mandolin

Last week we shared the wonderful news that Herschel Sizemore had come through his cancer treatment with a clean bill of health. His wife, Joyce, is still undergoing treatment for breast cancer - as is one of their two daughters. The

Pioneering bluegrass mandolinist Herschel Sizemore has spent the past few months battling a cancer in his throat, undergoing radiation treatments since October of last year. Today he spoke with both his ENT and his oncologist, who both gave him a clean

Northern California is rife with traditional bluegrass. In this writer’s opinion, there are two reasons for that: Vern and Ray, and Butch Waller’s band High Country. Formed in 1968, Waller has never strayed from the roots that Bill Monroe created and

The Holy Grail of the acoustic stringed instrument world, a 1924 Gibson Lloyd Loar F-5 mandolin, made an appearance on the popular PBS television program, Antiques Road Show this week. Frederick Oster with Vintage Instruments in Philadelphia is right on target

This post is the first in what will be a series of articles on prominent west coast musicians who may not be familiar names back east. Ed Neff is a mandolin and fiddle player from Petaluma, California. Though those are his

I first became aware of Matt Flinner when I was living in Missoula, Montana in the early nineties. One night, after a beer-powered folk duet performance with a buddy, we made our way over to the Wilma Theater to see

It has been five years since Mike Compton released an album: the Acoustic Disc release Stomp, with David Long. Otherwise nothing; not even work as a session player. Some friendly persuasion from Australians Paul Duff and Mick O'Neill, who both thought

Roland White is offering a mandolin Christmas gift to anyone who would like to add a holiday favorite to their repertoire. He has created a free online video lesson for Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, with an accompanying tab file downloadable

Frank Wakefield spent a lot of time Saturday night telling people how lousy he is. “I’m the world’s worst mandolin player,” he told a full house in Garrett Park, Md. “If you don’t believe it, just ask me.” Later, after the

Occasionally in this column I’d like to look at a specific song and, if possible, talk to the songwriter about it. First up is Herschel Sizemore’s Rebecca, a bluegrass instrumental standard. I just heard a story from the respected and beloved