Trace Bundy - ESPN Theme Fan Jam Winner

Trace Bundy is one of our own here in Colorado.  If you get a chance to see him, go.  He's a great live show and tours all the time!!  Bundy plays the slapping and tapping style of solo guitar.  He plays some of his own stuff and covers from all over the musical spectrum from Guns N' Roses to a disco medley.

ESPN had a contest where musicians play the show's theme and fans voted for their favorite.  The fact that a solo guitarist won is great!

           

C. F. Morrison Guitars

Chuck Morrison started building guitars in 1974. In Boulder Colorado. Two years later he added mandolins to his production and named them after the flatirons which overlook the city. In 1979 he moved to Bozeman, Montana where he partnered with Steve and Maxine Carlson to build and market the mandolins. While Chuck sold his share of the business the following year and moved to Vermont, Flatiron continued on, spawning a strong musical instrument building tradition in Montana.

In Vermont, Chuck spent 12 more years building guitars of all types, a few other instruments and performing many different styles of music. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Science and returned to Colorado in 1992 to begin a new career in computing. 25 years later, having designed and built his own solar powered workshop and home, he turned is attention back to designing and building guitars.

I didn't know any of this a few months back when I started going to a new guitar society meeting in the area.  I think it was my first meeting that I saw a very unique guitar.  Chuck Morrison is the president of the Guitar Society of Northern Colorado and he was toting around this guitar and letting everyone try it out.  What I didn't realize was that he also designed and built the guitar.  

As you can see below it's not a typical guitar.  Notice the sound hole, the cut-away and there's more that isn't readily apparent; a sound port in the lower bout that can be opened and closed, an adjustable neck and Morrison's Offset Keel neck design that allows great access to the upper frets.

Chuck is gearing up to market a line of his acoustic guitars based on features used in the guitar you see above.  It's such a unique guitar I had to ask him if he would be kind enough to talk about his work for the blog.  Not only was he gracious enough to do so but he even accepted my self-invitation to tour the shop and hang out for a bit to learn more about how he builds his instruments.  It was a great visit.  Check out the interview below to learn more about Chuck and the instruments he builds.


You were a student at CU when you left to start building instruments.  What was so compelling for you at that time?

In retrospect, I have no idea. We all feel things strongly when we're young and later on we ask "what was I thinking ?"  It was an exciting prospect and I made the leap.

One of your bridge configurations is a nod to NBN guitars, a Colorado company.  How has NBN and other Colorado influences affected your instruments over the years?

I credit Reb, Andy and Monte for motivating me to start building guitars. Aside from building great playing and beautiful instruments, they turned out to be great people. How could I not try to emulate them ? They did some different things on their guitars, so it never felt wrong to change things up on an instrument in pursuit of a better result. Other influences from that time were Max Krimmel and Pete Nightingale. I'll always credit Dave Goodrich for driving me to understand what quality means.
The obvious NBN influence on my steel string guitars is the staggered bridge pin configuration. The rationale is to reduce the chance of the bridge wood splitting between the pins. It has an interesting visual quality as well, but it's primarily functional. I redesigned the bridge shape long ago and it fit the pin configuration nicely, so I kept it. The other thing I do is carve the neck heel and peghead on the classier guitars. This came directly from the NBN Limited Edition series, which in turn came from high end banjos. Reb and Monte built banjos at ODE before becoming NBN and you can see some of that influence in those guitars.
I should mention that I am proud to be a part of Colorado's lineage of instrument building, which I've traced back to 1959. There have been some outstanding builders in this area and that continues to this day. The rosette I designed and use for my Classical and Flamenco guitars honors the Colorado connection.

Your Keel neck design is your own invention.  It has its obvious purpose, but what do you hope is the result of players having improved access up the neck of an acoustic guitar?

Ultimately the hope would be that the repertoire of the acoustic and classical guitar would expand to include the greater range. It takes a while to get out of first position playing, but once you make that leap, you shouldn't be limited by the instrument your're playing. I'm removing the physical block to the upper notes. Actually using them is up to the players/composers.

Your site is full of what you call technobabble, you have a very scientific approach to building, like your examples of Chladni patterns.  How has that affected your approach over the years?

