Don Stiernberg recently began his fifth decade as a working musician. Along the way he has been involved in many musical activities: performing, writing, recording, producing, and teaching, but is best known for his mandolin playing. Born and still based in Chicago, the mandolin found Don as he grew up “out in the woods” in the nearly-rural suburb of Wauconda, IL. Things came into focus both mandolin- and life-wise when his parents sent Don to study with Jethro Burns, famous comedian(Homer and Jethro) and the greatest mandolinist of his time. From the very first lesson, Burns was more than a teacher. He was a role model, hero, mentor, and friend, and Stiernberg was hooked and hooked bad on the mandolin. Currently, Don is regarded as a leading exponent of jazz mandolin style,and a respected teacher. The most recent of his nine recording projects is Good Numbers, a collection of standards and jazz tunes played by his working band, The Don Stiernberg Trio, which has performed coast to coast as well as in Germany and Brazil. Don has released four online video instructional courses for Soundslice.com and has conveyed his love of the mandolin and music at events such as Marshall Mandolin Summit(MI), Alan Bibey Mandolin Camp(SC),The Mandolin Symposium(CA), Great Lakes Mandolin Camp(MI),The Swannanoa Gathering(NC), Django in June(MA), Mandolin Camp North(MA),Steve Kaufman Acoustic Camp(TN), River of the West Mandolin Camp(OR), Cape Cod Mandolin Camp(MA), Ashokan Swing Week(NY), Accademia Internacionale di Mandolino(Italy), European Mandoline Akademy(Germany)and Momento Rio Bandolim(Brazil).
All posts by
David Benedict
Originally from Clemson, SC, mandolinist David Benedict is quickly becoming a notable figure in the acoustic music scene. After graduating with a mandolin music performance degree and spending a stint in Nashville touring and recording with bass player Missy Raines, David made the move to Boston to join Mile Twelve. During this time, David founded the acclaimed weekly video series Mandolin Mondays hosted on the Mandolin Cafe. He also received the 2018 IBMA Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year. His recent solo album The Golden Angle demonstrates his ability to integrate seamlessly with the high-caliber company he keeps, including Grammy-winning artists Stuart Duncan, David Grier, and others. Julian Lage notes, “David is one of the most inspiring lights on the creative acoustic music scene today. A talented player and composer who is paving the way for new and exciting music! I can’t wait to see where he takes us!”
Carl Jones
Carl Jones is widely respected for his instrumental talents and original songs about the joys and tribulations of day-to-day life in the South. Born in Macon, Georgia, Carl currently lives in Galax, Virginia, with wife and musical partner, fiddler Erynn Marshall. His songs have been recorded by The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Kate Campbell, Rickie Simpkins with Tony Rice, and others. His song Last Time On The Road was on the Grammy-award-winning album Unleashed by the Nashville Bluegrass Band. In the 1980s he played mandolin with James Bryan, Norman and Nancy Blake as part of the Rising Fawn String Ensemble and was part of the classic mandolin record Original Underground Music From The Mysterious South. Carl is known for his keen sense of humor and charismatic teaching style. He has performed and taught around the globe including Europe, China, and Australia. For more information please visit: www.dittyville.com
Barry Mitterhoff
Barry just finished 14 years of touring with Hot Tuna, acoustic and electric as well as many performances with Hot Tuna guitarist, Jorma Kaukonen. I’ve performed in 49 states and 19 countries including Brazil, the former Soviet Union, Australia, China, Israel, the former Czechoslovakia and the present day Czech Republic. He has developed an international reputation for his versatility, having adapted the mandolin to musical styles as diverse as bluegrass, opera, Jewish Klezmer, Dixieland, old-time, classical, Brazilian, Italian and 19th-century American duo-style. A veteran of bluegrass, Klezmer, Celtic, folk, and rock-influenced bands including “”Tony Trischka and Skyline”” and “”Bottle Hill,”” Barry has toured the Jamband and Americana scene since 2002 with rock legends Jorma Kaukonen, and Hot Tuna. He performs regularly with Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, as well as Silk City, a band he formed with his Skyline bandmates Danny Weiss and Larry Cohen. He has also performed with musical greats including Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan, Bob Weir, and Govt Mule. Barry appeared at the Metropolitan Opera with renowned singer Jerry Hadley, played and recorded with folk-singer Tom Chapin; appeared at the Smithsonian Institute and elsewhere with hard-hitting singer, songwriter and labor activist Hazel Dickens and performed with innovative “”free”” music composer Eugene Chadborn at New York City’s Knitting Factory. In addition, Barry has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the White House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York’s famous Rainbow Room, and has performed in concert and at music festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe. I treasure the years I played with and learned from my mentor, Ben(Tex) Logan.
