Craig Korth Music

My family and I recently moved into a house we renovated. Part of the renovation included building a shop for me to work on instruments.

It overlooks Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, and is a wonderful place to work.

I am putting a temporary bridge on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop until I get an original one. This guitar model was made famous by David Rawlings who is an incredible guitarist and singer. He and Gillian Welch are 2 of my favorite musicians.

I refretted the guitar and can hardly wait to spank that plank!

I had a great summer. It rained so much in July I started to get moldy. Then August and the sun arrived together and the world brightened.

My wife and I sent to our daughters to Stone Age Camp with Chris Morasky and at the the end of camp, he had a big feast that the kids helped prepare. This is a piece of racoon that I scooped out of the pit oven. It had an oaky flavour with a hint of rodent.

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My…

I have collected bluegrass memorabilia for years. One of the treasures I happened upon is an old Grand Old Opry program from the mid 1950′s.

It’s a program that showcases an obscure husband and wife team named Dot and Smokey Swan.

I found this clip in a trade magazine from 1955.I’m not sure Dot and Smokey ever got very famous, but they did play the Opry with Bill Monroe. That alone is cool enough for me. Luckily the new owner of the program got most of Monroe’s band to sign it that day.

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I just wanted to let everyone know who the Guilty Pleasures are. They are the group of wonderful musicians who will be joining me this Saturday Night, May 28, at the Irish Cultural Centre. It’s located in Calgary at 6452 – 35 Avenue NW. The concert is put on by the Foothill Bluegrass Music Society .

The Guilty Pleasures are;

Byron Myhre on Fiddle, mandolin and guitar. Will White on guitar and banjo and Keith Burgess on bass. That’s Byron on the fiddle and Will on the banjo in the picture, back stage at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton, warming…

Some people find cash stuffed in the walls when they rip off the lath and plaster. Others find a jewellery stash. We found this photo behind a cupboard in the kitchen of our new/old house that we are renovating. It’s almost better than stumbling on 3 feet of hundred dollar bills sealed in a wall. Almost.

All I was trying to do was scrape some gum off the wall.

Hiya. Here’s some info about the upcoming Banjo Master Class & Workshop and Concert – Craig Korth & the Guilty Pleasures that I will be giving at the Foothills Bluegrass Music Society in Calgary. You can register through their website.

My lovely wife Julie made this cool poster.

Here are some of the topics I’ll be presenting;

Bluegrass banjo; It’s not just for the lonely any more.

Approaching Back-up without getting your back up.

Swing into Summer with a swing tune.

Double your pleasure…

Yesterday I was literally digging through a pile of old boxes looking for something and I found a cassette tape I thought was long ago lost. It is a recording of my old friend Ronnie Hayward and me in my garage/shop/studio at our old house.

We recorded a version of his song Eileen Blues, which I obviously had no idea what the real title spelling was. He brought over a small Sony reel to reel tape recorder that he got in a pawn shop for $10, his 1930′s Kay upright bass and a Rock and Roll attitude. I had an…

I have played acoustic instruments most of my life and love the finesse that goes into making a musical wooden box out of a log. I used to think that a Fender Telecaster was just a breadboard with a couple of electronic pickups thrown in and a baseball bat sawn in half that was screwed to the body for the neck. I was RIGHT! And what a glorious breadboard it is.

I have fallen in love with the Tele, the guitar, not the British T.V. My first electric guitar was a bad copy of a bad copy of a Gibson…

Back in November I went to Seattle to attend The Fretboard Journal‘s 5th Anniversary Celebration.  If you have not read this magazine, it is one of the most beautiful music related publications out there. Amazing photos and fantastic stories.  The early issues have become collectible, as they are now out of print!

The celebration happened over 3 days and included concerts by Bill Frisell, Danny Barnes and my friends Canote Brothers – Greg and Jere.  The final evening’s concert was famed guitar maker and player Wayne Henderson together with Orville Johnson.

The afternoon of the show, there was a lunchtime party at…