2025 NAFC | Calvin Vollrath

2025 North American Fiddlers Convention

In the fall of 2020 during the Pandemic, Calvin started a recording project and enlisted the help of some of the greatest fiddlers/musicians in North America to help him out.

It all started one day when Calvin had the 1st part of a new melody rolling around his head. This tune reminded him of a certain fiddler. He thought that maybe he should reach out to this fiddler and ask him to compose the 2nd part. By the end of the day, Calvin had 13 tunes started with 13 different collaborators in mind. Each melody reminded Calvin of the musician he was thinking of. He recorded the 1st part to each tune that day and sent an email out to each of the musicians to ask if they were into giving this a shot. They all replied with an astounding YES...Over the next couple of months, he started another 14 tunes with different collaborators in mind. Each of these musicians also replied with YES...

All these musicians composed their part and sent it back to Calvin and they were all pure magic. The parts matched each other perfectly. Calvin then learned the entire tune and recorded the tune. He built a band around each tune and contacted Jeremy Rusu from Ontario to help him out with the backup. Jeremy is a musical genius and plays so many instruments in so many different styles, he is all over this recording. Once the band was built for each tune, a mix was sent to each of the musicians so they could re-record their part for the final product.

When the recording was complete and ready to be released, he needed a special event as Calvin believed this was his 'Pinnacle' album. With 2025 being his 50th anniversary in the music business, he felt this was the perfect moment to release this album. And so a release party was planned, but with so many high profile collaborators involved, the event evolved into the ‘North American Fiddler’s Convention' and included workshops & showcase concerts by the collaborators and a jam session like no other and two evening concerts by Calvin; a CD release concert to launch the ‘Collaborators’ album and a 50th anniversary concert to celebrate this milestone. Both concerts had the involvement of all the collaborators. The weekend was a huge success and exceeded all our expectations.

The 24 confirmed collaborators attending the event were:

Alfie Myhre (AB), April Verch (KS), Brian Hebert (ON), Bruce Molsky (NY), Byron Myhre (AB), Daniel Gervais (AB), Daniel Lapp (BC), Dennis Harrington (ON), Gordon Stobbe (NS), Ivan Hicks (NB), James Steele (SK), Jeremy Rusu (ON), JJ Guy (SK), John Arcand (SK), Louis Schryer (QC), Mark Sullivan (BC), Mike Sanyshyn (BC), Patti Kusturok (MB), Randy Foster (ON), Redd Volkaert (VA), Richard Wood (PEI), Shane Cook (ON), Tim Crouch (AR), Troy MacGillivray (NS), Tyler Vollrath (NB)

The others that are on the album but unable to attend because of prior commitments are: André Brunet (QC), Ray Legere (NB) & Derek Stremel (AB).

2025 SPECIAL GUESTS

We were thrilled to welcome the following musicians to Edmonton on October 23-26, 2025.
Click on the name of each collaborator for more information.

Attending Collaborators	Place	Accolade	Style on Album
Alfie Myhre & Byron Myhre	Sherwood Park, AB	Father/Son fiddling duo	Bluegrass
April Verch	Onaga, Kansas	International Touring Artist - CGM Champion	Old Time
Brian Hebert	Pembroke, ON	Canadian Fiddle Legend	Cowboy
Bruce Molsky	Beacon, NY	Berklee College of Music Instructor/Rounder Records	Appalachian
Daniel Gervais	Edmonton, AB	2x Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion	French-Canadian Valse
Daniel Lapp	Victoria, BC	Canadian Fiddle Legend/BC Fiddle Archivist	Folk Waltz
Dennis Harrington	Renfrew, ON	Host of ‘Cross Canada Fiddling’	Old Time
Gordon Stobbe	Head of Chezzetcook, NS	Member of the Order of Canada	Old Time Swing
Ivan Hicks	Riverview, NB	Awards & Honours (See link)	Don Messer style
James Steele	Saskatoon, SK	Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion	Old Time
Jeremy Rusu	Brockville, ON	Talented Multi-Instrumentalist	Gypsy Jazz
John Arcand	Saskatoon, SK	Master of the Métis Fiddle	Métis Waltz
Louis Schryer	Chapeau, QC	4x Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion	Old Time
Mark Sullivan	Abbotsford, BC	3x Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion	Old Time/Scottish
Mike Sanyshyn	Cloverdale, BC	CCMA & BCCMA Fiddle Player of the year	Uptown Old Time
Patti Kusturok	Lorette, MB	3x Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion	Old Time Swing
Randy Foster	Ottawa, ON	Whistler Extraordinaire	Big Band Swing
Redd Volkaert	Galax, VA	Guitarist Extraordinaire	Country
Richard Wood	Charlottetown, PEI	International Touring Artist	Celtic
Shane Cook	London, ON	3x Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion	Irish-influenced
Tim Crouch	Batesville, AR	USA Session player & Grand Ole Opry fiddler	Country Swing
Troy MacGillvray	Antigonish, NS	Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipient	Celtic
Tyler Vollrath	Moncton, NB	5x CCMA Fiddle Player of the Year	Aire

Unable to attend
Andre Brunet	Lacolle, QC	Fiddler w/ Le Vent du Nord	French-Canadian
Derek Stremel	Sherwood Park, AB	Mayfield Dinner Theatre House band bassist	Reggae
Ray Legere	Sackville, NB	NS & NB Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee	Bluegrass

The Band
Clinton Pelletier	Burns Lake, BC	Guitarist Extraordinaire
JJ Guy	Saskatoon, SK	Host of ‘Jamming with JJ' Facebook group
Paul Martineau	Edmonton, AB	Country Music drummer
Don Marcotte	Edmonton, AB	Bass Player extraordinaire

2025 SCHEDULE

2025 North American Fiddler's Convention

Thursday, October 23
Dine & Dance w/ Calvin Vollrath & Country Swing
5:00 pm: Doors open for Dinner Guests
6:00 pm: Dinner
7:00 pm: Doors open for Dance Guests
7:30 pm: Dance

Friday, October 24
2:00 pm: Jam Session (hosted by the Wild Rose Fiddler's Association)
7:30 pm: Calvin Vollrath's ‘Collaborations’ Album Release Concert

Saturday, October 25
9:00 am - 12:45 pm: Workshops (see schedule below)
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Collaborator's Concert (see schedule below)
7:30 pm: Calvin Vollrath's ‘50th Anniversary’ Concert

Sunday, October 26
9:00 am - 12:45 pm: Workshops (see schedule below)
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Guest's Showcase Concert (see schedule below)

camp calvin Workshop Schedule - at the nafc

To access the workshops, attendees only needed a ticket for that day or a weekend pass. Classes were 45 mins and productive.

Fiddle workshops were geared to the 'intermediate level’ fiddler/musician. Some workshops may have had slightly tougher material while others were more of a talk/demonstration as opposed to a lesson but all were very information and entertaining.

Piano students had the honor of learning from Kimberley Holmes of NS, who offered two workshops.

Guitar students had the honor of learning from Redd Volkaert, a master country picker, who played many years with Merle Haggard. He demonstrated many pickin' techniques and shared some great stories from the road.

We believe attendees participating in these workshops went home fulfilled with music and recordings of the lessons.

If you missed it and would like to participate in the 23 workshops, they have been recorded and are for sale at the link below. Only $100.
2025 NAFC Workshop Recordings.