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Mandolin Cafe Blog

2014 In Review

Rating: 4 votes, 5.00 average.
January - We started off the year with delivery of an Eastman MD515 Mandolin with Schertler pick-up to a lucky winner of a December giveaway.

inline imageAvi Avital's recording Between Worlds released on Deutsche Grammophon.

The brilliant English mandolinist Simon Mayor was out with a new recording, The Art Of Mandolin.

20 lucky visitors to our web site were picked as winners in a special giveaway of V-Picks.

Avi Avital made his first Carnegie Hall appearance on January 17.

Pete Seeger, one of the great champions of folk music passed at the age of 94.

Fender announced their launch of an 8-string MandoStrat.

inline imageRest in peace, famed instrument collector Harry West.

February - Nickel Creek shocked the music community by announcing a new recording and tour for A Dotted Line.

A near priceless Stradivarious Violin stolen from the Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony was found in an attic. A subsequent arrest was made.

inline imageCalton Cases announced their new home in Austin, Texas. We had a feature interview with new owner Jon Green.

Mike Marshall and the Turtle Island Quartet released a self-titled recording after years of performing in concert together.

The International Bluegrass Music Museum announced the end of their annual Monroe Mandolin Camp. With the museum's blessing, Mike Compton took over the camp and successfully moved it to Nashville.

inline imageMarch - The growing dominance of a new retail music store in Nashville was chronicled in A Visit to Carter Vintage Guitars.

Homespun did us all a favor with the re-release in digital format of two important John McGann videos: Rhythm Mandolin: From Bluegrass to Celtic to Swing and Sound Fundamentals: Touch, Tone and Technique for Mandolin. Both videos can be purchased as a single package at a reduced price.

inline imageApril - Our most popular and widely read April Fool's spoof ever with over 4,100+ Likes on Facebook in the form of Cracker Barrel and Madonna present Bluegrass Material Girl, a collection of traditional acoustic string band music featuring her vocals in the style of Bill Monroe.

Well, it was important to us! We revealed our newly designed Mandolin Cafe Case sticker. 8 months later we've shipped over 4,000 out to our friends!

inline imageRest in peace, Bluegrass guitar legend George Shuffler.

Don Julin's follow-up book on Wiley Publishing Mandolin Exercises For Dummies released.

May - Danny Roberts released a new recording entitled Nighthawk.

Brazilian-based Hamilton de Holanda released Caprichos, 24 downloadable study tracks with sheet music.

inline imageJune - Siminoff Banjo & Mandolin announced their release of Straight Up Strings, balanced mandolin strings they explained in a detailed white paper published on the Mandolin Cafe.

Long-time Collings GM Steve McCreary was quizzed in this feature interview about the new Collings Tenor Guitar line.

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen reach a turning point with the release of Cold Spell, a recording that achieved significant awards that included a Grammy nomination.

inline imageJuly - The impact of Chris Thile's Bach recordings continues to be felt in the publishing world as evidenced by a new title from Mel Bay, Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin Arranged for Mandolin.

We team up with our friends at Artistworks for another one-hour live online workshop with Mike Marshall, archived on YouTube.

Gibson, Collings & Eastman announced as winners in the mandolin category of Player's Choice Awards from Acoustic Guitar magazine.

inline imageD'Addario announces the launch of their NS Micro Universal Tuner.

Dawg Books announced the publication of two books featuring the music of David Grisman: Volume 1 - Dawg Roots and Volume 2 - Dawg Grass.

August - Ricky Skaggs' biography Kentucky Traveler: My Life in Music published.

inline imageWe interview Mike Compton about his taking the reins of the Monroe Mandolin Camp and moving it to Nashville.

Mike Marshall & Choro Famoso release their second recording entitled Segunda Vez (Second Time).

September - Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer release Bass & Mandolin and embark on an extended Fall tour in support of the recording.

inline imageScott Napier joined the faculty of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in Hazard, Kentucky.

Acoustic Oasis released Jethro Burns Legacy - The Complete Final Sessions with Don Stiernberg Vol. 1.

We said good-bye to Indian mandolin master U. Shrinivas who passed away from complications of a liver transplant.

inline imageWe sat down with Tim O'Brien for When I'm Free - A Hot Rize Interview with Tim O'Brien.

We named a winner in our LM-700-VS mandolin giveaway from our friends at The Loar.

October - The Mandolin Cafe hosted another live online session with Mike Marshall of Artistworks.

inline imageWe published Stan Jay, Pioneer of Vintage Instrument Fame Fighting For His Life, and then said good-bye to him on October 22.

Turmoil at International Bluegrass Music Association came to a very ugly head not long after the annual World of Bluegrass resulting in one third of the board of directors resigning, half of the staff quitting and the dismissal of the Executive Director who brought the organization back from the brink. Public squabbling, infighting, powerful struggles and online name calling and chaos continued through the end of the year.

inline imagePeghead Nation a new roots music instruction site launched with Joe Walsh and Sharon Gilchrist handling mandolin duties.

November - Rest in peace, Tom Magliozzi, popular co-host of NPR's Car Talk passed away. Both he and his brother were long-time amateur musicians.

We said good-bye to Paul Binkley, co-founder of the Modern Mandolin Quartet.

The Mandolin Cafe celebrated 19 years on the web on November 18.

inline imageRetrofret quietly picked up an original Bigsby 10-string electric mandolin at auction. Shades of rarer that a Lloyd Loar Gibson F-5.

December - We said good-bye to South Plains College bluegrass instructor and prolific Mel Bay author Joe Carr.

Punch Brothers announce a new recording and release a couple of preview cuts from the project named The Phosphorescent Blues.

Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island String Quartet, Chris Thile, Frank Solivan and Rhonda Vincent each received a 2015 Grammy Nomination.

inline imageMandolin Magazine announces they have ceased publication after 15 years in print.

Manufacturing legend Steve Carlson re-enters the musical instrument manufacturing world and is profiled in this feature interview Steve Carlson Tooling Up at ZETA.

Hal Leonard Irish Bouzouki Method by Zoukfest founder and director Roger Landes published.

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Comments

  1. Glassweb's Avatar
    inaccurate post
    Updated Dec-18-2014 at 9:59pm by Glassweb