A Blues Mandolin Workshop with Acoustic Roots Artist STEVE JAMES

Thursday , October 12, 2006
05:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($30.00)

Second things first: immediately following his 90-minute hands-on Blues Mandolin Workshop, Steve is also offering a Bottleneck Blues Guitar Workshop. Check it out in the Steve James event entry adjacent to this Blues Mandolin event.

"If Steve James was simply the most manic musician in contemporary acoustic blues, that would be reason enough to check out his recordings, but he is much more than that. James is a virtuoso on both guitar and mandolin, a fine songwriter, and a funny and distinctive vocalist. He is also one of the most astute exhumers of obscure and forgotten songs...." - Elijah Wald, Living Blues Magazine

In addition to his numerous recordings, Steve James has also published a variety of articles, instruction books, and videos. His versatility on mandolin, guitar, and slide guitar combined with his successful approach to teaching others has consistently made him a favorite at music camps and workshop programs. He has been featured in several music magazines and heard on "A Prairie Home Companion," "Mountain Stage," and various other syndicated programs worldwide.

Steve's Blues Mandolin Workshop is designed for both experienced beginners and intermediate-level mandolin players who know basic chord shapes and want to improve their technique. Starting with basic runs, chords, and picking techniques--including the all-important tremolo--the class will explore various themes from Steve's repertoire and those of some all-time great interpreters of stringband and jugband music. Tablature and handouts will be provided. Bring your instrument, picks and accessories along with a notebook and pencil, suggests Steve. Portable sound recorders are welcome.

For those players who are interested, included among the popular educational materials that Steve has developed is Homespun Tapes' DVD Learn to Play Blues Mandolin, in which he instructs players on how to alter a basic G scale to create a blues scale, demonstrates picking and tremolo techniques, then teaches five blues and jugband tunes.

Steve has played with Furry Lewis, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, John Hammond, Bill Monroe, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Dave Van Ronk, John Fahey, and many other notables. He records regularly, appears often at festivals and concerts, and has toured extensively both as a soloist and in recent years with his duet partner Del Rey--who is offering workshops (Boogie-Woogie Guitar and Fingerstyle Uke} at Elderly on October 12. Steve also appears on numerous compilation albums including a recent Grammy-nominated tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell and an homage to Charley Patton to which Steve contributed both music and liner notes.

In addition to Steve's (and Del's) two workshops at Elderly, the duo may be seen in concert on Tuesday, October 10, at The Ark in Ann Arbor or on Friday, October 13, at The Ten Pound Fiddle in East Lansing.

"Readers of Acoustic Guitar know contributing editor Steve James as a historian of the blues.... 'I like taking from the past and enlarging on it,' he says. 'What's so attractive about the older players is they were able to express complex ideas yet never lost that aura of simplicity. What's fascinating to me is where the primitive and the highly refined meet'." - Acoustic Guitar Magazine

Check out recordings we carry featuring Steve James