Norman Blake nancy Blake fiddle cello

Norman Blake can play guitar like nobodies business.  But he's also an incredible multi instrumentalist.  As I've been diving into Norman's catalog more and more over that last few years, the tracks where he plays fiddle or mandolin have really started to stand out.  His fiddle playing is remarkable, and there's not a whole lot of video evidence I could find, so I was excited to see this one.  Especially since his wife (a phenomenal musician and multi instrumentalist herself) Nancy plays on it too.  Beautiful tune, beautifully played.  It is a little strange how Norman's beard spills over the top the fiddle, though. Just saying.

One of my favorite videos right now is Tony Rice playing the wonderful Norman Blake song, 'Church Street Blues.' Tony Rice's voice knocks me out.

Thank you MandoLessons!  Baron Collins-Hill is a fantastic teacher, and his online resource for Mandolin has been an incredible tool.  I just donated a bit (too little - hopefully more later), and he sent me a t-shirt.  If you want to learn mandolin, this is the place to start:

http://www.mandolessons.com/about/about-mandolessons/

Just picked one of these up:

http://www.critterandguitari.com/products/pocket-piano

It's amazing.  Put it through some guitar effects and this little critter has incredible depth.  It doesn't feel at all like a toy because it's actually metal and wood.  So much fun...

sloppy, awkward, slightly out of tune, and absolutely beautiful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hos21J2kAWQ

john prine is one of my all time favorites.

i don't think i've ever listened to a podcast (never interested), but i'm going to check this out:

http://artmusictech.libsyn.com/webpage

looks like great stuff.

since this is a blog nobody follows (and who can blame them?), it is now a repository for things of interest i stumble upon while searching the web when i should working...  basically it's a notebook for myself.  wow, that's pretty dorky.  does anyone say "dorky" anymore.  it doesn't matter, nobody is reading this...

despite being a folky country bum, i enjoy tinkering with electronic music and have just recently gotten into ableton live and max for live (more on this later).  this looks amazing and is going on my buy list:

https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/dub-machines-analog-delay-max-for-live/

http://www.surrealmachines.com/

**edit - purchased.  it's amazing.  crazy, like a roland space echo, it inspires musical deviations.  effects really should be like having another instrument on hand, and this one definitely works that way.  so fun.