New & Favorite Links

Updated Oct 26 '10

• South Mountain Wood Works - If you want to show off and protect your "Precious", Scott makes some of the best looking guitar stands I've ever seen.
• The Guitar Repair Bench - A site full of good articles on set-up and repair of guitars. Mostly electric, but some acoustic articles
• Richard Poitras - Set up and repair of fretted instruments in the Calgary area
• Sugar In the Gourd A great Old-Time Music site. Some terrific resources and great links.
• Blu Hopkins I met Blu at a Bluegrass Festival. It was refressing to hear great original tunes mixed with traditional Bluegrass and some great Old Time music. ..... A dulcimer, for god's sake, at a Bluegrass Festival.
• 5th Annnual Bluegrass and Country Music Festival July 25 - 27th '08
• The Aloha Music Camp Hey Ukaholics, How about a holiday on the beach on Molokai. Classes in ukulele, slack key guitar, cooking, history, hula, etc etc. Wow!
• The Calgary Uke Division - Yep - It's finally here. A source for things ukaholic in the Calgary Area. The Ukulele - that Little Prince of musical instruments is making a big noise, even in Calgary. Check it out!
• The first ever "Great Canadian Music Camp July 27th to 30th, '08"
• Tom Phillips - Local hero, Tom Phillips and his Men of Constant Sorrow! Fantastic band, led by a great songwriter. Follow the antics of Tom and his Merry Men as they take the country by storm.
• Ukulelia Your Passport to Four Stringed Paradise!
• Foothills Acoustic Music Institute A fabulous weekend for all. Instruction, Jamming, Socializing, and of course; "Great Coffee" !!
• The Peter Hurni Jazz Ensemble featuring vocalist Flo Shustack. Sultry, sublime and sassy vocals mingle with standards and classics, popular, contemporary, cocktail and retro-jazz. Peter is the "heartbeat" of the band.
• The Swing Geezer's Home Page *blush*

Local Instructors

Guitar

• The Mansel Davies Offical Website A terrific player and great instructor.
• Don Gowan Excellent Guitar teacher with extensive experience.
• Linda Kitchin Another teacher with excellent experience
• Johnny V - Local Legend Lessons with Johnny may be the best thing you ever do.
• Doug MacLean A new face on the scene!

Mandolin

• The Mansel Davies Offical Website A terrific player and great instructor.
• Don Gowan Excellent Mandolin teacher with extensive experience.
• Linda Kitchin Another teacher with excellent experience
• Doug MacLean A new face on the scene!

Fiddle

• Linda Kitchin Another teacher with excellent experience

Banjo

• Barry Luft. A good friend and possible the best of the clawhammer banjo players I know. For the record: I've never bounced Barry on my knee!

Ukulele

• Don Gowan Excellent Ukulele teacher with extensive experience in all forms of music.
• Doug MacLean A new face on the scene!

Voice

• Florence Shustack Versatile vocalist with extensive experience in all styles. Singing lessons, vocal fitness and health, vocal coaching, performance confidence and preparation, for ages 9 and up (it's never too late!)
  Calgary, AB: (403) 397-6737

Drums and Percussion

• The Drum and Percussion School Peter Hurni: European master drummer and percussionist (djembe) serving Calgary, Canmore and Banff. Specializing in jazz, afro-latino styles, funk and fusion. Artist rep. for jazz ensembles.
  Calgary, AB (403) 607-2911
  Canmore, AB (403) 678-3830

• Dana Bourgeois Guitars. Perhaps the best small producer of fine guitars around. Played by many of the top players. Buy one from me and you will be famous too! :-)
• Eastman Instruments. I've always wanted to be able to sell a great Jazz Box. Eastman Guitars has just such a critter. Carved Maple Back and Carved Spruce Top, Solid Maple sides, Maple neck. 16" and 17" lower bouts. Not only that, but they make their mandolins the same way!!!!!
• Northwood Guitars
• Composite Acoustics - CA Guitars Amazing, not only are you surprised that a synthetic guitar can sound like it a guitar at all, but you will be shocked to find out that these guitars play and sound better than almost all wooden guitars!!!!
• Wegen Picks These picks are truly amazing. They are so good I have to consider them an instrument No kidding, these are a revelation.
• Deering, Vega, and Goodtime Banjos
• Weber Mandolins
• Eastman Mandolins.
• Heiden Stringed Instruments
• Blueridge, Goldstar, & Gitane Instruments
• National Guitars
• Fluke and Flea Ukuleles
• Augustino LoPrinzi

