Kimber Ludiker

Musician · Spokane, Washington
Best known for Fiddle Harmony Vocals

Kimber Ludiker is a two-time Grand National Fiddle Champion and the founder of Della Mae, the Grammy-nominated all-woman string band she assembled in Boston in 2009. A fifth-generation fiddler from Spokane, Washington, she has paired a busy touring career with deep investment in mentoring young bluegrass players.

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  • Born into a storied Northwest fiddle family: her father, Tony Ludiker, won the Grand National Championship five times between 1983 and 1994, and her mother, JayDean, took national junior and ladies’ titles before teaching Spokane fiddlers for decades. Kimber began learning at age three on her grandfather’s lap; her brother Dennis is a champion fiddler and mandolinist based in Austin.
  • Came up through the contest circuit, winning the national junior division in 2000 before taking the Grand National Championship at Weiser, Idaho, in both 2009 and 2010 — after which she retired from competition.
  • Founded Della Mae in Boston in 2009 with bassist Amanda Kowalski, banjoist Grace Van’t Hof, and guitarist Avril Smith; lead singer Celia Woodsmith joined in 2011.
  • Della Mae’s Rounder debut, This World Oft Can Be (2013), won the band IBMA’s 2013 Emerging Artist of the Year award and a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.
  • Toured more than twenty countries with U.S. State Department cultural-diplomacy programs, including a 43-day American Music Abroad tour of Pakistan and Central Asia in fall 2012.
  • Has anchored the band through Della Mae (2015), Headlight (2020), Family Reunion (2021), and the Alison Brown–produced Magic Accident (Compass, 2026).
  • Formed the side trio Ms. Adventure with Avril Smith and bassist-singer Vickie Vaughn, releasing a debut album in 2018.
  • Named Mentor of the Year at IBMA’s 2022 Momentum Awards; she directs the California Bluegrass Association’s Youth Academy and the Ashokan Bluegrass Camp, and has co-coordinated IBMA’s Kids on Bluegrass with Deanie Richardson.
  • Off the road she makes fiddle-themed functional pottery, working from her studio in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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