Alan Bibey
Since first hitting the scene in the early 1980’s, Alan has made a name for himself as one of the most technically gifted mandolinists in bluegrass and acoustic music. He was an original member of such ground-breaking bands as The New Quicksilver, IIIrd Time Out, BlueRidge and, for the last 10 years, Alan Bibey & Grasstowne. He was voted Mandolin Performer Of The Year for 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2018 by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA). He has won IBMA Awards for Instrumental Album Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Recorded Event Of The Year, just to name a few. Alan Bibey & Grasstowne have had over ten #1 bluegrass songs including four from their latest Bluegrass project, Grasstowne “4”. Their latest Bluegrass Gospel single “Gonna Rise & Shine” has been #1 seven times and in the top three for 20 weeks and counting! Alan’s latest mandolin project with Wayne Benson, “The Mandolin Chronicles”, was nominated for five IBMA Awards. 2004’s BlueRidge project, for which Alan wrote the title track, was nominated for a Grammy. He was included in the Mel Bay book, “Greatest Mandolin Players Of The Twentieth Century”, and in 2004, the Gibson Company put into production the Alan Bibey Signature line of mandolins, reaffirming his status as one of the most influential mandolin players in Bluegrass and acoustic music history.
Akira Otsuka
Akira was born in Japan and started playing bluegrass as a teenager. He formed the legendary group Bluegrass 45 in 1967 and toured the United States in 1971 and 1972. He moved to the States the next year and since then has been active as a performer, studio musician, producer, educator and writer.
Akira’s performance credits include The White House, the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, The Grand Ole Opry, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, The Birchmere and many major festivals including the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival.
He has performed or recorded with a stellar cast including Hazel Dickens, Bill Kirchen, Al Petteway, Steuart Smith of the Eagles, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Nils Lofgren, Emmylou Harris, Tony Rice, Danny Gatton and Ricky Skaggs. In 2012 Akira released a solo album, First Tear, and in 2018 produced and performed on Epilogue: a Tribute to John Duffey on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
Welcome to our new website
Here’s the text.
Joe Deetz
Joe Deetz grew up around the Boston bluegrass scene. He moved to the west coast where he played with Frank Wakefield for several years. After his time with Frank, he moved to Woodstock, NY, to play with the John Herald Band. During this time Joe did some studio work, appearing on projects with Carole King and Sesame Street, among others. He then moved to the Boston area to play with Joe Val and while playing with Joe appeared on a variety of televised shows in the U.S. and abroad. After Joe Val’s passing, Joe played in various bands and recorded on Brian Wilson’s solo album, where both his banjo and vocals were blended with Brian Wilson and the Beach boys. Joe has taught banjo on and off through his career and enjoys coaching new players and helping intermediate and advanced players improve their playing. Joe currently performs with the Rhode Island bluegrass band Rock Hearts.
Cathy Day
Growing up in a musical family, Cathy Day began performing at age 10 with her parents and sister in the Rose City Bluegrass Band, which played numerous shows throughout the Northeast U.S. during the 1980s. As a teen, she arranged and taught the harmonies to her band, taught fiddle, bass, and Dobro, and won numerous contests on fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. While she could be found playing any instrument, her fiddling was and still is most often sought after for performances and studio work throughout New England. She was a member of the award winning all-girl band SassyGrass, and the New Hampshire-based band Marcy Hill. She is currently in the Bill Thibodeau Band, Cashel Rock (an Irish Band), The Cicadas (a contradance band) and often freelances with the Cornfed Dogs. She has a passion for passing on bluegrass music and gets the word out as a bluegrass DJ on WHUS 91.7FM in Storrs, CT, demonstrates to kids in the schools, plus still finds time teach in her spare time.
Mike Rivers
As a recording engineer and producer, Mike Rivers has recorded albums of various artists for Folkways, Folk Legacy, Rounder, Troubador, Flying Fish, among others. In addition to “doing the sound” at Music Camps North since 2003, he has run concert sound for the Smithsonian, National, and Lowell Folklife Festivals. Mike has played old time music
since 1960. He performed with the Greasy Run Toad Trompers, one of the first of the 1970s eclectic string bands, playing a mixed bag of Southern, Northern, Western, swing, ragtime, and Celtic music on string band instruments. At Camp, Mike teaches classes in sound production and recording.