Good friend and Customer Steve Richards was in last week checking out our Sullivan Banjo lineup, while speaking with him his Daughter In Law Chloe Richards came up in conversation as one heck of a banjo player. Today Chloe and her Husband Josh stopped back by with Steve to test drive the Sullivan Banjo prototypes. “Wow” Chloe sure can play. Her husband Josh is also one fine musician and a member of the Bluegrass Group “Blue River Bluegrass” which won the 2008 SPBGMA Band Championship. We sure enjoyed their visit and some really good Bluegrass music. I hope you’ll enjoy also!!
It was banjo picking time when our friend Johnny Butten stopped by today.We had to have this banjo super picker play a couple of tunes for us.If you’re not familiar with Johnny, his banjo picking (he’s equally talented on all the other bluegrass instruments!) and his group Newgrass Underground you’ll need to catch a performance.You can find more info about Johnny and the band at their website, and in the meantime you can give a listen to Johnny on a couple of tunes he picked for us here at the store.The first was an original and the second his rendition of Santa Claus, a tune composed by Bill Monroe.
Our friend local bluegrass and old time picker Harry Bickel stopped by for a brief visit and we couldn’t resist having him pick a tune for us.Harry, a former Kentucky State Clawhammer Champion, is not only well known throughout the Louisville old time and bluegrass community but all around the country.Folks around Louisville remember Harry from his days as a member of the 70’s bluegrass group Whole Wheat, to his Grammy nominated old time band The Buzzard Rock String Band.You can catch Harry out pickin’ with his latest group the River City Ramblers at one of the local night spots. Be sure and check out their MySpace page for an upcoming date.Here Harry is picking the Mississippi Sawyer on one of our latest in the Sullivan family of banjos the Clawhammer Jam.
This week we had some very special guest stop by the shop here at First Quality Music. Bluegrass group “Men Of The Week” paid us a visit while here in town playing a show for a Kentucky Derby Festival party. Mandolin player Leevon DeCourley got a treat when we handed him our Gibson Master Model “Old Growth” prototype. He put a few chops on it and didn’t want to put it down. Dillon Scott is the banjo player and we asked him to test drive our new Sullivan “Prewar” prototype banjo. We’ve been working on this one for sometime now and we’re just putting the final touches on it. C.J. Lewandowski is the guitar player of the group and he chose a Martin D28 Marquis Madagascar to pay along with their fine Fiddle player, Gerald Jones. Their web address is www.myspace.com/menoftheweek Here is a small video clip of their visit.
Eric and I were proud to present Harold Priddy of Louisville, Ky with the very first “Old Growth” Mandolin prototype today. Harold was very excited to be the first one to own this wonderful mandolin. This original prototype was built by master luthier Dave Harvey ( Gibson Original Instruments ) in Nashville, TN and was put into service on Oct 9th, 2008. Serial # 81009010. Since that time it has been loaned out to many mandolin players to give it a test drive, one of our favorite’s was Doyle Lawson of Quick Silver, Doyle played it for about 4 weeks and even played a show or two with it. One of Doyle’s comments was it sounded like a cross between one of his original 1926 and 1929 Ferns. It just sounds old. Harold is anxious to get it out and break it in with his current band Fresh Cut Grass. Harold is a very respected mandolin player here in Louisville and has been playing 30 plus years. We look forward to hearing the mandoin on his new CD, he’s going into the studio on May 8th. Stay Tuned! First Quality is working on the 2nd and 3rd prototype currently and welcome anyone who wants to hear an “Old Growth” mandolin. Come on by the shop and give it a test drive.
Nathan Livers stopped by today and checked out our Gibson Old Growth Mandolin prototype. We’ve been working closely with Dave Harvey at Gibson Original Bluegrass to put this mandolin together out of the same factory floor wood that has been so successful in our Sullivan Banjo wood rim and bridges. The mandolin just got back from being test driven by Herschel Sizemore, a great mandolin player and a good friend of ours. Rumor has it that our prototype may be featured on a cut or two from his upcoming album. Stay tuned for more information to follow about the exciting mandolin project.
Nathan drop by to get some picks today and roped him in to playing a couple tunes with Murrell Thixton our resident Bluegrass Specialist. Nathan formerly played with James Monroe , Gary Brewer and the Kentucky Ramblers and Charlie Lawson & Oak Hill. He is currently forming a group with Murrell (more on that later!). If you like what you hear, Nathan will be teaching here at First Quality Music in the near future. Call us at 502-995-5651 ext. 7124 for more information!