I started looking at Chladni patterns in the 70s. At the time there was very little published research regarding how this related to guitars. It was primarily violins and even that was not in great depth. So it was completely guesswork. Over the decades various people started publishing on this subject. Alan Carruth's work published in American Lutherie in the 90s and Trevor Gore's recent design book are good examples.
My own approach changes all the time as I try to relate what I see in spectral analysis and chladni testing to what I hear. It's a very complex subject that is complicated by the fact that hearing is such a limited sense in humans. In the end it's all about how a guitar makes you feel as to whether you want to play it again and again. 

Your site mentions a philosophy of improvising in your building, comparable to that of a musician improvising in a song?

I view building an instrument in the same category as composing a piece of music. Many builders make their guitars all the same, copying some well known pattern. But that's the same as playing the same piece of music over and over again. Aside from being boring to do, it's boring to everyone else. I'm improvising with the wood as I build. In the process I learn a lot that just copying a pattern can't teach me. The instrument is more interesting and has it's own identity because of this. That scares a lot of people who think that guitars should all be the same. 

I get the feeling you don’t build anything very traditional.  You are drawn to the new and innovative?

The way I see it, every "traditional" instrument was just someone's experiment that ended up being successfully marketed. The joy in building for me is in creating something that has it's own identity. Why would I want to make someone else's instruments?  For that matter, why would I want to make two the same?  I'm not a factory and my instruments aren't clones.

The steel string guitar you've been displaying lately has an adjustable bolt-on neck, a sort of pie-slice shaped sound hole in the upper bout and a voicing port in the lower bout.  How did you arrive at all of this?

The upper bout sound hole was to be able to access the neck adjustment. The shape of the hole was entirely based on the shape of the area involved and the voicing port was based on my understanding of the properties of resonant air masses and my desire to adjust the sound of the instrument dynamically. It all does what it was designed to do. There are many variations on these themes and I'm exploring them in newer guitars.

New design for the upper bout sound hole.

Is everything done in your shop by hand?

That is a matter of definition and most people don't have a clear one. That's why companies get away with calling instruments that are obviously built on factory production lines "Handmade". So in commerce today, the term is meaningless.
However, to answer the spirit of the question, compared to how a guitar would be built in a factory, absolutely yes. Compared to how Antonio Torres built guitars in 1860, not so much. I've done it both ways and I lean towards the latter.

You are planning on employing a small team to start building soon and making your guitars available.  Will there be a focus on a specific design and when and where can people start buying these instruments?

Employing is perhaps the wrong term to use. I'm attempting to combine the skills of a few experienced builders to create a new line of instruments based on some of my design principles. We will be going in together on these instruments and see if some of the variations we come up with speak to people enough to justify further efforts. The marketing strategy has not been fully vetted yet, so if anyone is interested they should probably just email me directly.

Folks, you can browse Chuck's site, C. F. Morrison Guitars for a ton of interesting stuff and find his email there if you are interested in contacting him about his work.

    

Press Release: The 2nd Annual Colorado Guitar Festival

The 2nd Annual Colorado Guitar Festival

When: Aug. 11th 2012, from 1:00-9:00pm

Where: Willow Farm, 11898 N. 75th St. Longmont CO 80503, In the town of Hygiene (northeast of Boulder, just west of Longmont).

With performances by The Colorado Guitar Quartet, Alfredo Muro, The Steve Mullins Trio, Jeff Wahl, Michael DeLalla, Justin Roth, and more.

A variety of musical styles will be represented; classical, jazz, Brazilian, Spanish Flamenco, acoustic fingerstyle, etc.   The Boulder Guitar Society will be hosting an open stage for its members (and others) to open the event.  Guitar builders will be displaying their creations.  Food and beverages will be available on-site, with beer donated by Oskar Blues.  Proceeds will benefit the Willow Farm non-profit, and an upcoming medical trek to Nepal.

$20 day-pass, $16 for students/seniors, children 12 and under free.

For more information visit www.coloradoguitarfestival.com or www.willowfarmcolorado.org. 

