Swannanoa Fiddle, Banjo, & Mandolin Week- going?

[Phil Goodson]

Time's getting closer for Swannanoa Mando Week. Looking forward to some great after hour jams. Hope the 'Great Rain of the Southeast' goes away by then!

Anybody have any tunes/songs I should be practicing?

[UsuallyPickin]

Yup.... see you there. R/

[Wilbur James]

I will be returning this year, looking forward to the old time mandolin with Adam Tanner, the whole gathering is excellent, especially coupled with the fiddle banjo week. Geat concerts, I am looking forward to seeing Bruce Molsky play also, great atmosphere, great people!

[Gan Ainm]

This mandolin omnivore will be returning for sure. Lester, Lichtenberg and Stiernberg for me this year, Last year had great fun with Compton Fibish and Zenkl. (Radim is a very organized and pedantic teacher, in a good way, as well as a supremely talented player and musician.) For those who have not heard of her, I can highly recommend the Marla Fibish approach to Irish Mandolin, both as player and teacher -and nice person. My wife who plays things OTHER than mando fiddle and banjo is looking forward to Cello, and Joe Craven improv - on English Concertina.
Say hi. I’ll be the guy with the big round button with the picture of an old A-style.

[Gan Ainm]

Oh yeah, I I'll also have an ACTUAL old A-style, among other things...

[usqebach]

I'll be there as well. Will try to wear my green (faded!) Mandolin Cafe hat, or a brown one that says "Sue's Best Burgers in Town," which comes from Blue Ridge Ga. Ironically, Sue does not serve the best burgers in town, but the establishment that does, doesn't produce a cool hat! (They are probably more focused on making the best burgers in town).

I digress..

I'll be taking (in order) Bruce Molsky's Old Time Fiddle Class, Darol Anger's Fiddle groove class, and Adam Tanner's Old Time mandolin class. I'm still kicking myself for not taking Mike Marshall's mando class, but given that I'm primarily a fiddler, I have the Marshall Teaching DVDs, and I thought someone more mando-centric could benefit more from Mike's class than I, I took Darol instead. Sigh!! Perhaps he'll teach a good potluck.

I'll try to hang with the Old time jamming if there are interested parties.

Jim

[Dan Voight]

I'll be there showcasing a few of my mandolins. I'm really looking forward to it. Is there any coming from/through Nashville that would like to car pool?

[Phil Goodson]

Dan,
Still bringing some of your new armrests??

[j. condino]

My shop is about ten minutes down the road, so I'll be in and out all week with several new instruments, and a lot of playing music. "The Gathering" is a lot more than just this session. Every week of the summer an equally impressive list of players, educators, and students take over the Warren Wilson campus. I've already got in some fantastic playing with amazing people and will continue it every chance I get until the event ends mid August.

j.
www.condino.com

[Brad Weiss]

I'm really looking forward to it! Classes with Radim - new for me- and Mike and Donny! Now if I could only find more time to practice . . .

[Eddie Sheehy]

Can someone post a link?

[Annette Siegel]

Can someone post a link?

https://www.swangathering.com/index.html

[Eddie Sheehy]

Thanks, Annette. August 4th to 10th then.

[David Surette]

I will be there, teaching guitar, with mando and ready for some good jammng. Always some of the best of my summer! This week is amazing.

[usqebach]

James C,

I have admired your work for years. Please take no offense if I track you down and accost you at a jam session!

I'm going to attempt to PM you (everything's a bit more arduous on mi iPad)' but if you don't get a PM from me, please feel free to PM me with a general idea of where you'll be and what you're bringing.

Jim

[John Ritchhart]

Time's getting closer for Swannanoa Mando Week. Looking forward to some great after hour jams. Hope the 'Great Rain of the Southeast' goes away by then!

Anybody have any tunes/songs I should be practicing?

The usual suspects Phil. On and On, Take me in your Lifeboat, and I'm on my way back to the old home. (you probably have that Scott Freeman break down better than me now)

[Lynn Dudenbostel]

I'll be there all week. If its like last year, I'll have my shop set up in Sunderland Hall somewhere. Will try to post a sign just inside the door on the bulletin board. Hope to see you all.

[pickloser]

I'm looking forward to seeing you all. I don't have any instrumental excuse to see my favorite luthier, Mr. Dudenbostel, but I hope you won't mind if I drop by anyway. I'm coming ready to JAM with a D18 and a Phoenix, and I'll be sporting my Cafe ballcap. Let's play!

[KristinEliza]

Looking forward to it! And I'm hoping the rain stays away this year! I'll be splitting my time between banjo in the morning and mandolin in the afternoon.

[UsuallyPickin]

Started packing clothing this AM.... Why do I never seem to have room for socks? Maybe I can fit them in my guitar case. Sheesh... I am definately starting to get excited...... Darly Anger, Emory Lester and Bobby Hicks..... see y'all soon... R/

[Phil Goodson]

I'm wondering if anyone got a video posted anywhere of the Swing jam last night with Don Stiernberg, Mike Marshall, Noam Pickelny, Tony Marcus, Alan Munde, Matt Glaser, and others. Just amazing!!! These guys have a level of talent that's in some other galaxy!!!

[Brad Weiss]

The single greatest jam in the history of music camps. Ok, maybe there have been others as good, but it's impossible for any to have ben better. I have almost 3 hours of the 5 hours they played on audio. My ipad did something wonky, so I missed some of it, but I sat there from 7:15 to midnight, and it was an uninterrupted wonder!

[CrazyMandolin]

That was quite the session, indeed. I only saw the last half hour, but am I glad I did.

[Uncle Bob]

Had a great time there! Had both of Radim's classes and they were amazing - what a great teacher and guy.

Saw some old friends (Hey John - always good to see you) and made a bunch of new friends. All in all, had a big time.

[pickloser]

Swannanoa was awesome. What a splendid camp. I like very much the instructional model, having the same instructor on a defined topic for each of the five days. You could take up to four classes, and you could take classes on more than one instrument. The instructors concerts were phenomenal and in a comfortable venue.

I had a great experience in my student band last year, learning so much and making a rare "friend for life." This year's student band experience had a bizarre twist with a mid-week band implosion that was quite instructive itself. (If you were there, I was in what became the "No Boys" duo.) But even that was spun into gold with the musicality and sheer talent of my young partner on fiddle and the gracious and good natured help of our band mentor, Tony Trischka. How's that for special--an hour a day of advice on phrasing, dynamics, and arranging from Tony Trischka!! (By the way, and nfi, I took his banjo lessons on the Bluegrass Academy, and he is an excellent instructor on video too.)

If the quality of the instruction, the concerts, and the extracurricular activities weren't enough--and it was--the food was SUPERB. I can hardly believe it was prepared on a campus. Identifiable, healthy, well-prepared, and tasty. There were a very few things about the camp I would change--a jam dorm or more places to jam in smaller groups (25 people cannot play bluegrass at the same time); I heard about some cleanliness issues in the smaller dorms--but my personal experience was exceptional.

Hurrah, hurrah, Swannanoa Gathering!