Episodes

Sunday Apr 03, 2022
Purnaprajna Bangere & David Balakrishnan - Mathematics as Muse - Part 2
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
This podcast continues my conversation with two remarkable and thoughtful musicians. It also explores how the principles of abstract geometry can inform both the composition and performance of violin music and how different cultures and musical traditions can enrich the experience of music and of life itself.

Saturday Apr 02, 2022
Purnaprajna Bangere & David Balakrishnan - Mathematics as Muse - Part 1
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
Purnaprajna Bangere is both a brilliant mathematician and a highly-respected violinist trained in the classical violin music of southern India. David Balakrishnan is a violinist, composer, and member of the Turtle Island String Quartet who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2017, David spent several months as an artist-in-residence working with Purna in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas. This interview explores their unique musical collaboration that weaves together the classical violin music traditions of southern India with that of Europe and the United States.

Monday Mar 07, 2022
Bashar Matti - Iraqi-American Violinist
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Bashar Matti was born in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War and endured the troubled times of the Kuwait-Iraq War and subsequent United States invasion of his country. Through it all he clung to his love of the violin and music and was eventually able to come to the United States where he studied violin with Kathryn Lucktenberg at the University of Oregon.

Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Amanda Forsyth - Cellist
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Amanda Forsyth is a cellist who was born in South Africa and grew up in Canada. Her father was a composer who inspired her to become a musician. She is married to the violinist Pinchas Zukerman and I interviewed her after a concert she performed with her husband and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday Feb 20, 2022
Daniel Rouslin and the Mystery of the Hidden Violin
Sunday Feb 20, 2022
Sunday Feb 20, 2022
Daniel Rouslin taught violin and music theater at Willamette University for many years. He was teaching there in 1988 when an early 18th century Italian violin was discovered hidden under the floor boards of Waller Hall, the oldest building on the campus of the oldest institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi River. How did violin get there? Who made the violin? What should the school do with such a unique and valuable violin?
Dan tells the story of the remarkable discovery and also shares his own story as a musician and music educator.

Sunday Feb 13, 2022
Rhiannon Giddens - Fiddler, Banjoist, and Singer
Sunday Feb 13, 2022
Sunday Feb 13, 2022
Grammy and MacArthur award winner Rhiannon Giddens grew up in North Carolina near the city of Greensboro, which is where I interviewed her in 2015 while she was performing at the National Folk Festival. A founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, she was trained as an opera singer before her passion for the banjo, fiddle, and folk songs took hold. She has done much to educate the public, as well as fellow musicians, about the contribution African-American musicians have made to the traditional folk music of United States.

Sunday Feb 06, 2022
John Sherba - Violinist with the Kronos Quartet - Part 2
Sunday Feb 06, 2022
Sunday Feb 06, 2022
This is part two of my conversation with violinist John Sherba who is a member of the Kronos Quartet. In this podcast he talks about some of the quartet's innovative musical projects as well as talking about his own violins.

Sunday Feb 06, 2022
John Sherba - Violinist with the Kronos Quartet - Part 1
Sunday Feb 06, 2022
Sunday Feb 06, 2022
John Sherba is a violinist and member of the legendary Kronos Quartet. I interviewed John several months after the Covid 19 pandemic changed everyone's life. Here he talks about his family and his own musical journey.

Sunday Jan 30, 2022
Tony Ellis - Musician, Composer, and Trader of Musical Instruments
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
Tony Ellis' first professional job as a musician was playing banjo for Bill Monroe, considered by many as the father of bluegrass music. Along with being a gifted banjo player and fiddler, Tony also composes some of the sweetest tunes this side of paradise. And if you need your fiddle adjusted or maybe you're in the market for a new instrument, stop by Tony's shop in Circleville, Ohio.
This interview was recorded in 2018 at the Fraley Family Music Festival that is held each year at Carter Caves State Park in the hill country of eastern Kentucky.

Sunday Jan 23, 2022
Marco Imer Piccinotti - Italian Violin Maker - Part 2
Sunday Jan 23, 2022
Sunday Jan 23, 2022
This is part two of my conversation with violin maker Marco Imer Piccinotti who lives in the town of San Polo d'Enza in Northern Italy.

