Nashville mandolinist Tristan Scroggins has released another book of transcriptions, this time featuring the playing of Dan Tyminski with Lonesome River Band. Tristan has transcribed all of Dan’s solos from LRB’s breakout album, Carrying The Tradition, which set the bluegrass world on fire back in 1991.
Prior to the release of this record, Lonesome River Band was not a readily familiar name in bluegrass circles, other than in and around southwestern Virginia. Neither were the names Dan Tyminski, Sammy Shelor, or Ronnie Bowman, though many people knew Tim Austin through his studio and live audio work. But Carrying The Tradition demonstrated a new, youthful, and muscular sound that dominated our music for several years.
Our Mr. Scroggins was likely not even born when this album was released, but he is quick to realize the powerful mandolin playing that Tyminski brought to bear. It might be hard to believe that Dan had only been playing the mandolin for a few years at the time it was cut, having been a transplanted banjo player brought down to Ferrum, Virginia to play with Lonesome River Band. Tales in this area abound of Dan finding every jam session he could to perk up his mando skills before LRB started touring for real once Carrying The Tradition hit.
Instead of simply offering this book for sale, Tristan is taking a different route, distributing his tab books and instructional videos through Patreon. By offering it all through a subscription/membership service, mandolin students and players can make a recurring donation of as little as $5/month, and have access to most of the content he has archived, and what is added each month. Higher membership levels of $10 or $20/month unlock even more.
The Carrying The Tradition tab book and the earlier book of solos from Manzanita are offered to $20 monthly contributors. Both are presented in both standard notation and tablature.
Tristan demonstrates a couple of solos in this video.
Patreon has become an important resource for creative artists and teachers in every imaginable format. The membership model ensures that the artist has a reliable source of monthly income, and students/fans are given access to a great deal of instructional material and/or music for a fraction of the cost of private lessons or concert tickets.
Visit Tristan on Patreon here. You can also see a list of everything that is available from him online.
