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 as a member of The Gibson Brothers this past November, we covered that as well.

In the meantime, Walsh has released his debut solo CD, Saturday Night Waltz, which showcases his mandolin playing and his skills as a composer and arranger. Joe has been a prominent picker in the Boston area, and throughout New England since he moved there from Minnesota to study, and it is from this pool of musicians that he draws his accompanists.

Not all of the names will be immediately familiar, but these are very talented young musicians who stand leave a mark on bluegrass and progressive string music before they are finished with them.

Joe shared some thoughts with us recently about Saturday Night Waltz, the songs and tunes included, and the people who performed on it with him.

“When I set out to make the record, I of course wanted to try and find material that wasn’t all worn out and overly familiar.  Obviously original tunes take care of that, and I tried to tried to write as many tunes as possible prior to starting that project.  A lot of them just didn’t seem to fit the scope of the project when it came together: as a whole it’s not a strictly bluegrass’ record, but it didn’t seem right to be tossing in tunes that at weren’t at least peripherally related to bluegrass.

Filling in the gaps with some of the other tunes was one of the funnest things about the whole project. Boston (and New England in general) is home to an amazing collection of acoustic musicians and singers, and in choosing tunes and songs like The Good Part, I’ll Go On Downtown, and Fall and I’m Not Falling, I got to share what I liked most about some of my friends writing, playing and singing. These were the folks that I worked with on any number of gigs, and these tunes were the ones I’d always try to get on the set list.  It’s a pleasure getting to share them. (more…)

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.

We just got a note from our friend David Hollender, who has been keeping us abreast of the activities of the students at Berklee College of Music with an interest in bluegrass music. We have posted many times about Berklee, and their recent decision to allow the use of traditional string instruments as the principal instrument in pursuing a Berklee degree. Dave contacted me last night to let us all know that some of students in one of his bluegrass ensembles had been featured in a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on Thursday night (5/4).

Here is Dave’s report:

“A band from Berklee just played at the Kennedy Center tonight. It was part of The Conservatory Project and they have invited groups from Berklee, as well as other prestigious music schools like the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music just to mention a few. We’ve been sending bands regularly to the series and usually we’ve been the sole jazz music on the program, but this year we sent a bluegrass/country group.

The 1st half of the performance was bluegrass, followed by a country set. The personnel on the bluegrass part was Charlie Worsham (leader) – banjo, guitar, voice; Joe Walsh – mandolin; Kristin Weber – fiddle & vocal; Asheigh Caughill – bass & vocal; Charlie Hutto – guitar. Charlie and Kristin came to the Five Week summer program in 2003 and then enrolled at Berklee as full time students.”

The concert was previewed in the Washington Examiner newspaper, but I was not able to find a link to the article online. In it, Charlie Worsham is quoted at some length, describing his bluegrass background as a youngster, and his decision to study music production in Boston before heading to Nashville to join some other Berklee grads when he graduates next fall.

Their May 4th performance was recorded, and the video can be viewed from the Kennedy Center web site. They start with a great version of Kenny Smith’s superb composition, Amanda’s Reel – a sure sign that these folks are getting it right at Berklee!

In all seriousness, it is an impressive performance and worth your attention. It may be something of a clich??? to make mention of the fact that the future of our music depends on the willingness of young people to undertake the serious study required to master it, but it’s a risk worth taking. Hats off to these talented young folks, and the faculty at Berklee that supports their efforts.

UPDATE 5/8: There is a press release up on the Berklee web site about this show, and the various musicians who participated. It mentions that they will be a featured guest on an upcoming edition of XM’s Studio Sessions show.

This post is a contribution from David Hollender, a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been keeping us updated on the way bluegrass music and traditional acoustic instruments are being presented at the school.

Pete and Joan Wernick are in Boston this week to play at the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival and present a Jam Camp. They used the occasion to visit Berklee College of Music Wednesday, where they presented a master class sponsored by the college”s Ensemble Department.

Pete and Joan kicked things off by playing two tunes and then worked with a student band in an open master class format. Students Charlie Worsham, Ashleigh Caudill, Kristen Weber and Joe Walsh, all members of Back Bay Bluegrass, played on stage for Pete, Joan and fellow students.

The extent of Pete”s work with up-and-coming musicians was evidenced by the fact that he had met three of the four band members before and had notes about them going back as far back as ten years ago. By coincidence, Walsh happens to be Joan”s cousin.

Pete and Joan were very complimentary of the band. They offered suggestions and worked with them to fine-tune some fine points of their playing. They spoke about how singers could emphasize the meaning of lyrics and critiqued the arrangements. Along with the specific suggestions Pete and Joan expounded on their personal philosophies of what makes good music and what it takes to reach a large an audience.

Preceding the master class Pete spent time working one-on-one with another student banjo player.

Boston area readers can hear Pete and Joan, Back Bay Bluegrass, The Stringdusters (with Berklee graduates Chris Pandolfi and Andy Hall) play sets Friday night at the Joe Val Festival, which runs Friday through Sunday.