Guitar Festival Performance Schedule (2012)

1:00-2:30 Guitar Society open stage

2:45-3:20  Jeff Wahl

3:30—4:05 Kevin Romero

4:15—4:50  Justin Roth

5:00—5:35 Michael DeLalla

5:45—6:25 The Steve Mullins Trio

6:35—7:15 Alfredo Muro

7:25-8:05 Colorado Guitar Quartet

8:15-9:00 or 9:15 Guitar Alliance (Alfredo Muro, Steve Mullins, Kevin Garry, Kevin Romero)

Bios 

Colorado Guitar Quartet

The Colorado Guitar Quartet features Benjamin Altman, Ben Cantu, James Cline and Kevin Garry—each holds a doctorate in music from esteemed universities and maintain active careers as recording artists, concert artists and educators. All four are accomplished soloists and chamber musicians: Mr. Altman has appeared as the featured soloist with the Macon Symphony in Georgia; Mr. Cantu has performed in the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine; Mr. Cline has been heard premiering new works on KVOD’s ‘Colorado Spotlight,’ and Mr. Garry has performed in the Colorado Music Festival. Recent and upcoming appearances for the recently formed Colorado Guitar Quartet include Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts, Universal Unitarian Concert Series, Sheridan College and Front Range College. Their virtuosic and delightful programs include works ranging from Bach to Bizet to Piazzolla.

Alfredo Muro

Alfredo Muro has been described as a Latin virtuoso, but his musical styles and tastes are far more versatile, ranging from standard classical repertoire to jazz. His forte is South American music in its many guises: folk, jazz, Brazilian, classical. Whatever the style, it’s the emotional content of his music that carries the day. Portland Guitar Society

Alfredo Muro has presented concerts in many venues throughout the United States. He had the privilege to be the featured artist at the Kennedy Center for the Millennium Concert Series in Washington D.C, at Benaroya Hall in Seattle and at The Smithsonian Museum.

In March of 2005, Alfredo Muro was selected for the Jack Rosenberg Memorial, Musician of the Month Award, by the Jazz Society of Oregon in their Jazzscene magazine. The Centinela Newspaper in Portland, Oregon, featured Mr. Muro as the “Hispanic of the Month”. The Hispanic Yellow Pages Directory introduced him as the “Pride of the Hispanic Community”.

Justin Roth

Justin Roth is a nationally touring singer/songwriter/acoustic guitarist, based in Fort Collins, CO, who combines an artful blend of hooks laid on a bed of brilliantly inventive guitar technique for a unique mix of acoustic indie folk.  Justin has toured with Red House recording artist John Gorka and has opened for some of the finest singer/songwriters on the acoustic music scene, including Shawn Colvin, Martin Sexton, Lucy Kaplansky, Darrell Scott, and David Wilcox.  Equally, his guitar playing has earned him shared stages with some of the greatest fingerstyle players of today, such as Tommy Emmanuel, Andy McKee, Billy McLaughlin, California Guitar Trio and Pat Donohue.  He has sold over 11,000 copies of his five independent CDs as well as being a core contributor to an instrumental solo guitar album produced for Target Stores, entitled Lifescapes - Solo Guitar, which has sold over 70,000 copies nationwide.  Justin's fan-funded new album, Now You Know, which he engineered, produced, played and sang every note himself in his bedroom studio, was released in May 2011.  It has since been voted as one of the Top 100 Folk Albums of 2011 by Roots Music Report.

Jeff Wahl

Jeff's music has been featured often on local and national public radio programs during the last several years. Upon release of his first CD, Guitarscapes in 1999, Jeff was named one of America's best undiscovered guitarists by Guitar 9 Record's online guitar magazine.

Steve Mullins

“Not only does Steve play classical guitar beautifully, he is also a master of a number of guitar styles. I have never met a guitarist who is as musically acute (he has an amazing “ear”). His flamenco playing could be said to be virtuosic, but this is not what motivates him. Rather he is a master of the expressive arts and guitar is his instrument.” (Brenda M. Romero, Associate Professor of Musicology, University of Colorado, 2011)

Steve Mullins has earned a bachelor’s degree in American Folk Music, a master’s in musicology, and a doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of Colorado.   He has taught Latin America music, World Music, World Music Theories, and American Indian Music at CU, and currently teaches World Guitar at Front Range Community College.  His doctoral dissertation is entitled Flamenco Gestures: Musical Meaning in Motion 

Michael DeLalla

In a performing and recording career of more than two decades, guitarist and composer Michael DeLalla has brought to the forefront of acoustic music his delicious brew of traditional influences from around the world, steeped with his classical training and seasoned with his jazz, Celtic and folk stylings. Beginning in the '80s as the driving force behind Philo/Fretless recording artists Oxymora, the seminal group that Tom Cole of National Public Radio called "the cutting edge of New Acoustic Music", Michael has forged a distinguished and storied career on stage and studio from his fluency on classical, 12-string, and steel-string acoustic guitar and memorable performances that showcase gifted improvisation and dazzling technical facility that never sacrifices the richness and poignancy of his compositions.

