Keith Taylor, the 2004 Oyster Ridge Music Festival Wyoming State Fingerpick Champion went on to represent Wyoming at the National Competition in Winfield Kansas and he brought home the gold. Keith has been playing guitar for 40 years and found out about the ORMF contests through an ad in the International Acoustic Musicians Association magazine, (IAMA). A resident of Salt Lake City, Keith decided he'd make the trek over the hill and compete for the Wyoming title. As part of the $500 first place prize the winner gets entry fees paid to the National Competition where they represent Wyoming. Keith took advantage of that fact and last fall made the trip to Winfield.
Keith said of his Oyster Ridge Music Festival experience," Who'd a known? I ended up with first place and an entry to Winfield. Kemmerer was already a happy spot where I stopped for fishing licenses on Viva Naughton trips. Now I have this burning memory of getting called up on stage in Triangle Park in this nifty town and being handed a check."
This is what the Winfield folks had to say, "There were 22 states of the United States and 5 foreign countries represented in this new contest at the Walnut Valley Festival this year in Winfield, KS. In the United States the contestants came from virtually border to border, from Texas to South Dakota, from Maryland to Oregon. The five foreign countries were Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Canada and The Netherlands. This contest was formerly known as the National, (now International), Fingerstyle Guitar Championships.
In the top three were two professional musicians and an Environmental Coordinating Engineer for a mining company. First place went to the engineer, Keith Taylor, of Salt Lake City, UT, the reigning Wyoming State Fingerpick Champion. As the new International Fingerstyle Guitar champion, Keith chose a Taylor W14ce Guitar by Taylor Guitars of El Cajon, CA in addition to the cash prize and trophy."

The Oyster Ridge Music Festival is proud to be the launching pad for this fine performer to showcase his formidable talent. The goal of the festival was to increase the level of competition with larger cash prizes and advertising to professional musicians. This strategy has paid off with this National win for our State Fingerpick Champion. Keith puts it in a more modest way, "When I grow up I want to be a guitarist, and, I would like to come back to Kemmerer too."