Join your local folksong society. Here are 2 I belong to:
If you live in Central PA like I do, check out The Whitaker Center for great live music. Radio : The following stations have been extra supportive: Whole Wheat Radio: They are an internet radio station from Alaska. They even had a Robert Bobby day. Music You Can't Hear on the Radio: John Weingart from Princeton New Jersey. WPRB. He had F*U*B*A*R on his top 10 albums of 2001. There have been numerous folk dj's that have played my songs on their programs. I particularly want to thank Larry Hoyt, John Mclaughlin, John Platt, & Harlon Joye for their continued support. Also, Gene Shay & Chuck Elliott at WXPN. Thanks to all. Check out what Jeff Coleman is doing at his Steam Powered Studio in Lancaser, PA. He sometimes has music of mine that I don't. OTHER STUFF: I am an acoustic guitar lover. Right now we are in the golden age of acoustic guitar makers. I am not a guitar collector per se, since I don't have the money to spend on them. My current guitars are: A) A 1990 Santa Cruz Model H guitar with Koa back & sides. This is my main guitar I use when I play out since it has a Baggs pickup installed. It is a beautifully made small body guitar & I would be a fool to ever get rid of it. B) My other main guitar is a Robertson SJ (small jumbo) with walnut back & sides & a cedar top. This is one of two prototypes made for this SJ guitar model. I bought it used & do not know what year it might have been made. It has a very big sound with a lot of overtones. I stumbled upon Robertson guitars during a visit to Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island-which is a great guitar store. I had never heard of Robertson guitars but they had 4 or 5 on the wall & I just tried them all & was so impressed I started looking for a used one to fit my budget. I was fortunate to find one at Cathedral Music . I loved dealing with Clem, the owner, and I would recommend Cathedral Music to anyone. One of these days I hope to take a trip up to see his store in person. I got my Robertson via UPS. I wouldn't recommend buying a guitar without playing it but in this case it worked out fine. C) I also recently bought a 1964 Gibson J-200. This is a jumbo guitar and it sounds great. I have recently done some recording with this guitar. Someday I'll play a Robertson Jumbo & see how it compares. D) Lastly, I bought a badly beat up 1967 Gibson J-45 for $250. I figured , if nothing else, it would be a good travel guitar. For not much more than a Martin Backpacker, I got a real guitar with real cracks & everything. It is a pretty guitar with a cherry sunburst finish. It is not a slope shoulder J-45, rather it is a regular dreadnaught shape. It is currently at the repair shop to have some of the major cracks fixed. Guitars I had but no longer have include: my first acoustic guitar: a 1967 Martin 000-18. for a short while I owned a 1939 Martin D-18. This is the one that got away. I sold it when we were broke in 1987. It was a truly remarkable guitar with a beautiful aged finish. Gibson J-200 Robertson Santa Cruz H Gibson J-45
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