Faculty:
The faculty for this weekend of primarily Celtic CBOM fun and frolic are a small group of bouzouki+ folk who have been getting together for some time, have enjoyed it wildly, and have decided to spread the joy with like minded folk to do some learning and playing together in a lightly organized, informal way to enjoy and expand on the CBOM experience. To date, they include but are not necessarily limited to Lindsay Straw, Steve Smith, Anne Luna, Louis Scuderi & Ken Gilman.
Lindsay Straw is a guitarist, bouzouki player and singer. She has been immersed in the vibrant Irish and folk music scenes of Boston for a decade, releasing two solo albums and one with her Irish band, The Ivy Leaf. From her home base in New England she’s toured the U.S., Ireland and England, both solo and in ensemble. Most recently, she’s been teaming up with partner Jordan Santiago to blend American fiddle tunes and improvisation with Irish tunes and British ballads.
Steve Smith is not only known as one of this country’s top mandolin players but also as an outstanding educator with over seventy music camps under his belt. Along with his work with the duo Tim May and a Steve Smith and Roots/Bluegrass group The Hard Road Trio Steve has been on faculty at the California Coast Music Camp, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Music Camp, Colorado Roots Music Camp, Zoukology, Hill Country Acoustic Music Camp, Zoukfest and Camp Bluegrass (for over twenty years running). Smith is also co founder of the DNA Music Camp, the Southwest Mandolin Camp, DNA Songwriter Camp and Summer Camp. Smith has appeared at festivals and venues including Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, High Mountain Hay Fever, Rocky Grass, Swallow Hill, Freight and Salvage, Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival, the Big Horn Mountain Festival, and the Minnesota Old-time and Bluegrass Festival to name a few.
With the Las Cruces Symphony he has performed works of William Grant Still, Gershwin and George Crumb and the musical Chicago. Along with forty years of coast to coast touring, Smith has performed in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Cuba and the US Virgin Islands. He has also performed in musical theater in Cotton Patch Gospel (multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and actor) and the Robber Bride Groom; he composed and performed the score for a production of the Sam Sheppard play Curse of the Starving Class. Steve has appeared on over 40 albums as performer and producer including guitar legends Jim Hurst, Mitch Perry, and Tim May, banjoist Bill Evans, Alan Munde, and Tim O'Brien. His music has been heard on countless radio stations across the US and Europe and on the Discovery Channel, The History Channel and even the Weather Channel.
Anne Luna is a full-time musician - living the dream - most known as an upright bass player across a wide spectrum of genres. From The Hard Road Trio to more recent collaborations with The High Desert Playboys and Hondo Coyote, Anne is a key player in the NM roots music scene. She is also an accomplished singer, songwriter, and teacher, in high demand not only for private lessons but also at camps like ours, Desert Night Acoustic Music Camps, Camp Bluegrass, among others.
Anne has found the bouzouki to be a great muse for her songwriting, as well as expanding her musical growth and expression. Whether you're looking for songwriting guidance or a fresh way to approach the instrument, Anne's unique perspective and rich performance and teaching experience will have you fired up to play. She also leads the whole crew in some light yoga every morning to get us limbered up and in alignment!
Anne's bouzouki was made by fellow bassist and luthier Bill Bussman of Old Wave Instruments.
Ken Gilman is a bouzouki, bass mandolin & mandolin player (who occasionally shows up on tenor banjo, tenor guitar, baglama, Waldzither, fiddle or octave fiddle). Home base is Celtic music, but he sometimes dabbles. Besides playing with Mandology, he practices a little psychology, is music director for a weekly Episcopal folk mass, teaches a week long class on the Obbligato Instrument in the Liturgical Ensemble for the Guitar and Ensemble Institute of NPM, ‘manages’ the Albuquerque Mandolin Orchestra, and teaches a bit.
Louis Scuderi plays the mandolin, bouzouki, and guitar among other fretted string instruments, though he started out on the cello. His music is most strongly influenced by the folk music of Scotland and Ireland as well as contemporary American Folk. He has been playing traditional music since the age of eleven and has been a regular session player and a member of several bands. He specializes as a backing player on Bouzouki and Guitar in the Albuquerque Irish Traditional Music community, but also performs on classical Mandolin, notably with Opera Southwest and the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, he plays with Ken Gilman and Maria Dickinson in the long-running folk/acoustic trio Mandology and plays lead guitar for the new Albuquerque-based rock band Bad Juju. Louis also builds instruments as a hobbyist, including all of the guitars he plays.