FLORENCE - Dillon Hodges is a national champion at the early age of 12.

Hodges recently won the 12-and-younger division in flat top guitar at the 32nd Annual Fiddler's Jamboree in Smithville, Tenn.

What makes this even more amazing is that Hodges has only been playing for a year and a half.

"I started playing right-handed, and I couldn't do it," Hodges said.

"Then, Mark Campbell, my teacher, flipped the strings around so I could play left-handed, and I picked it up really quick."

Hodges practices an average of about four hours a day, according to Campbell.

"He learns fast, and his work ethic is amazing," Campbell said. "He is able to play so fast and smooth, and that's very rare."

Hodges attends Weeden school, is a member of the National Honor Society and is a saxophone player in the band.

At the Fiddler's Jamboree, Hodges originally entered in the adult category and made the finals but was disqualified because he was younger than 13.

Jeff Hodges, Dillon's father, said that it was the first time anyone that young had ever made the finals.

Dillon Hodges said he didn't know if he would have won had he been allowed to compete in the adult finals but said he would have liked to have found out.

He has participated in several similar contests in Tuscaloosa, Athens, Moulton, Lebanon, Tenn., and Columbia, Tenn.

Hodges said he intends to go back to the Smithville contest again next year and hopefully win the

adult division.

However, he has plans to go to Kansas in September to compete with people from all over the country in the adult Flat-Picking National Championships in Winfield, Kan.

Until then, he will prepare for his next competition in Lebanon, Tenn., on Saturday and Sunday.

Competing isn't all that Hodges does, and he's not limited to playing bluegrass, either.

He also plays Celtic, jazz and blues.

He plays with an Irish Celtic and bluegrass band called Kesh every Friday at J Fiddler's Café in Tuscumbia.

Annette Labrecque, a former Miss World Canada, also plays with the group.

She gives high praise to Hodges, who she says also writes Irish Celtic tunes.

"I think Dillon is a musical genius," Labrecque said. "His talent is unbelievable, and he's so easy-going. He handles himself like someone who has been playing for 20 years.

"He is so versatile and so devoted to music," Labrecque said.

Hodges said that Labrecque is teaching him music theory, which he says will make him a better musician.

"I wouldn't know much about Celtic music if it weren't for Annette," Hodges said, "because she and Mark (Campbell) really got me into that."

Hodges' diversity in music can be traced to the musicians who influence him.

His major influences are bluegrass musicians Tony Rice and Mark O'Connor, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who is considered to be one of the greatest blues guitarists.

Vaughan died in August 1990 in a helicopter crash just outside Alpine Valley in Wisconsin.  Vaughan's influence on Hodges' playing style is apparent whether Hodges is playing bluegrass or blues.  Hodges is attending the Handy camp leading up to the W.C. Handy Music Festival from July 24 through Aug. 2.  He will be playing with the Handy All-Stars on the first and last nights of the festival.  Labrecque said she is amazed that Hodges has the amount of talent he does at such a young age.  "Dillon has achieved incredible music maturity. If we plug him into the right places, you'll see him getting a Grammy one day," Labrecque said.