Mando-Links

• The Mandolin Cafe Home of Co-Mando e-mail list and a dozen or more other great services!
• Custom Tab ServiceOffered is a Custom Transcription Service for mainly Bluegrass Guitar and Mandolin (breaks, solos). Additionally you can get "Chords Only Transcriptions" and "Custom Solo Composition" on any tune. - Ain't the Web Grand??? Alois is from Austria and can turn you out fabulous charts in no time - All on the "Inner-net"! Life is Good!!!
• Co-Mando - The site for Mandolin discussions. - A must for mandolin players.
• The Scottish Mandolin Page - And you guys thought the mandolin was Italian - Hah!!!
• Roland White Webpage a source for great CD-s and Mando related tab and information
• Mandozine. Another great mandolin resource.
• Dawg-Net.
• Steve's Mandolin Links
• Mandolin Tablature Archive.

• The Aloha Music Camp Hey Ukaholics, How about a holiday on the beach on Molokai. Classes in ukulele, slack key guitar, cooking, history, hula, etc etc. Wow!
• The Calgary Uke Division - Yep - It's finally here. A source for things ukaholic in the Calgary Area. The Ukulele - that Little Prince of musical instruments is making a big noise, even in Calgary. Check it out!
• Doctor Trey On-Line Ukulele Lessons - Doctor Trey will get you motivated and playing, either from his website or his fantastic pod-casts. Check it out!
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps Jake will blow you up. - no kidding!!! The site is fabulous anyway!
• Janet Klein Great site and even better music, I suspect she'll become one of my favorite artists. Her music takes you back 100 years to the great days of music. She reminds me a little of "Leon Redbone" and "Cats & Jammers", but with her own style. She brings some of the great tunes of the early 20th century into the 21'st .
• Novelty Ukuleles'Ever want a Betty-Boop Uke to carry your lunch? How about Elvis? Here's where you go.
• Ukulelia Your Passport to Four Stringed Paradise!
• Ralph Shaw - the Ukulele King You've heard him on CBC. Now hear him on CD or go to Vancouver and hear him live. Not to be missed! terrific music.
• James Hill This fellow is amazing. He simply tears up the uke. Stuart MacLean's "Vinyl Cafe" recently flew him from Vancouver to perform for a national radio audience. He's incredible.
• The History of the Martin Ukulele Courtesy of Frank Ford., Instrument Repair person extraordinaire.
• Flea Market Music "Jumping" JIm Belloff - Uke supporter and impressario extraordinaire.
• Robert Armstong's Handpainted Ukes You won't believe these. They are incredible
  

Banjo-Links

• Ian Pattison Fine Instruments Another fine Canaadian builder
• Banjo Hangout A great community for banjo players. - wanna connect with some players in your area? Heck. the list put 19 Banjo players in Calgary - How many of you have ever even heard of Calgary?????
• Banjo List Web Page Lots o' resources for the instrument that dare not speak it's name. :-) - great tab and lessons!!!
• Zepp Music Need banjo information??? Try Donald !!

• John Dorman, Harp Maker - Leduc, Alberta
• Joanne Meis-Player and Teacher - Calgary, Alberta
• International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen
• Gaelic College of Arts and Crafts Nova Scotia

Camp-Links

• Summit School of Guitar Building and Repair Located on Vancouver Island, the folks that run this great looking operation appear to have figured it out. An Alumnus just turned me on their program and I think I'll attend. Check it out!!
• The Aloha Music Camp Hey Ukaholics, How about a holiday on the beach on Molokai. Classes in ukulele, slack key guitar, cooking, history, hula, etc etc. Wow!
• Foothills Acoustic Music Institute A fabulous weekend for all. Instruction, Jamming, Socializing, and of course; "Great Coffee" !!
• Mike Dowling, Teacher & Musician Extraordinaire
• Puget Sound Guitar WorkshopPossibly the world's best music camp!!
• Sorrento Swing Workshop If you play swing, if you love swing, if you want to meet other "swingers" you gotta go!! Swing for a week!!
• The Wall Street RanchNot far from Innisfail in the Alberta foothills you can ride, camp and play tunes with awfully nice folks. - May Long Weekend is their Dandylion campout. A great concept.
• Hartz Fiddle CampA terrific "curriculum Vitae" from some nice folks in Idaho. Not that far away from Calgary and the Kootenays. Consider this a great opportunity to learn from some of the best in some of the prettiest country in the world! - Next to Alberta.....of course!
• The Great Canadian Music Camp July 27th to 30th, '08
• Steve Kaufman's Official Hope Page
• British Columbia Bluegrass WorkshopBluegrass and Swing weeks. A great setting, great folks, and great music. 3 workshops a week each!!
• The Foothills Bluegrass Clubthe local resource for all things Blue-grassey!!
• Foothills Acoustic Music Camp Twice a year the Foothills folks host a Learning Camp and a Jam Camp. A good time is had by all!!

