RIP- Ray Alden

[oldwave maker]

Ray Alden passed away yesterday, a confirmed mandophile and true patron of the arts. Never met him in person, but built a couple of unusual mandos for him. I'm sure Im not the only luthier he commissioned from. Somewhere up there a mando-harp is tuning up........

[Glassweb]

I knew Ray Alden years ago back in NYC when I was first playing mandolin... I think he had a Givens F5 at the time. A really nice guy as I remember... sad to hear he's passed...

[bones12]

This is so very sad. Ray was a great person with broad interests and a very big heart. His love of old time music, field recording, vintage instruments, teaching, speaker building and the Field Recorder's Collective live on for all of us. His knowledge was vast and his sphere of friends was large. May he rest in peace. He was a good man. Doug Campbell in Vermont

[manjitsu]

I had the pleasure of meeting Ray one afternoon last October. I had driven to his home to look at a mandolin he was selling. I remember a wonderful conversation about his field recording work, some of which was in areas of Virginia and West Virginia where my family is deeply rooted.

He sent me home with a handful of CDs, and a plant to bring home to my wife. Not to mention a lovely old Martin 2-20 mandolin.

I'll think of him every time I play it, and remember a kind, generous soul and a friend that I wish I would have known better.

-Chris

[Paul Hostetter]

Ray was a total gem. I met him and the estimable Paul Brown in tandem at John and Penny Cohen's house in about 1976 or so. My initial comment to Ray was, "Hey, I see you have a nice old Martin carved-top in there." He was astonished at my x-ray vision (I guess I was lucky that the contents still matched the case). It was the above-mentioned 2-20, and the fun kept happening. He was a lovely guy, passionate about playing and sharing music, his teaching, friendship and all good things. People of his caliber don't come along all that often.

[Paul Kotapish]

Ray Alden was a great guy, and he did me the favor of confirming official geezerdom on me and my cohorts in the Hurricane Ridegrunners when he arranged for the reissue of our old LP along with some previously unreleased material on the Field Recorders Collective label that he cofounded. It was a pleasure working with him on the project.