Folk Alliance International 2016

[Scott Tichenor]

Starting a thread to share some pictures of Folk Alliance International in Kansas City. Finally, a scene the equals the nuttiness of the NAMM Show. Think three floors of a very large hotel made to look like a college dorm out of control on a weekend all of the resident assistants have left town, only stuffed with thousands of folk musicians of every type from around the planet. Wall to wall posters, flyers, handouts, booze, and rooms stuffed with scheduled showcases that go to very early in the morning. I gave up around 1:30 a.m. after seeing Martin Howley from We Banjo 3 play some absolutely mind blowing mandolin and tenor banjo. The entire band is equally talented and seeing Enda Scahill play tenor banjo is to witness something bordering on mind altering.

A Who's Who of who you might run into on the elevator, in the hall or see performing. Like (no particularly order) David Amram, Alison Brown, Roland White, Adam Roszkiewicz of Modern Mandolin Quartet, Aoife O'Donovan, Rick DelGrosso, Joe Newberry, Rick Shub, and more. Noted that it seems about every 5th performer is a cute singer/songwriter girl playing clawhammer banjo. Mandolins? Barely a few, but banjos seem to be moving towards guitar numbers at this event.

Caught a bunch of showcases like The Blackberry Bushes Stringband, a really talented quartet from Seattle I believe. Rich DelGrosso's The Ragpicker String Band, many good acts in the UK/Canadian area, people I'd never heard of but who clearly are very talented.

Will post a few pics over the weekend as time permits. My day started outside of the event at the Mike Compton mandolin workshop at Bradford and Franzke Fret Shop. Also pics here of Rich DelGrosso who is a giant of a man and was playing with his marvelous band Ragtime Pickers.

Mike Compton Mandolin Workshop. Couldn't resist a picture of his mandolin case.

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Rich DelGrosso's The Ragime Pickers

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[Scott Tichenor]

Martin Howley playing his Collings F. They were absolutely shredding some Irish tunes and no b.s. The guy is the real deal. Sorry for the bad photos. The lighting in the showcase rooms varies from dark to really bad lighting it seems. Still, what a real eye opener to see someone approach the mandolin from an entirely different angle and just be brilliant in the process.

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Can't find the elevator? Look for the Straight Up Strings sign. That's the elevator. Yea, it's that kind of place.

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Exhibits A and B, a few of the dozens of singer/songwriter clawhammer players. Don't recall the first girl, but the second picture is Canadian super star (my opinion) Kaia Kater who I think is one of the next big things in folk music. Astounding performer.

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EDIT: that's Teri Quinn on the left.

[montana]

Looks like fun!

[billhay4]

Thanks for posting this, Scott. Interesting stuff.
Bill

[BBarton]

Great pix, Scott. Look for The East Pointers -- outstanding acoustic trio (fiddle, tenor banjo, guitar) from eastern Canada; I think they're officially showcasing tonight (Feb 20). Koady on tenor banjo is a really awesome player and could probably keep up with pretty well with Enda! Those two together could make some real serious smoke!

[Scott Tichenor]

Michael Black of Black Mandolins

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3 of the 4 guys in the band The Unseen Strangers, 2014 DelFest bluegrass band champions. Really enjoyed visiting with them and will catch their showcase late tonight.

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Paul J. Schiminger, Executive Director of IBMA. You don't have to talk to this man long to clearly see they hired the right man for a very tough job. The lady to his left is the organizer of the Four Corners Festival (if memory serves me correctly). She had just walked up and introduced herself to both of us so got her in the photo.

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Luke Halpin of the duo Bettman and Halpin

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[Billy Packard]

Thanks Scott! Great fun indeed.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Scott - Seems like you had a terrible time enjoying yourself !.:) Many thanks indeed for all the photos. I'm especially pleased to learn that maybe the IBMA have got a Director who might steer them onto 'better things to come' in future years,
Ivan;)

[Scott Tichenor]

Already cherishing my Straight Up Strings instrument polishing cloth (works on my Macintosh laptop screen as well). I love schwag like this. Lunch with Amy and Kali of Siminoff Mandolin & Guitar today. I use their Straight Up Strings but am not an official endorser.

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[JeffD]

Very interesting. Now I am going to read up on FAI and how it relates to NERFA, which some friends of mine are active in.

[Scott Tichenor]

These events are exhausting and I was about to pronounce it a relatively light mandolin event. And then... within the space of an hour I run into two fantastic musicians from Colorado, one with an ancient Givens mandolin, its sound which is going to haunt me for a very long time. Truly one of the finer mandolins I've played in years. Not long after I'm watching a girl trio from Australia and one is playing a Gilchrist A model. I step into the hall and another guy is putting away a gorgeous but very well played (worn) Nugget A model about 5-6 numbers off my F. I could do a bunch of looking and find their names but in the fog of everything else going on I neglected to remember their names, only that all of them were brilliant musicians. What a grand evening and weekend. Although I'm glad the event is over, I'm already looking forward to next year.

[LadysSolo]

Oh, wow! What a great time I am missing! I enjoy living vicariously, keep posting! Thanks! :disbelief::popcorn:

[allenhopkins]

...Noted that it seems about every 5th performer is a cute singer/songwriter girl playing clawhammer banjo...

Gillian Welch influence, I wonder?