E-mail List - Links

• This is the site to register for several great acoustic mailing lists.Co-mando for mandolin players, Bluegrass for 'grassers, Flatpickles, fiddlers, and even B*nj* players!
• MaplePost this is the folk Alliance list-serve. The focus of Maplepost is Canadian folk, roots and world music industry news and views

Instrument Resource - Links

• Instrument Wire
  Classifieds to help you find used and pre-owned guitars, drums and other musical instruments. List a guitar or other instrument for free.
• Acri Picks Handmade Finger Picks by Gord Acri
• Intimate Audio Free online guitar lessons (w/TAB & MP3), hosted by Dale Turner (West Coast Editor of Guitar One magazine).
• The 13th Fret An interesting Website with some terrific links and great discussion lists.
• Joe Vinikow's ArchtopsA great source for Vintage Epi's
• Davey Drums Dave Settles makes professional class Bodhrans - Lord knows how he finds the time. It also makes pottery, runs Fairview Studios and is almost entirely responsible for the Water Valley Celtic Festival
• South Mountain Wood Works - If you want to show off and protect your "Precious", Scott makes some of the best looking guitar stands I've ever seen.
• The Guitar Repair Bench - A site full of good articles on set-up and repair of guitars. Mostly electric, but some acoustic articles
• Frets.com Frank Ford's great repair and tips page!
• Archtop Information Site
• Just Strings - The source for Strings of all kinds
• The Banjo Newsletter
• Gryphon Guitars, Calif.
• Elderly Instruments
• Mugwumps on LineA very neat page!!
• Luthier's MerchantileA source for all your guitar building needs.
• Stewart MacDonaldAnother source for Luthier's supplies.
• Gruhn Guitars Vintage Instruments Great surfing for vintage stuff
• Mandolin Brothersmore vintage surfing.

Accessory - Links

• The Sterner Capo Museum Believe it - or Don't !! This is a fascinating website. Informative and fascinating!
• The Colorado Case CompanyBarbara Liebler and her elves make some of the very best soft cases on the market. she's also branching out into some flight cases.
• Allen Guitar - Home of Climate Case Covers and Randy Allen, of course, a very likeable guy.
• Gigmate: a very cool accessory!!
• Shubb Products
• Sabine Products
• Dunlop Products
• J. D'Addario & Co.

• Guitar Gear Heads are guitar players and musicians who are on a never ending quest to find the perfect guitar tone. We are committed to giving you an edge when it comes to finding *your* sound! Are you a Gearhead?
• K & K pick-upsEvery once in a while a great new product hits. - Fantastic sound.
• L. R. Baggs Products
• Pendulum Pre-amps
• Mackie

