Martinsville, Indiana Nov 8th Picking Session

[Gary Hedrick]

I will be hosting a picking session on this day. I have invited a number of great musicians from the area. As a part of this we will have a mandolin expo of sorts, with a number of folks bringing their instruments for all to pick and sample. Will Kimble, Lynn Dudenbostel, Bruce Taggart and Andrew Jerman are coming and possibly Don McRostie.

I have not hosted one of these for the past 4 years so I will be great fun to have one again. We have a number of picking sessions going on in our house at one time and have a room of mandolins on display. At the last one, a group of 6 gathered chairs and sat for 6 hours playing fiddle tunes etc in our master bath!! Mike Cleveland held court for that one. Very interesting to see that number of mandolin/mandola players all passing instruments around and all playing.

I do these in memory of my father, Marvin Hedrick, who used to host a picking session at his radio and television repair shop in Nashville, IN. At those it wasn't unheard of to see Bill Monroe stop by etc. Jerry Garcia, Sandy Rothman, Neil Rosenberg, Mayne Smith etc. were in attendance at one time or another....

Message me for the details....thanks

[JimRichter]

Be there or be square!

[AlanN]

Well Gary,

You have a great time, wish I could make it.

[Gary Hedrick]

It should be great....we have the best blues mandolin picker in the midwest coming along with 2 or 3 of the best luthiers in the country along with a F7's, F5's, Gilchrists, Nuggets, Wiens, etc etc.....

and a bunch of other really greats folks....

[sgarrity]

That sounds like a heckuva good time. Wish I lived closer!

[Ken Froman]

Gary could you email me directions and what time you are starting ? I live in Floyd Knobs so its about a 2 hour drive for me. my email is KFroman70 @ insightbb.com thanx

[Gary Hedrick]

Ken, I'll send you the information.

Also to those that might like to attend that are not "super" pickers etc. Please feel free to come. I always make sure that folks have a chance to pick, to play the instruments in a quiet setting if they want etc. I remember what it was like to be a newby and freaked out of my gourd by some of the bluegrass police types. That isn't what happens in my house......we have a great group of folks that come and all are welcome........now if you want to play "Smoke on the Water" then maybe we'll have to get a special group together for that but .....

[earthsave]

That sounds wonderful. I'm in Bloomington and it'd be a shame if I didnt drive up to attend.

[M Hollen]

I would love to come. Gary, would you please send me directions? I'm coming from Greenwood, IN
email: mandopickin@gmail.com. Thanks so much.

[Gary Hedrick]

I should just give my phone number and address out for those that might want to come...

We live 4 miles south of Waverly, IN on SR 37. Take Perry Road, the first left when going south on SR 37 and then take an immediate left on Lincoln Road. I've have signs up....

We live at 5515 Lincoln Road and the phone number is 317-834-8224.

Feel free to come even if you don't want to play at lot ....there will be plenty of instruments to see.

[JFDilmando]

Gary;
I just wanted to express my appreciation for those like you who do things like this....
I am sorry that I will not be able to attend, as I am currently traveling up north in Canada for biz.... but I have my mando with me and will pick a tune with all of you in mind that day....

I am just kicking myself not being able to be there....

sigh....

Good on ya, and have a blast !

John D

[earthsave]

Looks like I'll be driving up. What time does this kick off? Should I bring anything?

[Gary Hedrick]

Folks will start getting here around 2 to 2:30......thanks for offering but just bring yourself and have fun..........

see you on Saturday.....

[earthsave]

Gary,

Thanks again for hosting and putting together a wonderfully amazing event. For those that missed it, it was hard to describe walking in to see tables of mandolins and being introduced to Lynn Dudenbostel and many others. Then listening to Wil Kimble, Bruce Taggart, David Harvey, and many others talk about instruments and pick. Loads of amazing pickers. I just tried everything and hung out observing most of the night.

Some of the mandolins that I played were a Loar from January 1923 and a 1929 Fern... both amazing sounding and playing instruments. A Monteleone, several Gilchrists, a handful of Dudes, 5 Taggarts (2 old, 3 brand new), 6 or 8 Kimbles, several older Gibsons, a Dickinson, a table full of new Gibsons (several were prototypes), a couple of Eastman prototypes, not to mention the guitars, octave mandolins, and a Mandola or two.

There were mandolins everywhere. Simply sensory overload for me.

[AlanN]

Man-O-Mandolin, that sounds like a large time, indeed!

[thistle3585]

Yes, Gary did a tremendous job as did his family. He also has an exchange student from Germany and I'm anxious to hear her reaction. Sensory overload is an understatement, and I never would have thought that I'd get tired playing a Loar, Monty, Gil etc.
I don't think anyone was expecting Dave Harvey to show up, but I bet his collection rivaled their trade show booth. There were mandolins laying absolutely everywhere. I took 100+ photos and will post some after I sort through them. Scot was gracious enough to "model" a bunch of instruments for me.

andrew

[Gary Hedrick]

Katie our exchange student was in awe of the whole affair. People everywhere in the house.....instruments coming and going....playing....a large number of watchers.......folks coming and grabbing a bowl of soup and a sandwich and running back to watch Dave Harvey play or listen to Jim Richter go wild on a early 40's Martin or one of the many mandolins ......Olivia Smiley on the fiddle isn't too shabby either....I told her that the old Bluegrass Boys group didn't come because several of them were sick.....

She came back into the kitchen from one foray to the shop area and told me that some of those folks were really good.....like she couldn't believe that there were going to be good musicians here. I had told her that a bunch of the folks were A level pickers so she now believes.

These sessions are just marvelous at many levels.....my family and I have a blast at them because we have such nice folks that come to them and they are always so interesting.