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Renowned musicians and folk historians Mike Compton and Norman Blake join forces to introduce listeners to the repertoire of the Mississippi duo Narmour & Smith with Gallop To Georgia. This special project features the sounds of blues, rags, shuffles and country waltzes, and even a hint of Tex-Mex flavor.

"Lyrical and melodic, filled with buoyant rhythms and clever rhythmic patterns, Gallop To Georgia captures a bygone era in American string music, now reintroduced ...

Fairfax, Calif. — Peghead Nation is offering Mandolin Cafe visitors a first month free, or $20 discount off an annual subscription, when they sign up for any of the 38 instructional courses in mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo, dobro, bass or ukulele on ...

Long-time friends Gregg Daigle and Don Grieser announce the release of Palatable to a Goat, a recording of guitar and mandolin instrumentals. The CD features six original tunes and six tunes and melodies they have enjoyed and played together for years.

Gregg and Don first met at RockyGrass in 2000 and immediately ...

Kanaalstraat, Utrecht, Netherlands — Brilliant Classics has announced a December 19 release for Raffaele La Ragione's new recording Margola: Music for Mandolin and other Chamber Music.

Composer Franco Margola was a Brescian ...

Annual Black Friday Sale concludes with giveaway of an Eastman MD515CC Mandolin.

Surprise, Ariz. — The Mandolin Store has announced plans for their 14th Annual Black Friday sale, November 29 culminating in the giveaway of an Eastman MD515CC Contoured Comfort Edge ...

Brazilian mandolin force Danilo Brito has announced the release of his newest project entitled Da Natureza das Coisas, (About the nature of things) which includes six original compositions.

On Da Natureza das Coisas Brito ...

Bologna, Italy — Tactus, the Italian classical music recording label has announced the release and availability of Gervasio: Mandolin Sonatas, by Marco Giacintucci (mandolin) and Walter D’Arcangelo (harpsichord).

Giovanni ...

Grand Rapids, Mich. — The newly formed Michigan Mandolin Orchestra has announced their debut concert to be held in Rockford. Mich. at 7:00 p.m., November 23 at the Rockford United Methodist Church, 159 Maple St. NE.

The newly formed orchestra is dedicated to ...

Atascadero, Calif. — Straight Up Strings has announced the offering of their signature banjo and mandolin t-shirts with proceeds going to bluegrass related charitable causes with pre-sale available through December 1, 2019.

Customers have their choice ...

Transcriptions from last year's solo mandolin recording The Golden Angle now available.

Boston, Mass. — David Benedict has announced the release of a book of transcriptions from last year's blockbuster solo mandolin recording ...

Win $100 gift certificate to Acoustic Disc by identify what mandolins David Grisman plays on his new recording.

Starting Tuesday, Nov. 5, 7:30 a.m. Central visitors to the Mandolin Cafe will have the opportunity to stream all of David Grisman's mandolin solos from the new recording David Grisman's Dawg ...

Around the time of Mandolin Mondays Episode #150 we asked host David Benedict if he'd be the musical subject of Episode #200 to be paired with a feature interview to update us on his career.

And here we are!

Our thanks to David for creating and caring for this series that exposes us to so many talented mandolin players we all enjoy, and allowing us the honor of hosting and helping promote the wide variety of musicians from all over the planet that have appeared as guests.

Want to join us in extending a thanks to David for his efforts? There's a great way and it benefits you as well, but you'll need to hurry! When we publish this there will be two days left on his Kickstarter project where he's raising funds to support a transcription book for his marvelous solo ...

Serenade for Ali, by Chris Acquavella honoring the late Alison Stephens has been released in print.

Cheshire, UK — Astute Music has announced the publication and availability of Serenade for Ali in print by Chris Acquavella, a solo mandolin version of the 3rd movement for mandolin orchestra entitled Remembrance of a Beautiful Soul.

About the video that appears below, Acquavella said, "This particular version was abbreviated for David Benedict's ...

Available for Kindle and print version.

Progressive Melodies for Mandocello by August Watters is a new collection of original, unaccompanied solos for the baritone member of the mandolin family. It is designed to cultivate musical reading skills, as well as technical facility, and to build skills ...

Celebrating 20 years in business, organizers have announced Wednesday, October 30 as opening date for the 2020 Mandolin Camp North.

Putney Vt. — Music Camps North, celebrating their 20th year in business have announced Wednesday, October 30 as opening registration for their April 17-19, ...

Los Angeles — Alex Heflin has announced the release of Retro, a 20-track recording on which he plays most instruments.

About the project, Heflin said, "This record is simply a compilation of instrumental covers put together over the past couple of years; songs from TV, pop culture, ...

10 winning entries selected in this special giveaway of D'Addario's new X Mandolin Strings.

Lawrence, Kans. — Registration for a chance to win free sets of D'Addario's new X Phosphor Bronze mandolin strings commences 7:30 a.m., October 15 from a link on the Mandolin ...

An interview with legendary builder Bob Givens published over 40 years once again comes to light.


In order to understand the origins on this interview with R.L. "Bob" Givens it's necessary to take a step back into another time.

A long defunct and now relatively obscure music catalog of the time, The Guitars Friend (no apostrophe), in publication between 1973 - 1983, was created by Laurence "Laury" Ostrow, an acquaintance of and seller of Givens' instruments. As part of the content of The Guitars Friend series Ostrow produced and published a short but meaningful interview with Givens, whose work is still highly respected. He preceded most of today's modern mandolin builders in turning out true world class A and ...

David Grisman, Danny Barnes and Samson Grisman launch first recording of Dawg Trio.

San Rafael, Calif. — Acoustic Disc has announced an October 11 release of Dawg Trio Plays Tunes & Sings Songs, a collaboration between David Grisman, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Danny Barnes and Samson Grisman on bass.

Their debut recording features nine brand new Dawg compositions and three original songs by Barnes, recorded live in Grisman's Dawg Studios. This unique ensemble displays an incredibly wide range of styles, from swing to bluegrass and old time to Dawg.
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