Sunday Jan 23, 2022
Marco Imer Piccinotti - Italian Violin Maker - Part 1
Sunday Jan 23, 2022
Sunday Jan 23, 2022
Marco Imer Piccinotti is a highly-regarded violin maker living in the town of San Polo d'Enza in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Paula and I visited Marco at his home where I recorded this interview.

Monday Jan 17, 2022
Christian Howes - Jazz Violin and the Hero’s Journey - Part 2
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
This is part two of my fascinating interview with violinist and music educator Christian Howes.

Monday Jan 17, 2022
Christian Howes - Jazz Violin and the Hero’s Journey - Part 1
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Christian Howes is a gifted violinist who grew up in Ohio playing classical music, soloing with the Columbus Symphony at the age of sixteen. But then his life was turned upside down when he was sentenced to served four years in prison. I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2016 to ask Christ to share his remarkable story with us. This is part one of that conversation.

Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Mark Keenan - Irish Violin Maker
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
I recorded this hour-long interview with violin maker Mark Keenan in 2017 when my wife Paula and I traveled to Ireland. Mark's studio is inside the historic Belmont industrial flour mill in Co. Offaly. Mark's grandfather was also a violin maker at the beginning of the twentieth century in Dublin.

Monday Dec 13, 2021
Jody Stecher - Old-time Musician - Part Two
Monday Dec 13, 2021
Monday Dec 13, 2021
Here is part two on my conversation with old-time musician Jody Stecher that ranges from music theory, what's in tune and what's not in tune when playing different fiddle tunes for instance, to the intricacies of an old ballad about two sisters who fall in love with the same young man with the refrain, "Oh the Dreadful Wind and Rain." Jody also shares his history with different violins he's owned over the years.

Monday Dec 13, 2021
Jody Stecher - Old-time Musician - Part One
Monday Dec 13, 2021
Monday Dec 13, 2021
Jody Stecher is one of the most highly respected folk musicians in the world today. His knowledge of the genre is encyclopedic and his singing and skill on a variety of traditional string instruments is unrivaled. I interviewed Jody at his home in San Francisco in 2017. This is part one of that conversation.

Thursday Sep 30, 2021
Courtney Granger - Louisiana Fiddler
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
While attending the National Folk Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2015, I had the opportunity to interview fiddler Courtney Granger who was performing at the festival with the Pine Leaf Boys. Sadly, Courtney passed away recently and I wanted to share this interview with others. He was a talented musician and a lovely human being. He will be missed.

Friday Apr 30, 2021
Clay Buckner - Fiddler With the Red Clay Ramblers
Friday Apr 30, 2021
Friday Apr 30, 2021
Clay Buckner is an old-time and Celtic fiddler living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For many years, Clay has been the fiddler for one of my favorite string bands, the Red Clay Ramblers. I recorded this interview at his home after which we spent a pleasant evening playing tunes together.

Monday Jul 27, 2020
Michael Certalic - A Custom-made Violin for a Montana Violinist
Monday Jul 27, 2020
Monday Jul 27, 2020
Michael Certalic is a violinist who lives in Bozeman, Montana, where he heads up the strings program at a local high school. In this podcast, he tells the story of a violin he asked a luthier to make that would contain elements of Montana, a state he dearly loves and that serves as the source of his inspiration as a musician and teacher.

Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
James Kelly - Irish Fiddler
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
I interviewed James Kelly at the National Folklore Festival in 2015 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Kelly was born and grew up in Ireland and is now living in the United States. His father was the renowned fiddle and concertina player John Kelly. James talks about growing up in a musical family and how traditional Irish music moved from Ireland to America and back again to Ireland thanks to a series of recordings made in the early years of the twentieth century.

Sunday Apr 26, 2020
The Violin-Building for Musician Aid Project
Sunday Apr 26, 2020
Sunday Apr 26, 2020
The interviews I conducted with musicians, luthiers, museum curators, tone wood experts and others for the Rosin the Bow project took place before the Covid 19 pandemic upended all our lives. The impact of the pandemic upon the livelihood of working musicians has been devastating and know one knows when conditions with improve for them. Well, I recently heard of innovative project in Vermont that involves the making of a handmade violin and a bow, the streaming in real time on the Internet the making of the violin, and the raffling of violin and bow to raise money for a special fund to help musicians weather these extraordinary times. The project was the brainchild of violin maker Jacob Brillhart but many others stepped up to help make this happen. Here is an interviewed with Jacob and others that tells the story of the project while exploring how those in the violin world can best cope with what is going on. And the raffle is still going on, so listen and buy a ticket or two. You just might get lucky and you'll be helping fellow musicians in the bargain. Just visit: https://sevenstarsarts.rallyup.com/musicianaid

Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Penny Brill - The Healing Power of Music
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Penny Brill is an accomplished violist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She has also led an effort to bring the healing power of music to hospitals and other medical organizations in the greater Pittsburgh area. I interviewed Ms. Brill at her home in the fall of 2015. In these troubling times of the corona virus outbreak, Ms. Brill offers valuable insights into ways we can be healthy in our bodies and in our communities.

Sunday Apr 05, 2020
Hans Johannsson - Icelandic Violin Maker
Sunday Apr 05, 2020
Sunday Apr 05, 2020
Hans Johannsson is a violin maker from Iceland. David Fulton is a noted collector of old Italian violins, violas, and cellos. I met and interviewed Hans when he came to David's house in Bellevue, Washington, to examine his collection of rare instruments. It was conversation that covered many subjects related to violin making and the role the arts play in the world today.

Sunday Mar 29, 2020
Bruce Molsky - Old-Time Fiddler and Singer
Sunday Mar 29, 2020
Sunday Mar 29, 2020
Anyone familiar with what is called "old-time" music knows the name Bruce Molsky. As a fiddler, singer, and guitar and banjo player, he has helped keep traditional American folk music alive and well for the better part of fifty years. I interviewed Bruce at the Oly Old-Time Music Festival in Olympia, Washington, in 2016.

Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Lyris Hung - Acoustic/Electric Violinist and Marketer of Violin Strings
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Lyris is the former head of marketing for orchestral strings for the D'Addario Musical Strings Company. She is also an accomplished violinist who plays with the popular musical group Indigo Girls. She also has her own rock band named Hung. I interviewed Lyris in 2016 at the Wintergrass Music Festival in Bellevue, Washington.

Sunday Mar 15, 2020
Winifred Horan - Fiddler and Composer with the Irish Band Solas - Part 2
Sunday Mar 15, 2020
Sunday Mar 15, 2020
This is the second part of my conversation with Winifred Horan, fiddler with the Irish musical group Solas, during which she talks about her Jonathan Cooper violin and her decision to return to traditional Irish music after many years of training as a classical violinist.

Sunday Mar 15, 2020
Winifred Horan - Fiddler and Composer with the Irish Band Solas - Part 1
Sunday Mar 15, 2020
Sunday Mar 15, 2020
I interviewed Winifred Horan when she came to perform with the Irish musical group Solas at the Wintergrass Music Festival in Bellevue, Washington, in 2016. This is part one of that conversation in which she talks about her Irish-born parents, her involvement with traditional Irish dancing, and her extensive classical violin training in New York City and Boston.

Sunday Mar 08, 2020
Gregg Alf - American Violin Maker in Venice, Italy - Part 2
Sunday Mar 08, 2020
Sunday Mar 08, 2020
In part two of my conversation with Gregg Alf, we talk about the day to day life of the violin maker, including the harvesting of tone wood, and what it takes to sell violins in today's world. We also discuss the differences between handmade violins and factory-made violins and Gregg finishes with an unusual story about an antique table and the making of a violin.

Sunday Mar 08, 2020
Gregg Alf - American Violin Maker in Venice, Italy - Part 1
Sunday Mar 08, 2020
Sunday Mar 08, 2020
In 2015, Paula and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by visiting the city of Venice. While there, we had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Gregg Alf, one of the most highly respected violin makers in the world today. Steeped in the history of the violin and possessing remarkable violin making skills, Gregg also brings to his work a spiritual sensibility befitting these mysterious and enchanting instruments.

Sunday Mar 01, 2020
Joshua Bell - Violinist
Sunday Mar 01, 2020
Sunday Mar 01, 2020
Joshua Bell is one of the most respected solo violinists in the world today. He also serves as the music director of the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields. I interviewed Mr. Bell backstage after he performed a special Mother's Day concert with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra in 2018.

Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Tom Barr - Violin Maker, Music Store Owner, and Labor Union Organizer
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Tom Barr was one of the first people I interviewed for the Rosin the Bow project. He grew up in Grayson County in the mountains of southwestern Virginia where he now makes violins and banjos and runs a music store in the town of Galax with his son Stevie. Tom learned the art of violin making from Albert Hash who taught many violin makers in that part of the Appalachian Mountains. Tom has also worked as a labor union organizer fighting to improve the lives of working people.

Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Stuart Canin- Violinist - Part 2
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
In part 2 of my interview with Mr. Canin, he talks about his career in music including auditioning for the San Francisco Symphony and playing for motion pictures in Hollywood.

Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Stuart Canin - Violinist - Part 1
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Stuart Canin is one of the most respected violinists in the world today. I interviewed the 91 year old Mr. Canin at his home in Berkeley, California. Having served as concert master for the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Opera, and numerous film score composers such as John Williams and Randy Newman, Mr. Canin, with a $2 violin, also played his part in world history at the conclusion of World War II.

Sunday Feb 09, 2020
Chris Haddox Tells the Story of a Blind Violin Maker in West Virginia
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
Chris Haddox is a fiddler, luthier, and professor of environmental studies and West Virginia University. He is also the owner of a violin made in the mountains of West Virginia the early part of the 20th century by a blind violin maker named Tommy Doolittle. Here Chris tells the story about the fiddle and his own experiences being an old-time fiddler.

Sunday Feb 02, 2020
The Vettori Family - Three Generations of Italian Violin Makers
Sunday Feb 02, 2020
Sunday Feb 02, 2020
In the spring of 2015, Paula and I visited Florence, Italy, to interview a family of violin makers. Paolo Vettori is the patriarch of the family who learned to make violins from his father Dario Vettori. Three of his grown children now also make violins with him in his shop. In this podcast I feature my conversation with Paolo and his son Dario II and daughter Sophia. Spending the day with this lovely lovely family in the beautiful city of Florence was an experience my wife Paula and I will never forget and it is with great pleasure I present this podcast.

Sunday Jan 26, 2020
Dmitry Sitkovetsky - violinist-conductor-philosopher
Sunday Jan 26, 2020
Sunday Jan 26, 2020
In 2016 I visited Greensboro, North Carolina, to interview Russian-born violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky and attend a special concert featuring Mr. Sitkovetsky and violinist Pinchas Zukerman and his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth. He talked about his famous musical parents, his musical training in the former Soviet Union, his Stradivari violin, and what it takes to find beauty and meaning in life.

Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Fan Tao - Violin Strings Expert - Part 2
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
In part 2 of my interview with Fan Tao, head of research and development for the D'Addario Musical String Company, Fan talks about how his family came to the United States from Taiwan. He also talks about the history of the D'Addario family who came to the United States from Italy at the turn of the 20th century. The interview ends with Fan giving me a tour of the D'Addario factory in Long Island, NY.

Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Noel Burke - Irish Violin Bow Maker
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Noel Burke is one of the world's leading violin bow makers. He is also the younger brother of noted traditional Irish fiddle player Kevin Burke. I visited Noel at his home in County Carlow in Ireland to find out what it takes to become a bow maker and the vital role the bow plays in the making of music.

Sunday Aug 04, 2019
Fan Tao - Violin Strings Expert - Part 1
Sunday Aug 04, 2019
Sunday Aug 04, 2019
Fan Tao is head of research and development for the D'Addario Musical Strings Company based in Farmingdale, New York. He is also past president of the Violin Society of America. I interviewed Fan at the D'Addario factory in June, 2015, to learn as much as I could about the history and technology of strings for the violin family of instruments. Here is part one of that interview.

Sunday Jul 28, 2019
Joseph Kromholz - Violinist and Teacher
Sunday Jul 28, 2019
Sunday Jul 28, 2019
Joseph Kromholz is a violinist and professor of violin and viola at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. I interviewed Mr. Kromholz in the fall of 2015 and we discussed many aspects of playing and teaching the violin, along with the strong connection that exists between the violin and Jewish culture.

