Of late, I have been blown away by Adam Steffey and he is now playing with Volume Five… so I eagerly await hearing the forthcoming album!
Who are your favorite artists to listen to on the mandolin?
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I’ve always been a huge admirer of these two…I’ve slap wore this out and continue to…oh yeah this is the entire album…just too dang good or maybe I should say great!
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So cool to share what is out there… So many gifted players.
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Oh wow! That’s a Bigsby 5 string electric mandolin. Talk about rare. A friend of mine worked on a 10 string version that looked almost just like that one. It was owned by Paul Buskirk. Great hand made instruments for their time.
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I’ll add Justin Moses! (Sierra Hull’s husband) he’s one of my musical heroes, since he plays more instruments than I do!
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Gibson Brothers -I think I have 9 of their albums (although i can not name the mando player(s))
My preference is expressiveness over speed. While their player can go fast he also knows how to back off.
Actually I have been trying to improve my playing by playing their 104 some songs over and over while trying to pick out the melodies and generally learning the neck -scales, chords, double stops, etc…
Compared to the previous 10 years or so mostly played in the first position being able to use the full neck has been a pretty big improvement.
Although I am not a particularly fast learner and started off slowly, Over the past year I have gotten to the point where I really look forward to playing every day and have started to develop an intuitive sense of where the notes are and how to move between positions.
I began like many, -learning fiddle tunes (which I could forget faster than I could learn). They never really improved my ability to improvise or really understand structure like learning the fretboard has.
My current opinion is that learning the whole neck is absolutely essential to ever becoming any good at playing.
I like the Gibson Brothers because they have a nice variety of speed and keys -I started off with a subset of their slowest songs. We do many of their songs in the band I play with.
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I know that Joe K Walsh played for them for a while, he’s awesome!
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Oh yeah Thanks that’s one and also Jesse Brock played with them.
Interestingly I found a video where Walsh is also talking about the importance of learning the fretboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w20Mafd6dDM -starting around 2:30
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Joe also happens to be an instructor at peghead nation, and Berklee college of music. He’s also got a pretty good voice
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Yeah, I have to agree with the Gibson Brothers. I live about 30 minutes from where they grew up, and have seen them play and talked to them. Really nice group.
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I’ve seen this post a while ago but didn’t really reply to it. I first became interested in the mandolin from seeing Levon Helm play one with The Band. Being a guitar player myself I liked how he used it as a rhythm instrument and not doing all the fancy soloing. Then came Old and In The Way with David Grisman. I was in a music store one day and picked one up out of curiosity and thought ‘this is really cool!’ That’s when i got my MD315!
These days I like Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Andrew Marlin from Mandolin Orange. I’ve also enjoyed a lot of A.J. Lee and the Tuttles. I’ve taken lessons online with Matt Flinner, and also been to a couple bluegrass camps where he was teaching.
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Don’t forget Marty Stuart!
I know… How can you when I keep mentioning him in this thread. Also, Adam Steffey, Katie Lou, Tony Rice, Sierra Hall, Ricky, Sam, Chris Thile, David Grisman, Sarah Jarosz, and Andrew Marlin (Mandolin Orange).
A nod to Bill Monroe, of course… but that is just a given!
Thinking outside the lines a bit: Greensky Bluesgrass’ own… Paul Hoffman
Check out the song, “Living Over”
And for something completely different - check out Jacob do Bandolim… the prominent Brazilian Mandolin Artist of the 1940s, 50s and '60s.
Think Mandolin Samba or Bossa Nova with Mandolin… which as also Chorro.
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Uhh Will,
Tony Rice? Are you checking to see if we’re awake?
And I completely agree with a few of your choices (not all)… We all have different tastes.
Bobby Clark is another superb mandolin player and never gets any recognition. (Williams and Clark Expedition).
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Yup… @jw11,
Probably a bad credit given there by me… but here’s why…
On Spotify, they have a playlist called Picker’s Primer: Mandolin.
There is a tune in this list called New Chance Blues with a credit to Tony Rice and Norman Blake.
Now, as this track was included on a Mandolin Primer… I just presumed the featured artist would be named first… and Tony’s name does appear first.
Since many Guitarists can play Mandolin also, I did presume that Tony was therefore the featured artist… even though there is Guitar on the track with the Mandolin. Admittedly, I am not unfamiliar with Mr. Blake’s abilities.
All I know is… whomever played Mandolin on that track played awesome.
Now, upon closer look, I now noticed it does say the group was Blake & Rice. 
Interesting… as the plot thickens…
So, because of your comment, I went straight to the Absolute Authority… Wikipedia! 
As you already seemed to know… Mr. Rice is listed for Guitar only… whereas, Mr. Blake is listed for Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin and several other instruments… a true multi-instrumentalist!
There you have it.
My bad… so thanks for the e-du-ma-kay-shun!
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I like hearing other young players, and more obscure players, like Teo Quale, Danielle Yother, Giri Peters, and Bella Betts. I’ve also found I like the style of Tristan Scroggins and also Ashley Broder.
FWIW, Katy Lou isn’t a mandolin player (although it wouldn’t surprise me if she could be one) it’s Penny Lea
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Thanks Will,
Yes, Mr. Blake is extremely talented in about anything he does!
Interesting story!
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Man, I messed that up too!
Well, it is tougher that they are twins, right? I mean… I thought they were… but Yes, Penny Lea… Is soooo darned good.
Katy Lou is so good at Banjo/Guitar and harmony.
They are fabulous.
I am really struggling with my memory lately. 
You know… Penny Lea is sooo good at Mando, I wanted to pose the question to @BanjoBen…
Even though they are his younger sisters…
I am curious if the three of them feel like who excels at which instrument.
I know that it isn’t a competition… but they are all so accomplished… do they recognize that one is best on Banjo, or Guitar, or Mando.
Then again, as they are true artists… maybe it is more like which style or feel each has on the instruments… like not being able to really compare Miles Davis to Luis Armstrong or Clifford Brown… Or SRV to Buddy Guy…
They are just outstanding in their own way…
Still, if @BanjoBen and the girls had to rank the three of them - each on all three instruments over some beers near the campfire… what would be the consensus?
For me, all 3 were better years ago any any of the 3… than I will EVER be.
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Still @jw11, I should have known… and as I claim to try to be learning Mandolin, I was embarrassed…
Well, we all learn… right? So you know Mr. Blake’s work then?
Again… I rather wish whomever wrote the names would have listened the feature artist (Mandolinist) first… but oh well. Maybe Mr. Rice wrote that song (I didn’t look that up).
Anyway, thank you for setting me straight…
While I’m a bit embarrassed, I like to be corrected so I learn more, @jw11 .
Now I know Mr. Rice is not one of those artists who plays anything other than guitar.
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Don’t be embarassed in any way Will. We’re all in this together helping each other.
Fiddlewood just corrected me on a few things on a post I just started (a take off of what we’re talking about here).
I would rather be corrected in front of other people than to never be corrected at all and continue being wrong all the time. Now that’s embarassing!
Thank You!
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I agree - totally!
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