I agree - totally!
Who are your favorite artists to listen to on the mandolin?
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When I was first getting interested in bluegrass, I went to a festival in central Florida in the 1970s and saw Marty Stuart playing with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. He was a very young kid. I was amazed at his talent !!! And they invited a young local mandolin player to join them on stage for a song or two by the name of Mike Marshall . I was blown away again . I also haven’t seen David Benedict’s name mentioned ! He is awesome too !
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Nick Dumas (formerly of special consensus) is awesome! As are Abby Hartley (purple hulls bassist) and Jacob Burleson
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Alan Bibey will have to be one of my favorite mandolin players. Alan and Grasstown played at the Stokes County Arts Place this weekend and they did a great show. It was kinda a cross between a family and high school reunion with bluegrass on top.
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I’ve seen Marty Stuart in concert a couple of times and each time I wished he would have played his mandolin for more than one song! Marty and his entire band are awesome musicians.
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Of course the legends go without saying.
Ronnie McCoury’s name hasn’t come up enough yet…
These days I can’t get enough of the The Mandolin Chronicles by Alan Bibey and Wayne Benson - man what a duo! Titans of 8 strings. Everything about the songs, arrangements, the tone and the recording are great - however it’s one of those albums that’s so good, if I listen to it too long, all I want to do is burn my gear in a bonfire and chop off my fingers because what’s the point?!? I’m hoping to take a lesson with Alan soon, because I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a real, live instructor in the room - I just hope he has a pause and rewind option.
I came to BG years ago through Garcia and Grisman, so now guys like Paul Hoffman from Greensky and Jacob Jolliff scratch the “jammer” itch for me, 'cuz sometimes you have to tell the BG Police to chill and just let it go, gO, GO…
Andrew Marlin, cuz sometimes it doesn’t have to be 220 BPM…
These days anybody playing a Northfield will always catch my attention.
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Adam Steffey’s work with AKUS was my first initial mandolin head turning moment. Then my wife back then played the first 3rd Time Out disc for me when we were out on a date and so i also have been a fan of Alan Bibey ever since. John Reischman…both his bluegrass and latin/choro stuff is awesome. Sierra Hull, Chris Thile are also favorites.
rc
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i should say my future wife back then played me that cd…We’ve been married since those initial bluegrass dates. ;0)
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Steve Earle
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I like Sam Bush , he gets into it all the way, Rice makes playing the guitar look easy
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Don’t know if his name’s come up yet, but Jake Workman is about as incredible on the mandolin as he is on the guitar…
Andy Leftwich is also an incredible mandolin player:
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I’ll also add Jesse Brock; just saw this video recently of him playing with Audie Blaylock and Redline and a young Russ Carson.
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Great quote!
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Dang he was really young!
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You can definitely notice how hard he was trying when you look at his facial expressions in that video… now it looks like he plays just effortlessly!
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Mike Compton is one y’all need to check out
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I’ll never complain about Wayne and Allen playing together…
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No one I guess has heard of Rich DelGrosso, awesome BLUES mandolinist!! Also Ronnie McCoury !!
Thanks
DLS
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My favorite is Sam Bush
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For me, love of mandolin started with Chris Thile. Nickel Creek is pretty much my “desert island” band. I know Thile really departs from the “traditional,” but I appreciate that. What’s “traditional” now was new at some point. Then I started branching out and learned about many of the great artists y’all have mentioned above.
I may have missed it in the thread, but I’d like to add Sarah Jarosz to the discussion. I first saw her live when she opened for Nickel Creek, and I love her songwriting, singing, and playing. Just check out this solo mando piece.
I had an 85 year-old guitar teacher once who gently scolded me for focusing so much on wanting to learn complex instrumental fingerstyle music. He encouraged me to pay attention to how quickly I lose my audience of family and friends because, regardless of how technical the music might be, they don’t really connect with it. He said, “just play a few rounds of She’ll be Coming Around the Mountain and you’ll see they will enjoy it much more.” For a hobby player like me, the return on investment, in terms of people around me connecting with what I’m playing, is much higher with traditional.
I think he was spot on, and I try to remember his advice when I choose what to practice these days. I love the traditional, but I also really appreciate folks like Thile who have the skill and courage to push the music into new places.
Thanks for the great thread.
Bill Phillips
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