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Buying an Inexpensive (But Not Cheap) Mandolin

By Wayne Erbsen

Mandolins come in many flavors, several styles, and many price ranges. I’ll pass on to you the same advice someone gave me about 50 years ago. Spend as much as you can stretch, and purchase a quality instrument, rather than a piece of junk. A really cheap mandolin will sound tinny, which will discourage you just as you’re learning this new instrument.

rover-smallrover---km-162-smallerThat said, it doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune on your first mandolin.

For starters, there are several mandolins that we sell and recommend.

The Rover RM-35S with a retail price of $169.95.

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The Big Bang Theory of Bluegrass

By Wayne Erbsen

If the “big bang theory” helps to explain the origin of the universe, perhaps “the big bang theory of bluegrass” will shed some light on the origin of the bluegrass music universe.

There are two schools of thought as to the origins of bluegrass music. One has Bill Monroe singlehandedly inventing bluegrass music around 1945. The other takes a more evolutionary approach, with a number of musicians and bands contributing to the sound we now call “bluegrass.” In particular, this approach points to Wade and JE Mainer’s Mountaineers as the first band that had all the ingredients

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Handsome Molly

Handsome Molly

I wish I was in London or some other seaport town,
Set my foot on a steamboat and said the ocean round.

Sailing ‘round the ocean, sailing ‘round the sea,
Think of Handsome Molly wherever she might be.

Do you remember Molly when you gave me your right hand
And said if you ever married that I would be the man?

But now you’ve broken your promise, go marry whom you please,
While my poor heart is breaking, you’re going at your ease.

I saw you in church last Sunday, you passed me on by,
I knew your

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Mountains of Songs

By Wayne Erbsen

Hank Williams was once quoted as saying, “You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly.” If Hank was right, then what I did today puts me over the top into the ranks of genuine hillbillies.

It all started when I got back from a week of fiddling and singing at the Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia. After I barely had a chance to settle into my normal routine at home, my wife, Barbara, said she had a “honey do” list for me. The good news was

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In the Pines: History, Lyrics & Tips for Playing

Talk about a dark and spooky song! In the Pines has it all: a young girl who shivers when the cold winds blow, and then sells herself to the men in the mines. As if that’s not quite bad enough, she then gets her head cut off when she fell under the driving wheel of a train. After all that, she didn’t even get a proper burial because “her body has never been found.”

Originating around the time of the Civil War, the history of In the Pines is entangled with such songs as The Longest Train I Ever Saw

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‘In the Pines’ + Music, Lyrics & Tips for Playing

By Wayne Erbsen

Talk about a dark and spooky song! In the Pines has it all: a young girl who shivers when the cold winds blow, and then sells herself to the men in the mines. As if that’s not quite bad enough, she then gets her head cut off when she fell under the driving wheel of a train. After all that, she didn’t even get a proper burial because “her body has never been found.”

Originating around the time of the Civil War, the history of In the Pines is entangled with such songs as The Longest Train

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Buffalo Gals

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Buffalo Gals

As I was lumb’ring down the street
Down the street, down the street
A handsome gal I chanced to meet
Oh she was fair to view.

Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight
Come out tonight, come out tonight
Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight
And dance by the light of the moon.

I asked her if she’d have talk
Have a talk, have a talk
Her feet took up the whole sidewalk
As she stood close to me.

I asked her “would you want to dance”
Want to dance, want to dance
I  thought that I

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Bluegrass Standards

Rural Roots of Bluegrass by Wayne Erbsen

If you’re new to bluegrass music, you might like a little friendly advice on some of the artists and songs to listen to. Without hesitation, I would point you to the musicians who first played the style of stringband music known as Bluegrass. This would include Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Reno and Smiley and Jimmy Martin. Of course, the list goes on and on, but in my opinion, if you’re well-grounded on these artists, you have a solid foundation on which to learn, enjoy, and understand what bluegrass music is all about. At the risk of

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Eck Robertson, Master Fiddler

Rural Roots of Bluegrass

By Wayne Erbsen

Eck Robertson was a true fiddle master. Fortunately, he was unafraid to step up to the plate and say so.

The story begins shortly after the turn of the twentieth century when Amarillo, Texas, fiddler Eck Robertson honed his fiddle chops enough to start winning fiddler’s conventions. Competition at Texas fiddle contests was notoriously fierce, and winning any of them was no mean trick. One story has Robertson in a showdown playoff with the father of legendary fiddler Bob Wills. In a last-ditch effort to give himself an edge, legend has it that he broke off a

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Playing Bluegrass Backup on Fiddle, Mandolin & Banjo

banjo player with gunBy Wayne Erbsen

As you might guess, there are numerous differences between old-time and bluegrass music, although they share a lot of similarities too. In old-time music, the banjo, fiddle, and mandolin generally play the melody all at the same time. During an old-time tune, the guitar generally refrains from playing the melody and concentrates on providing the rhythm and an occasional bass run. In bluegrass music, on the other hand, only one instrument plays the melody at a time. Everyone else plays backup. So let’s explore what playing backup means in bluegrass music.

First off, it’s good to remember

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