The Sound

The Best Way to Get Young Kids Started on Stringed Instruments There are many equivalences that one can make between learning a musical instrument and learning a language.  In fact, studies have shown that if a person learns to play a musical instrument when they are young, their brain processes it like a language, using its…

Photo by Bud Osborne Over the last four decades, Australia’s Paul Duff has earned mention in mandolin and bluegrass circles as one of the premier mandolin-family builders. His instruments, which range from an A4-style mandolin to outrageous feats of luthiery like recreating one of Orville Gibson’s early, highly ornate archtop guitars in exacting detail, reflect…

by Guy Clark and Shawn Camp “It has a charm about it … there’s something about the lilt and the sentiment in that song that quiets an audience. I don’t understand it, but it’s there,” said Shawn Camp of his cowrite with Guy Clark, “Magnolia Wind.” That charm of the song’s melody and lyrics has…

Fiddler Justin Branum was one of these musicians.  Before the pandemic, Justin was on the road with Lee Ann Womack, but it wasn’t just the pandemic that prompted him to come off the road.  In 2019 he got married, had already been teaching fiddle for many years, and he had also had success producing a…

There is a mystique around guitars built prior to World War II in what is widely considered the golden age of guitars.  If you have ever heard someone pick a Martin or Gibson from that era, then you know they are something special. Guitars from that period are prized by players and collectors alike, and…

My love for everything mandolin started 60 years ago at age 16, when I bought my first Orpheum A model .  Since that time I have bought and sold many mandolins through the years. Oddly enough, my playing doesn’t come close to what it should be after all that time!  This story is not about…