Rosin the Bow with Joe McHugh – Details, episodes & analysis

This podcast continues my conversation with two remarkable and thoughtful musicians. It also explores how the principles of abstract geometry can inform both the composition and performance of violin music and how different cultures and musical traditions can enrich the experience of music and of life itself.

Purnaprajna Bangere is both a brilliant mathematician and a highly-respected violinist trained in the classical violin music of southern India. David Balakrishnan is a violinist, composer, and member of the Turtle Island String Quartet who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2017, David spent several months as an artist-in-residence working with Purna in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas. This interview explores their unique musical collaboration that weaves together the classical violin music traditions of southern India with that of Europe and the United States.   

Marco Imer Piccinotti is a highly-regarded violin maker living in the town of San Polo d'Enza in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Paula and I visited Marco at his home where I recorded this interview.

This is part two of my fascinating interview with violinist and music educator Christian Howes. 

Christian Howes is a gifted violinist who grew up in Ohio playing classical music, soloing with the Columbus Symphony at the age of sixteen. But then his life was turned upside down when he was sentenced to served four years in prison. I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2016 to ask Christ to share his remarkable story with us. This is part one of that conversation.

I recorded this hour-long interview with violin maker Mark Keenan in 2017 when my wife Paula and I traveled to Ireland. Mark's studio is inside the historic Belmont industrial flour mill in Co. Offaly. Mark's grandfather was also a violin maker at the beginning of the twentieth century in Dublin. 

Here is part two on my conversation with old-time musician Jody Stecher that ranges from music theory, what's in tune and what's not in tune when playing different fiddle tunes for instance, to the intricacies of an old ballad about two sisters who fall in love with the same young man with the refrain, "Oh the Dreadful Wind and Rain." Jody also shares his history with different violins he's owned over the years.

Jody Stecher is one of the most highly respected folk musicians in the world today. His knowledge of the genre is encyclopedic and his singing and skill on a variety of traditional string instruments is unrivaled. I interviewed Jody at his home in San Francisco in 2017. This is part one of that conversation.  

While attending the National Folk Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2015, I had the opportunity to interview fiddler Courtney Granger who was performing at the festival with the Pine Leaf Boys. Sadly, Courtney passed away recently and I wanted to share this interview with others. He was a talented musician and a lovely human being. He will be missed.

Clay Buckner is an old-time and Celtic fiddler living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For many years, Clay has been the fiddler for one of my favorite string bands, the Red Clay Ramblers. I recorded this interview at his home after which we spent a pleasant evening playing tunes together.