Child prodigy at Hesperia festival

[Frank Russell]

Even with the arrival of one new (to me) mandolin, I have been depressed since this weekend, when I saw Scott Gates play his Michael Lewis mandolin at Lake Hesperia on Saturday. This kid is all of 11 years old, gets up with a very reputable, tight CA band named Silverado, and just rips out the licks, all the time looking around with a big smile on his face. Never looked at his hands a single time, the little booger. Nice kid, looks and acts like a normal middle-school kid, spiky hair, surf shop t-shirt, necklace. What was really cool was that he was obviously having fun. Sometimes it freaks me out to see kids that good at a young age, because some of them look too serious, like they are doing it because someone made them. This kid was enjoying himself, and the able members of Silverado seemed to get a real kick out of playing with him. Still pretty depressing for me, who waited until his late 30's to learn. On a more positive note, his Lewis mandolin was incredible. Beautiful workmanship, and absolutely killer tone. I'm pretty sure Scott likes it too. I saw him walking around the festival before and after he played, and he never took it off. This kid has his own website, and has apparently played with some greats. Sorry if this is old news to some, but I'd never heard of him. Check him out. Frank

[JD Cowles]

i hear ya frank. i watched (with amazement) as yet another 14? year old won the mado contest at rockygrass (sorry bud, my old brain can't recall your name!). makes me wish i started at such a young age. it's really neat to see such young kids having so much fun (and getting so darned good) at pickin bluegrass. it's not going anywhere. for all the chris t flaming that goes on, i think he has had a lot to do with getting young kids interested in bluegrass music. and if an 11 year old kid beats the pants off ya in a contest, so be it. one of the runners up at RG was notably pouty about losing to a young'un. that's pretty poor in my opinion. the funny thing about that is that the judges don't even see the competitors so age doesn't mean a thing.

[Kirk Albrecht]

But OTOH, this is really cool that kids that age are getting into acoustic music, even bluegrass, and have incredible musical talent to go with it.

Perhaps the next generation of acoustic musicians will take things to another level, or also help keep the tradition alive with a new round of virtuosi.

I also wish that I had begun sooner ... :-)

[wah]

I know what you mean. I was at Wolf Mountain on Saturday and watched in amazement as little Marty Varner (8 yrs. old) got up on stage during Frank Wakefields' set and just ripped it up!! I mean the kid is barely bigger than his Flatiron A and he's trading fiery licks with Frank.

Three years ago I was camped by his family and he was learning the mandolin, I thought it was cute. I had just started to play the mandolin. What happened? Three years later I'm struggling along while this kid is up there rippin' out licks I can only dream of! Oh, to have nimble fingers and fresh synapses again. Guess I'll just have to pick up my mando and force my frayed and fried synapses to push my creaky digits along those strings some more. No sense in getting depressed about not being 8 yrs. old again.

Wayne

[steve in tampa]

I got to see the Pinkhams last year`........

[mandomiss]

The kid that won at RockyGrass was Dominic. Even though I was competing against him I couldn't help but feel overjoyed when he beat everyone. He was just so dang happy! Plus he was plain amazing, he played Chris Thile stuff note for note and he played it suprisingly well. Plus, I was speaking to a luthier at the festival and he said that he had only been playing seriously for two or three years! Yes, it's frustrating, and the guy that got second wasn't a good sport at all (I don't think semi-pros like being beaten by teenagers), but you really couldn't help but smile when he got that Sam Bush model Gibson. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Flatpick]

I know what you mean. I was at Wolf Mountain on Saturday and watched in amazement as little Marty Varner (8 yrs. old) got up on stage during Frank Wakefields' set and just ripped it up!! I mean the kid is barely bigger than his Flatiron A and he's trading fiery licks with Frank.

Three years ago I was camped by his family and he was learning the mandolin, I thought it was cute. I had just started to play the mandolin. What happened? Three years later I'm struggling along while this kid is up there rippin' out licks I can only dream of! Oh, to have nimble fingers and fresh synapses again. Guess I'll just have to pick up my mando and force my frayed and fried synapses to push my creaky digits along those strings some more. No sense in getting depressed about not being 8 yrs. old again.

Wayne
Wah:
Where is Wolf Mountain, what State?? I believe I might be kin to Marty Varner.......

[patsites]

I sure wish a Chris Thile existed when I was a kid, I might have been more interested in music and started at a younger age because all I saw were crusty old dudes playing bluegrass and fiddle music.

Throughout my entire childhood I was exposed to championship fiddling as my father performed and traveled with Mark O'Connor when he was competing. Many other famous fiddlers jammed at my house on their way to the national fiddle contest in Weiser, ID and I could've cared less. I listened to rap my whole life until I saw the David Grisman Quintent perform when I was 25, it changed my life and I've been playing 4 years now and I'm completely obsessed.

I kick myself everytime I see one of those kids at a festival.

By the way, I jammed with Dominic (the Rockygrass mando winner) this year at Mid-Winter Fest in Denver with his other two mando freak buddies, Justin from Coal Creek Bluegrass Band and another kid that I can't remember (and he was actually the best player of the 3), but not one of them was a day older than 17. It was an awesome experience for me just to keep up and improvise with them, we played all dawg tunes at warp speed with 4 mandos all playing differnt rhythym and unison harmonies. It has been the highlight of my musical existence.

[TheNaivePicker]

Looks like the Worlds getting a fresh start for the Next Mando generation http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif


I really hate these kids
You Hate me, or Us Kids in general? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Power to the People. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[wah]

Flatpick,

Wolf Mountain is a small bluegrass festival in Grass Valley, CA. I was July 23 - 25 this year. King Wilkie, Open Road, Frank Wakefield, High Country and a bunch of other Cali bands. It's a very fun relaxed atmosphere. I've seen little Marty play in the "Kids on Bluegrass" portion of the CBA Father's Day festival as well. He plays a mean guitar, too. Very aggressive player, good Monroe licks on the mando.

Wayne