Artist photos available on request and at www.coloradoguitarfestival.com

KRFC PRESENTS: COLORADO BLUES SOCIETY'S INAUGURAL JOHN-ALEX MASON SCHOLARSHIP FUND BENEFIT CONCERT, Friday Dec. 2nd 2011

Simulcast LIVE on 88.9FM KRFC & krfcfm.org

Friday Dec. 2nd 2011

$10 Suggested Donation

Doors 8pm

Broadcast 9pm

Road 34 Tavern - 1213 W. Elizabeth St., Ft. Collins CO 80521

RONNIE SHELLIST

CASSIE TAYLOR

JASON DOWNING (Musketeer Gripweed) & FRIENDS

Colorado bluesman, John-Alex Mason (November 30, 1975 - October 19, 2011) was beloved and respected throughout the blues music community, and that was particularly true here in Colorado. Since his sudden and unexpected death this Fall, many in the state have been looking for a way to honor his memory and help continue the educational work he felt was so important.
John-Alex Mason took high school students from Colorado Springs to Mississippi for extended field trips that sometimes included visiting Memphis and New Orleans. 
The Colorado Blues Society, a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization, will use the money raised in John-Alex Mason's memory to further the blues music education of young Colorado artists.

KRFC volunteers and staff are hard at work compiling interviews, videos and photos of John-Alex Mason for the live show and simulcast in the week leading up to the event. If fans or acquaintances have a memory they would like to share, KRFC invites them to post it on their Facebook page <facebook.com/krfcradio> or email <andrew@krfcfm.org>. Silent Auction items may be sent to KRFC c/o John Alex Mason Scholarship Fund; 619 S. College Ave. #4; Ft. Collins, CO 80524. Social Media can reference this event on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/189511134465495/

More information on John-Alex Mason:

Artist's EPK: http://www.johnalexmason.com/media/epk/

Death Announcement: http://www.gazette.com/articles/mason-12513-colsprings-alex-john.html

<230.png><http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1of_nAPm6MU>

More information on 88.9FM KRFC, Fort Collins:

KRFC's "Live local; listen local" mission is to make great radio that is local, non-commerical and volunteer powered. This is KRFC's first live remote broadcast since launching an all-new daytime format with a 3-day live broadcast from Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest in August. The new daytime mix format has doubled the amount of Colorado music played alongside national artists, driving a dramatic increase in new members and listeners in a just few short months.

More information on Colorado Blues Society:

<http://www.coblues.com/>

The Colorado Blues Society is dedicated to increasing awareness of and appreciation for the Blues as an indigenous American Art form (and the wellspring from which all contemporary popular American music originated).

Programs and Services Offered:

CBS sponsors Blues in the Schools programs, in which musicians present music and information to students at all levels (kindergarten through college). CBS offers programs in American social history, women in blues, language arts, conflict avoidance, storytelling and even math.

CBS also donates Blues-related materials (books, videos and CDs) to public libraries and offer educational programs in conjunction with those donations. Because many musicians learn to perform during jam sessions, CBS sponsors blues jams in several Colorado locations. CBS also works with other nonprofits, such as The Blues Foundation, Volunteers of America, Hudson Gardens,Swallow Hill Music Association, the Business of Art Center in Manitou Springs, and Performance International. CBS members number approximately 583 and range in age from 17 to 75. Some are professional musicians; most are fans of the music and culture of the blues.

CBS also publishes a newsletter, The Holler, and maintains a web presence at http://www.coblues.com.  The purpose of the newsletter and web site is to provide information to members and the public about blues-related events in Colorado.

CBS works with local nonprofits, civic organizations and businesses to strengthen the awareness and appreciation of the blues as an art form.

