Baotm

[Rickker]

Happened to be looking through some issues of BAOTM (Bluegrass And Old Time Music, as published by John Baldry in the UK back in the 1980s) and got to wondering if John was still active with mandolin stuff. For the younger MC members who might not know, John put out some great material, tabs, interviews, etc when mandolin material was not easy to come by. Today it is so easy to watch videos, download tabulatures to learn tunes that it is easy to forget how important and helpful it was when David Grisman started Mandolin World News in the late 1970s followed by Niles Hokkanen's great instruction booklets, and John Baldry's issues of BAOTM. We owe them a lot.
....Rickker

[Ranald]

Perhaps you're aware that Baldry died in Vancouver in 2005, after living there for decades. In Canada, we knew him as a blues guitar player and singer. I never heard of him playing mandolin, but then I wasn't his greatest follower. I can't find anything on online about him playing mandolin. Interesting to know that he was a mandolin player. Perhaps someone else knows if he played beyond his young days.

Wikipedia article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Baldry

[MikeyG]

Ranald - "Long John" Baldry is NOT the John Baldry that published BAOTM that the OP referred to. Here you can find a photo of "our" John Baldry, playing a vintage Gibson snakehead mandolin he bought about 10 years ago.

https://www.cbaweb.org/Welcome/Archive/90

And here is John's web page:

http://www.mandolin.myzen.co.uk/

MikeyG

[Ranald]

Thank, Mikey. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that there are two (or more) John Baldry's in the world! Often blues and folk revivalists dipped into more than one genre in their early days before picking a specialty, so I thought Long John might have too. Also, apologies to Rikker (OP). If I'd looked more closely, I would have realized that I was talking to another Canadian.

[JAK]

John Baldry writes a monthly "Welcome Column" for the California Bluegrass Association's main page website. He is still active doing that.

[Rickker]

Ranald - "Long John" Baldry is NOT the John Baldry that published BAOTM that the OP referred to. Here you can find a photo of "our" John Baldry, playing a vintage Gibson snakehead mandolin he bought about 10 years ago.

https://www.cbaweb.org/Welcome/Archive/90

And here is John's web page:

http://www.mandolin.myzen.co.uk/

MikeyG

Thanks Mikey, for the link to John's web page. We traded snail mail letters a couple of times in the '80s. I often refer to some of his publications when trying to re-acquaint myself with a particular tune. Great to see that his is still active and picking. Not always the case at our age.
....Rickker

[MikeyG]

Thanks Mikey, for the link to John's web page. We traded snail mail letters a couple of times in the '80s. I often refer to some of his publications when trying to re-acquaint myself with a particular tune. Great to see that his is still active and picking. Not always the case at our age.
....Rickker

You're entirely welcome, Rick. John came to the USA about 10 years ago with his wife Kate. They visited us in ND and we found them both to be wonderful people. Needless to say, I found myself in the company of another mandolin fanatic. It was exhilarating. As a gift, John brought me a Dave Swarbrick CD. I tried to give him one of my vintage Gibsons but he declined - saying, he may not be allowed to get it through the Custom Inspections. But as soon as he got home, he purchased the snakehead he's pictured with in the first link in post #3 above.

MikeyG

[Rickker]

Hey Mikey, just sent you a PM
....Rickker

[mandocrucian]

Does anyone have John Baldry's email address? I need to get hold of him (soon) but he seems to have left FB. PM me if you can help. Thanks

Niles Hokkanen