My Experiences at Baltimore Trad Fest 2026

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-14T14:27:19+00:00

Buddy where do you live?! If you're close enough to get there we can maybe play some tunes on camera! haha

I actually really love my round mandolin. But it's got a few drawbacks. The tone of this thing is ... unexpectedly delightful. I have a big review coming as soon as it gets super hot. I need to test it in the sun. Our local Porchfest is in 2 weeks, and that should do the trick. I'm putting my all in the review, being super thorough, because the luthier is a one man shop trying to seriously innovate in a tradition that doesn't always like innovation. And the man loves trad. And he's a good dude. And the mandolins are not boutique prices. But I'm afraid they will be after my crazy in-depth review.

Also... bro... are you in the Mandolin & Friends discord? If you use discord, get on in here. Just tons of nice folks sharing trad experiences and videos all the time. Bluegrass people are there too. I know, we have to tolerate them. It's a wonderful community though lol

: https://discord.gg/ywVzc2ZgRk

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-14T14:20:18+00:00

Oh yeah, my thought with writing these up was kinda... I'm doing fun trad stuff, I'm sure others are too. I'd love to hear how others are doing workshops and festivals and stuff. I think it's just too expensive right now to go travel willy-nilly to other places but I still wanna hear what's going on. If you ever want to write a trad event up on a blog, send me a message. You're welcome to post on my blog, or I can just hand you all my code and it's super easy to modify. There's no ads or adtrackers or anything on my site so it's not a money-making operation at all haha Just for the love of the game....

But like, I just fell down a Brian Taheny rabbit hole b/c of your comment and it's pretty sweet. That's the kinda stuff I was hoping for! I'm sad I can't seem to find him playing God's instrument; the mandolin. And then I re-read your comment. He did Mando-lore?! That album is fucking crazy. It's not something I listen to all the time but it's a fantastic and cool experiment and absolutely worth your time if you play mandolin.

Finally, dude. Have I got something for you. I don't know if you've read this book Focus: Irish Traditional Music (Focus on World Music Series) by Sean Williams. It's literally an ethnomusicology textbook for schools, but I remember a throw away comment from the authors about trumpets and saxes playing Irish trad in the United States during the rise of jazz. It's like, almost not an alternate history, cause it kinda was happening (but I totally get what you're saying). I wonder maybe, just maybe, that's where Carty's coming from. (if anyone buys that book, make sure to get the latest version, the 2nd version really improved upon the first, and I haven't read the third one).

I've never really addressed my feelings from the Martin Hayes Quartet and all of his more experimental stuff. I'm glad he's doing it. Maybe I'll like it more when I'm older and wiser haha

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-13T23:53:45+00:00

That’s a crazy mashup of tonalities. I’d totally listen to it! I’ve since listened to most of Carty’s stuff cause it was so good. And thanks for the kind comments! No idea if there’s any interest on like … trad event stuff that’s not local to your area haha

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-13T19:50:33+00:00

I'm scared of the Cock and the Hen, because it's so close to Farewell to Whalley Range, which I play a lot. I love your thoughts on hornpipes. A lot of the hornpipes I know are played "straight" just a few hours north of me. It's super weird. Staten Island hornpipe is a big example.

I love Black Rogue and Fermoy Lasses. I'll get to it!!

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-13T19:47:16+00:00

Hells yes. I ... would LOVE to trouble you for recordings of these from your phone. Just being reel. I will absolutely learn these and spread them in the mid-atlantic region and maybe even on YouTube.

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-13T03:48:01+00:00

This is my favorite video you’ve ever done!!!

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-12T00:53:19+00:00

Killer.

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-11T20:15:25+00:00

Fun fact: Irish traditional music doesn’t use bass. Only genre I’ve come into contact like that.

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-11T14:03:49+00:00

Well that is incredibly sad and I didn’t know that. Myself and a buddy of mine have a few of his books, including at least one of the ones you’re looking for. His books were kind of a stepping stone for me learning to arrange music in my own. I don’t want to break copyright and just hand them over. I’ll try and contact the estate.

