Caleb Roberts and Open Road

[sgarrity]

I've been listening to some Open Road here recently and really enjoy Caleb's mandolin picking. I know Open Road isn't together anymore but is Caleb still out there playing? He gets a good traditional sound out of that Loar.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Shaun - I just followed your link & watched the 'Stoney Lonesome' clip. Back in 1965,i bought the 'classic' LP 'Bluegrass Instrumentals' by Bill Monroe. The opening track is 'Stoney Lonesome' & the twin Fiddles made my hair stand on end. It's one of my favourite Monroe tunes,but i've never heard any other band play it. I suppose that you really need twin Fiddles for it to sound right - that's my favourite sound in all of Bluegrass music:- http://youtu.be/6_jb1ufV-Pg Jim & Jesse - "Dixie Hoedown",
Ivan

[Jordan Ramsey]

Hey Shaun, great band, one of the best to come out of Colorado in my opinion... and Caleb is a real solid Monroe-style picker with both the technique and hardware. He lives right down the road here in Lyons, I don't see him too often but he's still around and picking. He's an electrical engineer by trade working for Grace Design here in Boulder, wiring preamps (last I heard) and picking mandolin and honky-tonk electric guitar on the side. His Loar was the second I ever got to play back around 2008, and in true Big Mon fashion he had rusty strings and high action (and his end pin kept coming out and I was standing in front of a microphone). Aside from being nervous and dealing with the strap issue, I felt like I had a hard time getting tone out of it and remember being pretty disappointed at the time (to be fair, Reischman's was the first I ever played). Over the past few years, after getting to play it in various states of setup and string age, as well as having the opportunity to play a handful of other Loars, his has definitely grown on me... not my favorite, but an incredible mandolin.... so many subtle tones in there and the chop is monstrous. Anyway, I'll tell him folks are talking about him next time I see him.

[AlanN]

I picked on that one before Caleb got it. F5Loar took me over to Harry West's place in Granite Quarry where it resided. As I recall, it had the Monroe peghead break and someone had bound the jagged edges in white binding, looked like icing on a cake. Had fine tone.

[mandopete]

As I recall, it had the Monroe peghead break and someone had bound the jagged edges in white binding, looked like icing on a cake.

Yeah, I saw that too and I thought that was pretty cool.

Check out his song called South Saluda Ramble, you wont be disappoint. Best grin in bluegrass!

[Rick Albertson]

Caleb's a great Monroe player and an approachable, nice guy. He took the time to give me advice on buying my 94 Flatiron F5 at the Mid-Winter Festival in Denver a few years ago.

Here's a photo I took of Caleb playing with Open Road in July 2003 in Westcliffe, CO.

[JAK]

Thanks for the video clip mandopete. Good stuff.

[poymando]

Thanks for the video clip mandopete. Good stuff.

Thought that Open Road fans might be interested to know that Brad Folk has a new band. Here is a video from IBMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm9tS4YRqHQ

They have a tour planned for July-August that will take them from Nashville out to Washington/Oregon.

[doc holiday]

....& on to British Columbia to teach & perform at the Nimblefingers workshops

[mandopete]

Thought that Open Road fans might be interested to know that Brad Folk has a new band. Here is a video from IBMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm9tS4YRqHQ

They have a tour planned for July-August that will take them from Nashville out to Washington/Oregon.

Great to see Brad out front these days. Any idea where and when the gigs in the Pacific Northwest are?

[doc holiday]

http://www.bradfordleefolk.com/#!shows/c66t

[tiltman]

That looks like David Long on mandolin in the video...good picker.

Kirk

[SkitownPicker]

Gotta agree....great Colorado band. They were playing in Buffalo Wyoming the only time I ever saw them and thought they were awesome. Also saw Jalan Crosslan there too...he blew us away.

[Steve Cantrell]

I heard only a couple of Open Road's songs and then bought their entire catalogue. A real shame this act isn't together anymore. This is what I think modern bluegrass should sound like.

[f5loar]

this was the last Loar F5 Harry West ever sold! Harry held onto it the longest because of it's tone. When I played it the action was real low with rusty old strings but it still had all the Loar mystic you could ask for. Caleb was really lucky to snag that one from Harry. Harry wants his "babies" to go to good homes and this one sure wound up in a good loving home.

[Old Growth]

One evening in around 2006-'07 I had the pleasure of meeting Caleb at his house. A friend of his dragged me over to show Caleb a mandolin I was considering purchasing at the time. Mostly I was excited to meet someone who lived near me who was an "enthusiast" as well. Anyway, he showed me his Loar which was the first and only one I have ever played and two other mandolins. One was a Nugget A5 with a sinking top. Interestingly enough one of the best Nugget's I've ever played, heard. The other instrument was an F5 from John Paganoni. At the time, I truly believed the Pag was the best mandolin I had ever played...