Dick Bowden is a well known northeastern practitioner of the thumb pick (and finger pick) in country and bluegrass lead and rhythm guitar. For 10 years he was the guitar playing half of The Case Brother – Martin & Gibson, an early country guitar/mandolin duet. For 10 more years he played rhythm guitar with The Old Time Bluegrass Singers. He is an exemplar of forceful, run-laden rhythm guitar drawn from the powerful country and bluegrass rhythm guitarists from Mother Maybelle to Del McCoury.
Widely acclaimed as one of New England’s premiere instrumentalists, David Surette is highly regarded for his work on the guitar, mandolin, and cittern. His diverse repertoire includes Celtic and New England tunes, original compositions, blues and ragtime, traditional American roots music, and folk music from a variety of traditions. Surette is a gifted teacher, having taught at workshops and camps throughout the US, and in the UK. He is folk music coordinator at the Concord (NH) Community Music School, and artistic director of their March Mandolin Festival. His latest CD, Waiting For The Sun, a duo recording with Susie Burke, has been gathering widespread praise.
Rich DelGrosso is the player keeping the mandolin alive in the blues. He has received nine Blues Music Award nominations, his latest for his CD The Ragpicker Stringband, which has received worldwide critical acclaim. Downbeat magazine placed it as one of their choices for best CDs of 2015. DelGrosso was a writer/ editor for Blues Revue magazine for sixteen years and Mandolin Magazine for eleven. He has published four instruction books for Hal Leonard Publishing, including Mandolin Blues: From Memphis to Maxwell Street. He has conducted workshops in the US, UK and Europe for over thirty years.
Don Stiernberg learned to play the mandolin from Jethro Burns. More than three decades later, Don is still playing, teaching, and writing about the mandolin. Current releases include his CD “Good Numbers”, three online video courses for Soundslice.com.,and his book “Jazz Mandolin Appetizers”for Mel Bay. Don is a leading exponent of jazz mandolin style and a respected teacher at mandolin camps coast to coast.
Lincoln Meyers is an award winning guitarist who has been on the New England music scene for the past eighteen years and has been playing professionally for thirty. Lincoln, who was featured on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar magazine’s November/December issue 2010, has toured the world and performed with bands including Erica Brown & The Bluegrass Connection, The New England Bluegrass Band, Tony Trischka, April Verch, and most recently Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen. Lincoln is a veteran instructor, teaching private lessons as well as being involved with and conducting guitar workshops and seminars around the country.
Lorraine Hammond’s numerous credits as a traditional singer, songwriter, teacher, performer and instrumentalist include a Homespun Appalachian dulcimer instruction series and two elegant dulcimer books with Yellow Moon Press. Lorraine plays, performs on and teaches dulcimer, banjo, mandolin and harp. Her extensive mandolin teaching experience includes the John C. Campbell Folk School, WUMB-FM Acoustic music weeks and weekends, and nearly a decade at Mandolin Camp North. She is a lecturer in folk music at Lasell College in Newton, MA, and Music Director of WUMB-FM’s Summer Acoustic Music Week. Lorraine performs and records with her husband Bennett Hammond.
Frank Solivan is a monster mandolinist who is making big waves nationally these days. After six years performing with the United States Navy’s elite Country Current, the former Alaskan formed Dirty Kitchen, a tight-knit group of some of the best players on the scene today. His original music has climbed to the tops of radio charts, and his band is featured at major music festivals across the country. A gourmet cook and one of the top bluegrass musicians in the world? All in a day’s work for Frank.
Mike Compton has been called “a certified mandolin icon” by Mandolin magazine and “a new bluegrass instrumental hero” by the New York Times. This Grammy-winning instrumentalist, perhaps best known as the featured mandolin player for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou, is one of the modern masters of bluegrass mandolin. Sam Bush says “nobody plays Monroe better than Compton.” Mike Compton is one of the most recognizable and respected mandolin voices in the world today and as passionate an advocate for the mandolin as you’re ever likely to find.