Rosin the Bow with Joe McHugh

I interviewed James Kelly at the National Folklore Festival in 2015 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Kelly was born and grew up in Ireland and is now living in the United States. His father was the renowned fiddle and concertina player John Kelly. James talks about growing up in a musical family and how traditional Irish music moved from Ireland to America and back again to Ireland thanks to a s...

The interviews I conducted with musicians, luthiers, museum curators, tone wood experts and others for the Rosin the Bow project took place before the Covid 19 pandemic upended all our lives. The impact of the pandemic upon the livelihood of working musicians has been devastating and know one knows when conditions with improve for them. Well, I recently heard of innovative project in Vermont that...

Penny Brill is an accomplished violist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She has also led an effort to bring the healing power of music to hospitals and other medical organizations in the greater Pittsburgh area. I interviewed Ms. Brill at her home in the fall of 2015. In these troubling times of the corona virus outbreak, Ms. Brill offers valuable insights into ways we can be healthy in our...

Hans Johannsson is a violin maker from Iceland. David Fulton is a noted collector of old Italian violins, violas, and cellos. I met and interviewed Hans when he came to David's house in Bellevue, Washington, to examine his collection of rare instruments. It was conversation that covered many subjects related to violin making and the role the arts play in the world today.

Anyone familiar with what is called "old-time" music knows the name Bruce Molsky. As a fiddler, singer, and guitar and banjo player, he has helped keep traditional American folk music alive and well for the better part of fifty years. I interviewed Bruce at the Oly Old-Time Music Festival in Olympia, Washington, in 2016.

Lyris is the former head of marketing for orchestral strings for the D'Addario Musical Strings Company. She is also an accomplished violinist who plays with the popular musical group Indigo Girls. She also has her own rock band named Hung. I interviewed Lyris in 2016 at the Wintergrass Music Festival in Bellevue, Washington.

This is the second part of my conversation with Winifred Horan, fiddler with the Irish musical group Solas, during which she talks about her Jonathan Cooper violin and her decision to return to traditional Irish music after many years of training as a classical violinist.

I interviewed Winifred Horan when she came to perform with the Irish musical group Solas at the Wintergrass Music Festival in Bellevue, Washington, in 2016. This is part one of that conversation in which she talks about her Irish-born parents, her involvement with traditional Irish dancing, and her extensive classical violin training in New York City and Boston.

In part two of my conversation with Gregg Alf, we talk about the day to day life of the violin maker, including the harvesting of tone wood, and what it takes to sell violins in today's world. We also discuss the differences between handmade violins and factory-made violins and Gregg finishes with an unusual story about an antique table and the making of a violin.

In 2015, Paula and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by visiting the city of Venice. While there, we had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Gregg Alf, one of the most highly respected violin makers in the world today. Steeped in the history of the violin and possessing remarkable violin making skills, Gregg also brings to his work a spiritual sensibility befitting these mysterious an...

Joshua Bell is one of the most respected solo violinists in the world today. He also serves as the music director of the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields. I interviewed Mr. Bell backstage after he performed a special Mother's Day concert with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra in 2018.

Tom Barr was one of the first people I interviewed for the Rosin the Bow project. He grew up in Grayson County in the mountains of southwestern Virginia where he now makes violins and banjos and runs a music store in the town of Galax with his son Stevie. Tom learned the art of violin making from Albert Hash who taught many violin makers in that part of the Appalachian Mountains. Tom has also work...

In part 2 of my interview with Mr. Canin, he talks about his career in music including auditioning for the San Francisco Symphony and playing for motion pictures in Hollywood. 

Stuart Canin is one of the most respected violinists in the world today. I interviewed the 91 year old Mr. Canin at his home in Berkeley, California. Having served as concert master for the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Opera, and numerous film score composers such as John Williams and Randy Newman, Mr. Canin, with a $2 violin, also played his part in world history at the conclusion of W...

Chris Haddox is a fiddler, luthier, and professor of environmental studies and West Virginia University. He is also the owner of a violin made in the mountains of West Virginia the early part of the 20th century by a blind violin maker named Tommy Doolittle. Here Chris tells the story about the fiddle and his own experiences being an old-time fiddler.

In the spring of 2015, Paula and I visited Florence, Italy, to interview a family of violin makers. Paolo Vettori is the patriarch of the family who learned to make violins from his father Dario Vettori. Three of his grown children now also make violins with him in his shop. In this podcast I feature my conversation with Paolo and his son Dario II and daughter Sophia. Spending the day with this lo...

In 2016 I visited Greensboro, North Carolina, to interview Russian-born violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky and attend a special concert featuring Mr. Sitkovetsky and violinist Pinchas Zukerman and his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth. He talked about his famous musical parents, his musical training in the former Soviet Union, his Stradivari violin, and what it takes to find beauty and meaning...

Noel Burke is one of the world's leading violin bow makers. He is also the younger brother of noted traditional Irish fiddle player Kevin Burke. I visited Noel at his home in County Carlow in Ireland to find out what it takes to become a bow maker and the vital role the bow plays in the making of music.

In part 2 of my interview with Fan Tao, head of research and development for the D'Addario Musical String Company, Fan talks about how his family came to the United States from Taiwan. He also talks about the history of the D'Addario family who came to the United States from Italy at the turn of the 20th century. The interview ends with Fan giving me a tour of the D'Addario factory in Long Island,...

Fan Tao is head of research and development for the D'Addario Musical Strings Company based in Farmingdale, New York. He is also past president of the Violin Society of America. I interviewed Fan at the D'Addario factory in June, 2015, to learn as much as I could about the history and technology of strings for the violin family of instruments. Here is part one of that interview.

Joseph Kromholz is a violinist and professor of violin and viola at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. I interviewed Mr. Kromholz in the fall of 2015 and we discussed many aspects of playing and teaching the violin, along with the strong connection that exists between the violin and Jewish culture.

Clay Jenkinson is an acclaimed humanities scholar with a deep knowledge about the life and work of Thomas Jefferson, a paragon of the enlightenment whose many interests and passions included playing the violin. Along with offering a unique perspective on this fascinating part of Jefferson's life, Clay weighs in the cultural and political changes taking place in modern society.

In part two of my interview with Irish fiddler Kevin Burke, we explore the relationship between the violin and the electric guitar. He also talks about how he acquired his violin and his bow, the latter a gift from his brother Noel Burke, a renowned violin maker living in Ireland who I later interviewed. He also reflects on the demands made upon the traveling musician, as well as the rewards.

Kevin Burke has been a mainstay of the traditional Irish music scene since the early 1970s. He has performed with groups such as the Bothy Band, Patrick Street, Celtic Music Festival, and Open House. Born and raised in London, Kevin now lives in Portland, Oregon, where I interviewed him in 2017. In part one of this podcast, he talks about his eccentric classical violin teacher and a chance meeting...

In 2015, Paula and I visited Cremona, Italy, the city where the great masters of violin making, Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri, once lived and worked. Thanks to the establishment of a violin making school in Cremona in the 1930s, a hundred and fifty violin makers now call the city their home. Israeli-born Yael Rosenblum is one of the them. She is also a skilled string player and this, along with...