I Heard The Morgan Bell
Brandon Godman is a fiddle player and luthier based in San Francisco, California. Originally from Kentucky, Godman spent time in Cincinnati and Nashville learning his playing and instrument making skills. Along the way he has played with such artists as Melvin Goins, Dale Ann Bradley, Doyle Lawson, and David Peterson, among others, and he has performed on the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall and other venues.
In 2016 he moved to San Francisco and opened The Fiddle Mercantile shop helping the area fiddlers and other musicians, and, in 2022 he acquired The Violin Shop in Nashville to support the local players. He is currently playing with Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands.
This new project is a collection of Godman’s original fiddle tunes where he is accompanied on most cuts by such folks as Riley Calcagno (banjo), John Gooding (guitar), Laurie Lewis (bass, guitar), and Patrick Sauber (banjo, mandolin). Other guest artists include Darol Anger (baritone fiddle), Hasee Ciaccio (bass), George Guthrie (banjo), Sam Reider (accordion, piano), Tristan Scroggins (mandolin), and Joe K. Walsh (mandolin).
The project features three versions of the title “I Heard The Morgan Bell.” The first is simply a fiddle solo, there is a version with many of the artists included, and a version with Sam Reider on piano. Other selections include “Godman’s Bottoms,” “Jack’s Branch” with Patrick Sauber, “Thelma Lilly,” “Death Comes Creepin’,” “Sweet Mary Lou,” “Western Wanderlust,” “Callensville Ferry” with Riley Calcagno, “Great Buck In The Sky,” and “In A Haze” with Darol Anger. Godman is an excellent fiddle player as this project shows. The musicians are skilled and provide a nice accompaniment to Godman.
Very Proud of our Grandson Brandon Scott Godman. His Papaw and I square danced at his first public fiddle performance at Goforth Community Center in Kentucky. Brandon and his Papaw traveled many places in his younger years