Checking in from the Jam Workshop Festival

Otis Taylor, Mato Nanji, George Porter, Jr., Larry Johnson, Tony Tischka

 Morning jam session at the Jam Workshop with two on bass + a tuba, violin, cello, two banjos, two drummers and a variety of guitarists. 

Otis Taylor's Jam Workshop Festival

Folks, I'm so proud to announce that Delta-Slider is an official sponsor of Otis Taylor's Jam Workshop Festival.  The festival is in only it's second year and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.  Artists lined up for the workshops are of course Taylor, Bob Margolin, Tony Trischka, Don Vappie, George Porter Jr., and Mato Nanji.  The fire-power in the banjo department alone should be getting some peoples attention!

From the festival site:

Boulder Colorado resident Otis Taylor is a world-renowned musician whose unique style of “trance-blues” music defies easy categorization. While drawing upon elements of early American Blues, and even earlier African music Taylor has been called “arguably the most relevant blues artist of our time” by Guitar Player magazine. In November of 2010, Taylor found himself with a rare fall month at home in Boulder rather than touring in Europe. At the last moment, Taylor decided to hold a Trance-Blues Jam Workshop. With little time to market the event, Taylor sold out the room and had over fifty musicians, educators and singers join him at the Boulder Outlook Hotel for a glimpse into his approach to the creation of music in a live environment. A video overview of the 2010 workshop can be found at www.otistaylor.com. The event culminated with a public jam session during which one song was played and musicians were woven in and out with each bringing their own energy and perspective to the moment. The success of this event has lead Taylor to pursue the development of an annual three day Trance-Blues Jam Festival which will be held in Boulder Colorado on the weekend following Thanksgiving.

Here's a video from last year's event.

Go HERE to learn more.

    

John-Alex Mason has Died

Sad news; John-Alex Mason has passed away at the age of 35.  I saw him play here in Colorado many times and he was always a great performer.  I chatted with him now and then at shows and he was always a great guy.  He will be missed.

Story from the Colorado Springs Gazette.

When I first saw John-Alex he was playing the solo blues gigs.

Later he would switch over to this Richard Johnston style of playing and it was great fun to see him play.

John-Alex Mason

   

Beppe Gambetta tells Banjo Jokes

I just got home from a Beppe Gambetta house concert just up the road in Lyons, Colorado.  What a great show.  I'm not sure how this guy has slipped my attention but I suppose it has to do with that whole flatpicking thing that I'm not much into, most of the time.  This was dangerously close to a bluegrass show.  

Beppe is a charming entertainer and comfortable telling stories about his songs.  I love that.  He also tells banjo jokes.

I've got one for you...but it's no joke.

What do a banjo and Beppe Gambetta have in common?  Dixie Breakdown.

Beppe plays it on the 6-string.

And by the way, he was playing that R. Taylor tonight and it's a beauty.  What a great looking and sounding guitar.

Beppe plays just about anything you can think of, his tribute to a meeting with Pete Seeger called Hobo's Crossing to actually playing and singing a Woody Guthrie song, Hard Travelin'.  Fantastic!  He would know a bit about hard travelin', he's on the road about 270 days a year and that is good for you and me.

Get on over to his site to see when he is a comin' 'round the mountain.  Beppe Touring

He also played a Scottish folk song, Italian love song, plenty of American roots of course and breaking new ground with his solo guitar interpretation of an opera.  Oh yes, yes he did.  And it was fantastic.  The set was well balanced with a few vocals but plenty of instrumentals to keep the guitar soli crowd happy.

Folks, Beppe Gambetta is a guitarist you shouldn't miss.

 

Dan Treanor – Africa to America

Take a journey with the Blues from Africa to America, from the Delta to the swamp, from Chicago to St. Louis and all points in between. Self proclaimed Blues Ambassador, Dan Treanor is your guide as he leads us through the progression of the blues. This chronological look at the blues is excellent and showcases Teanor's ability to play it all. Songs recorded from 1984-2004, unfortunately no details on the accompanying musicians. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the CD where Treanor takes us through the primitive phases of the blues.
Treanor plays around Denver and Boulder on a regular basis, hosting blues jams, opening for national acts and of course playing his own shows. Treanor is very likely to break out one of his primitive instruments during any show and it’s really great to see a guy that makes the effort to work these instruments into the show.

Be sure to visit Dan Treanor on the web