Joe K. Walsh and Grant Gordy

The Parlor Room (32 Masonic Street, Northampton MA 01060)

Music

“one of the best acoustic duos performing today” – Fretboard Journal Monstrously talented guitarist Grant Gordy and mandolin virtuoso Joe K. Walsh are two prominent voices in the world of bluegrass and acoustic music. It's no wonder: Gordy formerly served as guitarist in the David Grisman Quintet, while Walsh was a founding member of progressive string band Joy Kills Sorrow and longtime mandolinist for bluegrass darlings the Gibson Brothers. With a great loveand deep knowledge of the great acoustic musicians who have come before, Grant and Joe approach the guitar and mandolin duet with a wide-eyed and infectious improvisatory spirit. They’ve played together all over North America and Europe and, with fiddler Darol Anger, co-founded the wild, inventive string band Mr Sun. For several years Brooklyn-based guitarist Grant Gordy has been a major voice in the American roots music world, and one of the most highly regarded young instrumentalists of his generation. He held the guitar chair in the legendary David Grisman Quintet for six years, and has also worked alongside such musical luminaries as Edgar Meyer, Steve Martin, Tony Trischka and Darol Anger. Grant's music has been heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts, and he's performed all over the world, from Carnegie Hall to Bonnaroo, Finland to India. “Grant Gordy is a special musician. While being a bluegrass musician at heart, Grant’s incredible breadth of harmonic and rhythmic knowledge from jazz gives him a strikingly singular voice on the guitar; one that is worth giving your attention.” -No Depression Hailed by David Grisman as a “wonderful mandolin player”, the CBC-Newfoundland as “one of the best mandolinists of his generation”, Boston-based mandolin player Joe K. Walsh is known for his exceptional tone and taste, and his collaborations with acoustic music luminaries including legendary fiddler Darol Anger, flatpick guitar hero Scott Nygaard, folk star Jonathan Edwards, and pop/grass darlings Joy Kills Sorrow. He’s played with everyone from John Scofield to Bela Fleck to EmmylouHarris, and performed everywhere from festivals to laundromats to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. After a number of award-winning years as mandolinist with bluegrass stars the Gibson Brothers, Joe currently splits his time between an inventive string band called Mr Sun (featuring Darol Anger, Grant Gordy and Aidan O’Donnell) a duo with Grant Gordy, and his own band. An avid educator, Joe is a mandolin instructor at the Berklee College of Music. He teaches regularly at music camps throughout North America and beyond, and teaches online through Peghead Nation.