Favorite Music Makers

The Mando Mafia - Charlottesvile, Virgina based band that plays old-time, swing, world, folk, you name it with all things mando: mandolins, mandolas, octave mandolin and mandocello along with fiddle, guitar and upright bass.  Even with the tragic loss of Kelly Perdue in 2005 this group continues to make great music. 

Riley Baugus - Riley is a wonderful banjo player and blacksmith.  He played many of the banjo parts in the movie "Cold Mountain".

Speaking of "Cold Mountain", the original music was provided by three awesome musicians, Dirk Powell, Tim O'Brien and John Herrmann.  Dirk has provided lots of old-time, cajun and other tunes, including some great duet work with Tony Furtado.  Tim O'Brien has played all kinds of music with all kinds of great musicians.  John Herrmann not only plays great but he is also the major mover for the Yodel-Ay-Hee label specializing in old-time music.  The company helps independent musicians get their music released on a label that gives them a chance to actually sell enough CD copies to actually pay some of the bills.  Search on Yodel-Ay-Hee and see the wide variety of great old-time/folk music that is on the label.

Mark Simos - wonderful songwriter/performer - he has really taken the lead in encouraging the old-time community to bring out their "new old-time tunes" through workshops at Clifftop.  For those of you who don't know the old-time community attends many festivals or "fiddlers conventions", in the warmer months across the US.  No matter which ones I pick, someone will have a "better" alternative, so my advice is to go to as many fiddlers conventions as you can and make your own decisions about which ones to go back to.  My personal favorite fiddlers conventions are Clifftop and the Mt. Airy festival in early June in NC for east coast locations (I know, lots of other good ones - you decide).  I am hoping to go to some of the Pacific Northwest festivals soon so may be adding to the list.

Adam Hurt - one of the best of the recent banjo players to emerge in the old-time tradition.  Adam has been showcasing his musical talents on banjo and fiddle across the US in recent years.   He has won numerous prizes at many of the fiddlers conventions.

The Duhks - Canadian band currently providing one of the hottest shows in town.  They came through recently and the Court Square Theater was hopping with most of the crowd out of their seats and dancing in the aisles.  Great fun was had by all - check out their blend of old-time, cajun, celtic and gospel.

James Leva & Purgatory Mountain - really fine band that includes James and other great musicians including Danny Knicely, Al Tharp and percussionist/dancer Matthew Olwell.   BeaRcade Music has provided live sound for them several times and it is always a treat!

There are dozens more performers who are in my CD player on a regular basis so please check out as much of this music as possible.  The old-time music community is rich with talent so find out where it is happening in your neck of the woods and join in the fun.


Instrument Makers - The Golden Age of Luthiery is alive and well in the 21st century.  Many fabulous instruments are being made daily in shops around the world.  The following is a short list of some of my favorites for old-time instruments.

Chanterelle Workshop - Mike Ramsey has been making banjos professionally for about 20 years.  I play a fretless banjo from Mike that he let me help finish - luckily he didn't let me do much of it.  He makes many styles of open-backed banjos as well as much of the hardware that adorns his banjos.  I also play a Bart Reiter FF professional that I bought from Mike many years ago.   My other main banjo is a another Bart Reiter model with the Bacon-style internal resonator set-up with an inlay pattern similar to the old Cole's Eclipse models.  The banjo has a short A-scale neck so I switch between the two  to minimize my retuning on stage. Banjo pics

James Jones - James is a Virginia-based instrument maker who produces an incredible variety of instruments from bouzoukis and zither to hammer dulcimers and folk harps.  His website is worth a visit just to see the variety of instruments.


Places to window-shop

My favorite list of places to e-shop for instruments includes the following:

Elderly Instruments - incredible selection of new and used instruments, recordings and books.  I've been buying all of the above for years - worth a site visit!!

Bernunzio Instruments - great selection of vintage instruments - also worth a site visit.  I can't believe I once lived in Rochester but had to go back for a visit to see the shop.

House of Musical Traditions (DC Area) - lots of variety, great people.  Good place to find out about the acoustic scene in the DC metro area.

Mandolin Brothers - tucked away on Staten Island but well worth the visit if you want to spend a few hours (can be a lot) oogling and playing a wide variety of vintage instruments.  Very knowledgable staff concerning the vintage market.

Vintage Instrumants - Philadelphia - Fred carries vintage brass, woodwind, fretted and violin-family instruments.  The store(s) occupy several storefronts in Philadelphia.  I once spent most of one day just playing mandolins - I did finally buy one before I left (pic).

There are lots of others so point your browser at "vintage instruments" and enjoy the ride.  I've bought instruments through most of these folks and the level of expertise and service has been excellent (I also recommend a "hands-on" approach to buying instruments whenever possible).  Road trips are always worthwhile.