Our Favourite Musicians

• Blu Hopkins I met Blu at a Bluegrass Festival. It was refressing to hear great original tunes mixed with traditional Bluegrass and some great Old Time music. ..... A dulcimer, for god's sake, at a Bluegrass Festival.
• Ben Graves Great Player, Great songwrite. Available at CD Baby!
• Tom Phillips - Local hero, Tom Phillips and his Men of Constant Sorrow! Fantastic band, led by a great songwriter. Follow the antics of Tom and his Merry Men as they take the country by storm.
• Johnny V - Local Legend Known mainly for his uniquely fluid Blues - Johnny can play anything and with anyone!!
• The Peter Hurni Jazz Ensemble featuring vocalist Flo Shustack. Sultry, sublime and sassy vocals mingle with standards and classics, popular, contemporary, cocktail and retro-jazz. Peter is the "heartbeat" of the band.
• Steve Fisher One of the best guitarists and all-round musicians in a several hundred mile radius. He's a great teacher as well.
• The Swing Geezer's Home Page Now with some music on the site - or not!
• Linda Kitchin Teacher, Musician, Guitarist, Mandolinist, Fiddler, Musical Philosopher, Navigator, Is there anything she can't do?
• Lindsay Ell A talented musician, a terrific performer and a good friend. It's wonderful to see her finding a audience.
• Maple CreekBluegrass as it should be played - Bluegrass with elegance., with panache, with cachet. This band has a , ....oh I don't know....a certain "Je ne sait quoi"
• David Bailey A terrific player with great music. The world needs more!!!
• The Bow DjangosGypsy Jazz in Calgary???? - Yep and beautifully played, too. A real class act!
• Sylvia Herold Here she is! guitarist and vocalist for bands as diverse as Wake the Dead (Irish versions of Greatful Dead tunes??) Kats and Jammers - (Swing Vocalese), Hot Club of San Francisco - possibly the best Gypsy Jazz -Period!,- and of course her own CD's!
• Canada's own Manitoba Hal.
• Janet Klein Great site and even better music, I suspect she'll become one of my favorite artists. Her music takes you back 100 years to the great days of music. She reminds me a little of "Leon Redbone" and "Cats & Jammers", but with her own style. She brings some of the great tunes of the early 20th century into the 21'st .
• Florence "Singer" Shustack and Take the 'Oy' Train This is Klezmer-Continental fusion played and sung with heart, soul and "chutzpah"
• Barry LuftOne of our favorite people. Perhaps the best old-time Banjo player I've been privileged to know. He's a great player and teacher - In fact, he taught Cathy Fink to play the Banjo. - Now if he could teach me, he'd be the best in the world!!!!
• Toupey Luft. Yep, I bounced her on my knee. Now I buy her CD's. She's great. (Musical families are marvelous).
• Cara Luft. Yep, I bounced her on my knee too. Now I buy her CD's. She's great. (Musical families are marvelous).
• The Mansel Davies Offical Website Our Hero!!
• Wylie and the Wild West - Cowboy music, one of my favorite genres, and a great website..
• Meet the man behind "Max Mouse and the Gorillas" and the "Jeremy Dormouse" projects.
• Craig Moreau - Singer Songwriter
• Larry Carlin's Website For all you folks in Sausalito - Is there really such a place???
• David Wilkie & Cowboy CelticReal cowboy music.
• Mike Dowling, Teacher & Musician Extraordinaire
• The Art Gomperz Band Interesting Band from Michgan with a great website. Tab, Links, Swing, etc.
• Paul "Jake" David's One-man-band site.
• Toupey Luft
• Old Stringband Fan Siteworth a visit for reunion stuff!!
• Kim Acuna - An Alaskan artist of no little merit. Worth a visit!!
• Pearl Django
• Borealis Music-Christy CookLocal Hammered Dulcimer Site & lessons
• Roy Forbes. AKA Bim. Roy's voice may be heard on CKUA and from time to time on CBC. He may also be the definitive voice of Hank Willimas "I'm So Lonesome, I Could Cry"
• Old Stringband Fan Siteworth a visit for reunion stuff!!
• Trilogy Home Page
• Cathy Miller - Canada's Singing Quilter!
• Arlo Guthrie Home Page
• Calgary Musicians Page