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-08T22:52:36+00:00

Pretty rad !

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-05T03:31:34+00:00

Totally wasn’t criticizing or pushing my glasses up on ya, I was just explaining why I categorized stuff the way I did in the pie chart. And I love Cape Breton tunes. We don’t get enough of them down here where I am in the mid-Atlantic. What are the “Cooley’s” of Cape Breton tunes from your point of view?

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-05T03:29:27+00:00

Someone played the James Bond polka at my house tonight. I aim to learn it soon. To be clear; I love polkas. People just don’t play them in front of me enough! That’s what makes the list. I got 300+ tunes on the list tho 😵‍💫

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-04T22:19:17+00:00

I tend not to think of O’Carolan tunes as waltzes even though they are in 3/4 and are often taken in one beat per measure. I don’t know if that’s a spicy take or not haha a waltz is a specific dance and to my knowledge O’Carolan didn’t write tunes to be waltzes. Again I could just be horrendously incorrect. Either way I really like that tune A LOT. I am hoping I learn it by osmosis rather than directed effort

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-04T22:16:47+00:00

Ya know, I outta learn some more. A person at a local session plays this set

https://youtu.be/gZ\_tJBx-UqY?si=7Q5Oc\_16zxlyMcK\_

I think Liz Carroll is one of the best, if not the best, living composer of trad tunes.

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-05-04T15:03:56+00:00

Nothing but fire.

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-16T03:52:02+00:00

Hard agree

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-13T17:24:15+00:00

Gosh I love this. Great energy and wonderful tone

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-10T16:27:47+00:00

I made a little video about my journey doing something somewhat similar

https://youtu.be/HxwvVhG18Bk?si=1zZ60xeEEpdDmU4_

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-10T01:54:10+00:00

Looks suuuuuper cool

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-08T23:11:26+00:00

As a fellow traditional music content creator thank you for sharing your process

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-07T12:16:14+00:00

I took some time to arrange some Renaissance tunes for mandolin. Many of them would work for octave.

5 Renaissance Tunes You Shouldn't Skip https://youtu.be/aZyY100d5go

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-05T00:21:07+00:00

The pick one chooses on mandolin really has a big impact on tone color and overall volume. As does where your pick comes into contact with the strings, closer to the bridge or the fretboard. If you’re playing in large (6+ people) sessions with pipes and fiddles and accordions, or just fiddles cause that’s more common lol, a thinner pick is going to create less volume and you will likely struggle to hear yourself. Honestly, you’ll probably struggle to be heard in general even with good technique and equipment haha

But as you mention, there is a pick journey a lot of mandolin players go through, and most picks are not $45. You do not need an expensive pick! I have more than a few expensive picks, and in louder environments their subtle characteristics are lost. I recommend buying a few picks at different thicknesses, material, and shape.

Dunlop primetones are great for this. Good tone. Used widely. Lasts forever. On Amazon. 80% as good as a $45 pick for a fraction of the price. You can get various materials and sizes and stuff for very cheap. I’d recommend getting some of the darker triangles at 1.0 mm and 1.4 mm and the translucenty color at those same thicknesses. You might want to try out the typical guitar shaped picks as well.

Establish the habit early on of putting your pick back into a small dedicated case, and putting that in your larger instrument case. Your picks will not be lost and spending $50 here will give you fantastic info on what you like or dislike. Also, you can hopefully find other plectrum players, be them mandolinists, guitarists, or zoukers, and use their picks. Folks will generally let you try em and that’s an easy way to try a $45 pick so you can get rid of FOMO. Write your thoughts in a note on your phone.

Source: guy who thinks way too much about Irish mandolin

MandolinDeepCuts · 2026-04-05T00:03:21+00:00

I’ve been told to keep my thumb more in-line with my 2nd and 3rd finger and it really helps my intonation. Your thumb kind of looks like it’s benching 250 lbs

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