The Sound

How to Win Friends, Influence People, and Play the Guitar Meet Mickey Abraham: Teacher, musician, and all-around good fellow. Longtime subscribers to Flatpicking Guitar Magazine will already be well familiar with Mickey, as his excellent monthly instructional guitar column and tablatures have graced the pages of the flatpick.com website beginning around 2008 and continue on…

Setting The Standard For Art And Function What do you get when you combine a master metalsmith/engraver with a multi-instrumentalist?  In the case of Ron Landis, the answer is that you get custom crafted sterling silver fingerpicks unlike any other fingerpicks currently available.  While Archimedes postulated that “the shortest distance between two points is a…

It just makes sense that the finest musical instruments would be comprised of premier quality parts assembled and crafted by experienced luthiers, and that’s the foundation of Bradford and Company’s Hawthorn™ brand of instruments. If retired lawyer Glenn Bradford can’t find a particular part that meets his quality standards he will make it himself or…

“I don’t know how much of this you can share, but I’ll tell you,” joked Larry Cordle about the story behind one of his earliest compositions.   “Two Highways” dates back to the late 1970s—a pivotal period in the life of this renowned songwriter.  It was recorded first by his childhood friend and musical mentor…

And His Fabulous Fiddle Shop Many of the artists that we interview in Bluegrass Unlimited grew up in musical families.  The majority of them are raised in southeastern regions of the United States where bluegrass and country music was played in their homes from the time they were born.  California native Phil Salazar also grew…

Putting Together The Pieces   Photos Courtesy of Bil Vorndick Bil VornDick, audio engineer/producer to the stars, summarized his role in the studio and music industry, “I’m there to help people and I’m good at putting together puzzles. I like putting it together so people will enjoy listening to it.”  VornDick’s puzzles have garnered him…