• Foothills Bluegrass Club, Calgary Our local Bluegrass Club - worthy of your support!
• The Roots Music Listening Room Want to listen to the greatest of the old music? Well it's right here. Old Blues, Rags, Hollers, Stomps, etc etc. Fantastic site. Utterly amazing
• Sugar In the GourdA great Old-Time Music site. Some terrific resources and great links.
• Sennheiser Wireless Microphones and Headphones Online store featuring Sennheiser microphones, headphones, noise cancelling headphones and wireless mics.
• Custom Tab ServiceOffered is a Custom Transcription Service for mainly Bluegrass Guitar and Mandolin (breaks, solos). Additionally you can get †††† "Chords Only Transcriptions" and "Custom Solo Composition" on any tune. - Ain't the Web Grand??? Alois is from Austria and can turn you out fabulous charts in no time - All on the "Inner-net"! Life is Good!!!
• Guitar Education Resource GuideFind free courses, brief histories and timelines, infographics, guitar tabs, backing tracks and much more in this section of general resources.
• Eisteddfod-NY A A festival of traditional English & American music 8/13-8/14: concerts workshops singing, jamming, etc.
• The New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club (Folk Music Society of NY, Inc.)
• The Guitar Guy Need Lyrics and chords. to hundreds of the Great Old Ones - No I don't mean Yog-Sothoth, I mean some of the wondrful old songs of the Past. Great Site....don't miss it!
• Nickelodeon Records - An online source for those hard to find collectors items. Really nice folks willing to go the extra to find what you need! I use 'em you should too!
www.oldbridgemusic.com
• Musicians Workshop------DVD music instruction courses since 1973
• Hugh's Room If you have to go to Toronto, you'll need a dose of good entertainment. Try here for what's happening.
• Guitar Noise Free guitar lessons, help, tips and advice for anyone from the aspiring beginner to the seasoned professional.
• The Greatful Dead Lyric and Song FinderC'mon....I know you dead-heads are out there! Seriously, there are some great links and some terrific data on this page. Well worth a visit.
• The Tab WorldNeed "Tab" for a tune? Or lyrics? Try here. Lots of lessons and good information!!
• Mudcat CafeA great site and the source of many, many, many tunes under The Digital Tradition Inluding lyrics and music!!!!
• The Mansel Davies Offical Website Our Hero!!
• The Calgary Folk Club Offical Website
• Guitar Noise Newsletter Site - A terrific resource for the guitarist, and it even has some Canadian content. :-)
• Visit Cowpie - A terrific source for Lyrics and Chords for your favorite Country/Western/Cowboy songs
• Old Bridge Music - A source Fabulous British Isles/Celtic Music run by Chris Newman. Fabulous artists on this label!
• Dan Mozell's web site-A source for Flatpick Tab - Cape Breton to Klezmer.....Cape Klezmer??????
• The Digital Tradition Folk Music Data Base - A fantastic source for music and lyrics
• The 13th Fret - A discussion site for Acoustic Guitarists. A very useful site, full of much information.
• Water Valley Celtic FestivalA great time in a wonderful setting!!
• Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
• Recording Connection an established music industry school where students train to be professional recording engineers.
• Get your music to the right people with TAXI: the Independent A&R Vehicle that connects unsigned artists, bands and songwriters with major record labels, publishers, and film & TV music supervisors.
• AcuTab A source for Tablature!
• Roland White Webpage a source for great CD-s and Mando related tab and information
• The Classical Guitar Society of Calgary
• CKUA "The Best Radio In The Whole Wide World!"
• The Calgary Musician's Page
• The Calgary Folk Music Resource Page. Want to know it all? This is where it is!!!
• Fiddlers.Org - International Resources For All Fiddle & Acoustic Music
• Acoustic Music Resource: Source for Acoustic Recordings
• Mudcat Cafe
• The North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance a very useful site.
• BorealisMusicGrit Lskin, Ken Whitley, Mose Scarlet, Jackie Wahsington, etc.
• Acoustic Guitarists Annotated Guide to the Internet

• The West Kootenay Bluegrass Club Visting the West Kootenay's? Log on and find out what's going on. Lots of jams, concerts, workshops, and news. A busy Bluegrass scene tucked in the prettiest country you've ever seen!
• The Waskasoo Bluegrass Society great website from the Red Deer, Alberta music community.
• Foothills Bluegrass Club, Calgary Our local Bluegrass Club - worthy of your support!
• The Pacific Bluegrass and Heritage Society of Vancouver, BC Canada.
• Bluegrass in Australia
• Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine
• Bluegrass World A source for Bluegrass links.
• The Ottawa Valley Bluegrass Music Association
• i-Bluegrass Magazine. More bluegrass than at which you can shake a stick!

• Charles Shifflett Stringed Instruments Outstanding Builder of everything from Grypsy Jazz Guitars to Banjos, Reso's etc. etc. - Located an hour South of Calgary
• Judy Threet guitars I coulda' bought one 3 years ago but now I can't afford it. Maybe you can! Even if you can't the website is worth a visit!
• Doug MacLean A Calgary builder who is a new face on the scene!
• Pendennis Instruments Living in Europe and looking for a good luthier? This chap makes some lovely looking instruments.
• Sheba Musical Instruments Home Page of Gavin Bairdbuilder of fine Mandolins and Guitars - and he lives in Winnipeg!!
• Timeless Instruments
• Peter Coombe-Mandolins The famous Australian builder. Outstanding mandolins.
• Orcas Island Tone Woods. Bruce Harvie supplies great materials for those making mandolin, Violins, Cellos, and occaisionally Archtop Guitars!!
• Frank Ford's "Frets.com" - A great website for all you budding repair folks.
• Roberto Venn School of Lutherie the place to learn how to build guitars
• Luthier's Mercantile - A source for all the things you need to build your first guitar.
• The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans - An organization dedicated to helping you build your instruments.
• Laurie Williams Guitars A New Zealander who is building some very exciting instruments - check out his "Lord of the Rings" guitars - real museum pieces!
• Richard Poitras - Set up and repair of fretted instruments in the Calgary area

• MacAddict Magazine
• Mac OS Daily News

• Lawrence Chrismas. Photographer
• Custom Cribbage Pegs I don't usually add non-musical links, but this is an interesting product. the technology might also lend itself to Bridge Pins for guitars. ;-)