South Carolina

[Andrew DeMarco]

All,

Next year I will be moving to a multi-year commitment for a job. One option I'm hoping will come through is Columbia, South Carolina.

I'm wondering what kind of mando content there is around there. Any jams, luthiers, good shops, etc, down there?

Thanks in advance,
Andrew

[Brent Hutto]

Andrew,

I'm a Columbia lifer, pretty much, except for a couple years out of state right after college. In terms of playing with people I've gotten together from time to time with Lou Giordano who participates in the Cafe. Also once with Cafe member "f#54" (with whom a second pick-together is rapidly becoming overdue BTW). There is a weekly Bluegrass jam session, occasionally bordering on some things that might be closer to Old Time, at Bill's Music Shop right across the river in West Columbia. I've stopped by a few times but never joined in to play as Bluegrass jams aren't really a big thing for me. But it's a quality gathering of long standing (20+ years) that's worth checking out.

No good shops in town. Bill's will have a couple of F-style mandos there, I think maybe there's a LM-600 in stock at the moment, but the other music stores in town are mandolin wastelands. And if you hear of a luthier who is seriously competent on mandolins and who does work in a reasonable time frame for even remotely reasonable rates...well, please share his or her name and phone number.

I'm old enough to remember the day we didn't allow folks from Philly south of the NC/VA line, much less in SC. But nowadays things have gotten so permissive we even welcome New Jersey refugees like the aforementioned Lou G. What a world!

[Russ Jordan]

Builders:
Is Olin Davis of Pelion still building Rattlesnake mandolins?

Lewis Price of Sumter (not Sumpter as spelled in the database) has built some nice mandolins.

I have been told of a weekly old time jam at a club in Columbia, but don't remember the name.

Come to RenoFest, the 4th weekend in March in Hartsville SC, about 1.5 hours from Columbia. Hot mandolin players that will be there this year include Adam Steffey and Spencer Strickland. And host Ronnie Reno's show always features some tunes with the great mandolin trio of Ronnie, John Mayberry, and Jackie Miller.

[f#54]

Weekly Jams held at:
Bills Picken Parlor, friday nights--open mike for 1.5 hours then jam afterwards. Some really good pickers go there.
Blackstock Bluegrass, friday nights--open mike all night, jams in the back room, smaller than Bills and the people there are super nice. (1 hour west)
Haynes Bluegrass, 4th saturday each month---Open stage with some jams before hand (1 Hour south)

Most all towns here have 1 or 6 Festivals yearly, celebrating Chickens feet or catfish or Okra, any excuse will do. There will be music, Mandolins not so much but some.

[stevebenn]

1. The session at Bill's is every Friday night, but there's an open mic before the picking starts, around 9pm, typically. Of late it hasn't been well attended but that changes from time to time and it's probably your best bet for "networking".

2. There's a "new" old time session in town at Immaculate Consumption, a sandwich/coffee shop near the University, These are held the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.

3. There's a "celtic/old time" session on Sunday nights at the Knights of Columbus Hall in downtown Columbia. This is generally a beginner-intermediate session.
Steve B.