Sunday Jul 21, 2019
Clay Jenkinson - Thomas Jefferson and the Violin
Sunday Jul 21, 2019
Sunday Jul 21, 2019
Clay Jenkinson is an acclaimed humanities scholar with a deep knowledge about the life and work of Thomas Jefferson, a paragon of the enlightenment whose many interests and passions included playing the violin. Along with offering a unique perspective on this fascinating part of Jefferson's life, Clay weighs in the cultural and political changes taking place in modern society.

Sunday Jul 14, 2019
Kevin Burke- Irish Fiddler - Part 2
Sunday Jul 14, 2019
Sunday Jul 14, 2019
In part two of my interview with Irish fiddler Kevin Burke, we explore the relationship between the violin and the electric guitar. He also talks about how he acquired his violin and his bow, the latter a gift from his brother Noel Burke, a renowned violin maker living in Ireland who I later interviewed. He also reflects on the demands made upon the traveling musician, as well as the rewards.

Sunday Jul 07, 2019
Kevin Burke - Irish Fiddler - Part 1
Sunday Jul 07, 2019
Sunday Jul 07, 2019
Kevin Burke has been a mainstay of the traditional Irish music scene since the early 1970s. He has performed with groups such as the Bothy Band, Patrick Street, Celtic Music Festival, and Open House. Born and raised in London, Kevin now lives in Portland, Oregon, where I interviewed him in 2017. In part one of this podcast, he talks about his eccentric classical violin teacher and a chance meeting with Arlo Guthrie in the west of Ireland that led to him recording several fiddle tracks on Arlo's album, Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys, in 1972.

Sunday Jun 30, 2019
Yael Rosenblum - Cremonese Violin Maker
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
Sunday Jun 30, 2019
In 2015, Paula and I visited Cremona, Italy, the city where the great masters of violin making, Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri, once lived and worked. Thanks to the establishment of a violin making school in Cremona in the 1930s, a hundred and fifty violin makers now call the city their home. Israeli-born Yael Rosenblum is one of the them. She is also a skilled string player and this, along with being a woman, provides her with unique insights into what it means to be a luthier in the world today.

Sunday Jun 23, 2019
Pete Sutherland - Old-time Fiddler and Songwriter
Sunday Jun 23, 2019
Sunday Jun 23, 2019
Vermont-born fiddler and songwriter Pete Sutherland has been a mainstay of the old-time music scene for many years. I first met Pete in the early 1980s when we both served on the faculty of the Augusta Heritage Program in Elkins, WV. I later caught up with him at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, where we sat down for a chat about the instrument and music we love.

Sunday Jun 16, 2019
Eric Funk - A Musician for All Seasons - Part 2
Sunday Jun 16, 2019
Sunday Jun 16, 2019
In this second part of the conversation I had with Eric Funk, he talks about the inspiration and creative process behind his concerto A Violin Alone in which a solo violinist not only plays the part of the violin but uses his instrument to mimic all the other instruments in the orchestra. And there is more philosophy as well concerning the special role music plays in our lives.

Sunday Jun 16, 2019
Eric Funk - A Musician for All Seasons - Part 1
Sunday Jun 16, 2019
Sunday Jun 16, 2019
While attending a wedding in Bozeman, Montana, I had the good fortune to interview Eric Funk, musician, conductor, and celebrated composer. Eric is also a professor of music at Montana State University and hosts an Emmy award-winning music and culture program for Montana Public Television.

Monday Jun 10, 2019
David Balakrishnan - Violinist & Composer with Turtle Island Quartet
Monday Jun 10, 2019
Monday Jun 10, 2019
David Balakrishnan is a gifted violinist and founding member of the Turtle Island String Quartet. He is also a composer who draws upon a variety of musical traditions to create works that are both fresh and enduring. I recorded this interview at his home in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015.

Sunday Jun 02, 2019
Aaron Allen - Impact of Violin Making on the Environment
Sunday Jun 02, 2019
Sunday Jun 02, 2019
Aaron Allen is a professor of musicology and environmental studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In this podcast, he looks at the impact instrument making and cultural assumptions about music impact the natural world, the trees, animals, and minerals that make musical instruments possible.

Sunday May 26, 2019
Michael Gray - Jazz Violinist
Sunday May 26, 2019
Sunday May 26, 2019
Michael Gray is a violinist and composer living in the Pacific Northwest who has performed with the gypsy-jazz inspired combo Pearl Django for many years. I interviewed Michael in 2015 at the Wintergrass Music Festival.