Gibson Brothers hire Joe Walsh
Long time mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, Rick Hayes, recently announced his intention to retire from the road to focus on Hayes Mandolins, his budding mandolin building endeavor.
Eric and Leigh Gibson are happy to welcome young mandolinist Joe Walsh in Rick’s stead. Joe is a recent graduate from The Berklee College Of Music and has been performing with several bluegrass and acoustic bands in the northeast, and teaching mandolin and guitar in Portland, ME.
Joe was Berklee’s first mandolin student and moved from Duluth, MN to Boston to study there. One of his professors at Berklee, David Hollender, shared a few thoughts.
“Joe has great time, beautiful tone and he really knows how to connect with other players and make a band groove. His playing has contemporary elements but retains a deeply rooted, down to earth quality that not that all young players have. When Joe is in the band you can be sure the music will just feel good.
I think everyone who knows Joe knew it was just a matter of time until he’d land a gig like the one he has now. It’s said that success comes mainly from motivation, determination and perseverance. Joe exemplified this when he was a student at Berklee. He had to struggle to stay in school. You’d see him on his bike on cold winter days with his mandolin on his back headed to class after getting up to drive a bread truck at 4:00 am every day. Later you’d see him at night heading off to jam. Nothing would stop him and it’s great to see all that work starting to pay off.”
He will do his first show with The Gibsons on January 2, 2009 at the New Year’s Bluegrass Festival in Jekyll Island, GA. Joe joins Eric (banjo and guitar), Leigh (guitar), Mike Barber (bass), and Clayton Campbell (fiddle) to make up the band’s new look.
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Rick Hayes, mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, is in the studio putting the finishing touches to his first solo CD, Fly By Night, due for release in May. Rick plays mandolin, guitar and bass on the project with Ron Stewart on banjo, Jim VanCleve on fiddle and Josh Swift on dobro.
Hayes handles...
Another bluegrass baby!
Eli Green Hayes was born August 20, 2009 at 2:22 p.m, the first grandson of Rick Hayes, former long-time mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers and chief luthier with Rick Hayes Instruments in Cincinnati, OH.
His proud parents are Rick's son Garrett Hayes and his wife Allison....
Hayes Mandolins, built by hand by luthier Rick Hayes, has used the launch of their first guitar model as the occasion to change company name to Rick Hayes Instruments.
Rick has teamed up with fellow luthier Dann Ross to augment his F-style mandolins with a handcrafted, steel string guitar. It is made...
We have posted several times about the recent embrace of traditional bluegrass instruments as a principal of study at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, MA. While other post secondary schools facilitate the study of bluegrass music - most notably South Plains College in Levelland, TX and East Tennessee...
Next weekend, guitar and mandolin enthusiasts in the Cincinnati area will have a chance to study with Clay Hess and Rick Hayes.
Hess is the new guitarist with Mountain Heart, and had previously worked with both Ricky Skaggs and Mark Newton. Hayes plays mandolin with The Gibson Brothers, and makes...
Rick Hayes, mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, will join Carol Beaugard on Friday morning (8/1) for a discussion about his recent CD, Fly By Night.
Carol's show, Lonesome Pine RFD, is broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon (EDT) on 89.1 FM in the NYC area, and streamed live online at WFDU.fm.
Rick...
This post (and photos) is a contribution from David Hollender, Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dave has been a member of the ensemble department for several years, and teaching upright bass. He also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic String Principal, where banjo,...
The Gibson Brothers stopped in at the studios of WAMU's Bluegrass Country on Monday morning (6/2) and recorded an hour's worth of music for broadcast on BluegrassCountry.org. On-air host Katy Daley tells us that the guys were crowded into their cozy studio space for the session, and she had the front...
We have posted several times recently about Berklee College Of Music's acceptance of traditional stringed instruments like banjo and mandolin as principal instruments of study at the school. One of the architects of this change was August Watters, Associate Professor at Berklee, and an accomplished mandolinist...
Young mandolinist Joe Walsh has found himself mentioned several times of late on The Bluegrass Blog.
We posted a report in May 2006 when Joe was still a student at the Berklee College Of Music, and performed with other Berklee bluegrassers at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When he joined up...
We have posted many times in the past six months about the prestigious Berklee College Of Music's recent decision to allow banjo and mandolin players to attend the school. More accurately, the new policy allows banjo/mandolin players - who have always been able to enroll - to use banjo or mandolin as...
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Congratulations to a wonderful musician and great guy. Joe was the first mandolin principal at Berklee and will continue to blaze trails.
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