (CCA) Legacy Award, the Clogging Leaders Organization (CLOG, Inc.) Pioneer Award and induction into the ACHF America’s Clogging of Fame in 2014 along with legendary flatfoot innovator Robert Dotson and the Green Grass Cloggers. Jeff and the late Jean Stephenson Goodwin were instrumental in early training courses for clogging instructors and judges. Jeff has coordinated the judging panel for the prestigious Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree for many years. When COVID-19 took a toll on clogging activities, Jeff took the lead in organizing the Worldwide Clogging Fun Dance Project – joining forces with friends Hanna Healy and Trevor DeWitt to produce 10 online fun dances including cuers representing the clogging world’s top instructors and associations from around the globe to keep our feet moving and give us a forum to gather as a clogging family. The series has more than 75,000 views. Jeff lives in Winfield, West Virginia, where he works for West Virginia University’s School of Medicine.