New Music

Wimberley, Tex. — Mandolinist Billy Bright and banjo legend Alan Munde have announced the release of Es Mi Suerte, the first new recording since their 2014 acoustic duet project Bright Munde.

Es Mi Suerte showcases a wide variety of instrumental mastery of Munde and Bright's years in acoustic roots music. Eight of the ten songs are originals, capturing the spirit of traditional and progressive bluegrass, 1950s folk, Texas waltzes, a blend of "Tex-Mex-Cajun" ...

Jeff Midkiff has announced the release of his newest project, Music for Mandolin and String Quartet, by the Carpe Diem String Quartet & Jeff Midkiff.

The three-part "From the Blue Ridge" is the signature feature of the recording and reflects Midkiff's roots and love of bluegrass ...

Arden, NC — A living legend recently inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, master mandolin player and singer Roland White is celebrating a trailblazing period of his storied career with new recordings of songs he helped make classic.
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Boston — David Benedict has announced the official release of his new solo recording, The Golden Angle, for Friday, October 26.

Already receiving glowing reviews ahead of its official release, The Golden Angle is poised to be one of the premier mandolin albums of the year and should in the Mandolin Cafe's opinion become a clear candidate for Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year for the International Bluegrass Music Association. ...

Classical mandolinist Julien Martineau has announced the pending release of his newest recording, Come Una Volta - Vivaldi, Calace, Caudioso.

Two of the famous concertos by Vivaldi appear here on this intensely romantic album. Martineau, one of today's greatest figureheads of classical mandolin, has recorded for Naïve. We also finally get to hear, thanks to the world premiere recording, the legendary, virtuosic and poetic second concerto (of which the manuscript was lost) by Raffaele Calace (1863-1934).

Extensive liner notes including an interview with ...

Asheville, N.C. — Veteran bluegrass mandolinist Rudi Ekstein has announced the release of his new solo recording, Carolina Chimes - Rudi Ekstein's All Original Bluegrass Instrumental Showcase, on the Foxfire Recording label.

With Carolina Chimes, a collection of a dozen hot bluegrass instrumentals, Ekstein ...

Thomas Cassell has announced the release of his newest solo project, Voyager, original compositions for string band featuring his brilliant mandolin playing along with a host of equally talented musicians.

About the new release Cassell told us, "This album was a whole lot of fun to make. ...

Andrew Marlin of the band Mandolin Orange has announced the release of his mandolin instrumental album entitled Buried In a Cape, a collection of original compositions.

Includes supporting work by Eli West (guitar, banjo), Christian ...

Bologna, Italy — Tactus, the Italian Classical Music label, has announced an October 5 release of Sauli: Six Partitas for Solo Mandolin, by Davide Rebuffa.

Little is known about the life of Sauli, of Florentine origin, but it is known he was hired in Vienna at the Hapsburg court in the early eighteenth century.

Sauli probably composed this music that, as compared to the seventeenth-century manuscripts (whose content consists of simple dances, not yet in extended musical forms such as Suites or Sonatas), mark an important change in the nature of the ...

Adventure Music has announced an August 17 release for Mike Marshall & Caterina Lichtenberg entitled Third Journey.

About the new recording Mike and Caterina said, "On our first recording, Mike Marshall & Caterina Lichtenberg, we were simply trying to find common musical ...

Genoa, Italy — Dynamic, an Italian independent record label founded in 1978 specializing in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works, has announced a July 27 release for Bach: Harpsichord Concertos Transcribed for Mandolin, by Davide Ferella.

The recording is available as an MP3 download and ...

Boston — David Benedict has announced the second single release from his new upcoming solo recording The Golden Angle, the track "Leaf by Niggle."

About this track David shared with us: "The title is a nod to the great short story of the same title written by J.R.R Tolkien. When I first read this work, it really resonated with me how Niggle, the main character in the story, has a deep longing to be productive and to create beautiful art but keeps getting sidetracked by his own compulsions and distractions.

"Niggle has a grandiose vision to paint a beautiful, glorious tree but spends so ...

Nashville, Tenn. — Nashville-based mandolinist Isaac Eicher has announced the release of his first solo recording entitled Native Language, now available for pre-order.

A two-time Walnut Valley Mandolin Contest winner, Eicher hails from a musically prominent family based in Oklahoma that includes his ...

Washington, D.C. — Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has announced the release of Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey, by various artists.

On Epilogue, the bluegrass music community comes together to create a marvelously fitting tribute to "the father of modern ...

Boston, Mass. — Ethan Setiawan has announced the release of his new recording entitled Flux for Friday, May 18.

Flux is a collection of all original compositions except for "Metaphorical Door," composed by Sam Leslie, Avery ...

Toronto, Canada — The Andrew Collins Trio has announced the release of a double project, two separate recordings, entitled Tongue and Groove.

11 vocal cuts (tongues) to 11 instrumentals (grooves) create a seamless finish for their cleverly monikered and mandolin delicious double album entitled Tongue & Groove ...

Siler City, N.C. — 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award Recipient Tony Williamson celebrates this prestigious honor with "Heritage," an anthology of unreleased or out-of-print highlights from an illustrious 50-year recording career.

Williamson will be honored by the North Carolina Arts Council for his unique lifetime contributions in a ceremony May 23 in Raleigh, N.C.

Beginning with brother Gary in 1968, the recording opens with a blistering instrumental version of "John Henry," and covers each phase and decade with contributions from such music legends as Tony Rice, Vassar Clements, Jerry Douglas and today's stars ...

Nashville, Tenn. — 7-Eleven and Circle K Convenience Stores have announced a partnership resulting in the release of All-Star Instrumental ABBA Greatest Hits Mandolin Tribute, available exclusively at convenience stores nation-wide.

The Swedish pop group ABBA, formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad derives the group's moniker from the first letter in each of their names. ...

Sanremo, Italy — Mandolinist Freddy Colt has released Mandolinology, an album of jazz twinged orchestra and vocal tracks with mandolin as the prominent solo voice.

Colt is a prominent history and musicology author and lecturer, ...

Brooklyn, N.Y. — Solo Sounds Records has announced the release of Solo Mandolin: Jimmy Ryan Performs Top Gospel Hits.

Solo Sounds is a relatively new concept label launched in 2016 that specializes in intimate recordings of iconic songs and albums performed ...

Hampton, Conn. — The New American Mandolin Ensemble (NAME) has announced the release of its first recording entitled Contemporary Works for Plucked Strings. Subtitled "New classical music for plucked string instruments reflecting folk, jazz and world music influences," the selections reflect the eclectic, ...

Mark Johnson and Emory Lester celebrate 20 years of original, unique and creatively string music with the release of their brand new project, Acoustic Milestones.

Clawgrass/clawhammer banjoist Johnson and mandolinist/multi-instrumentalist Lester have created a new ...

San Rafeal, Calif. — Acoustic Disc has announced the release of Pickin', a musical collaboration between guitarist Tommy Emmanuel and David Grisman.

The project is available as a download or CD and is currently available for preorder.

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New York — Chris Thile's new album, Thanks for Listening, will be released on Nonesuch Records December 8, 2017.

The album is a collection of songs originally written for performance on A Prairie Home Companion. Since becoming the American Public Media program's host, Thile has, each week, written one new (often topical) "Song of the Week" that gets its debut performance on that Saturday's ...