by Jim Knobloch

The picture to the right shows Brian Wicklund playing the German fiddle donated by Lane’s Lutherie of Madison, one of the spectacular prizes in the SWBMAI raffle. Brian is the author of the highly-acclaimed American Fiddle Method (Mel Bay Publications) and a first-choice instructor for many jam camps and festivals internationally. He performs with the acoustic power trio Brother Mule (http://brothermule.com) and Minnesota-based Brian Wicklund and the FiddlePals (http://www.fiddlepal.com).

Brian joined forces with SWBMAI member band Tangled Roots (http://www.tangledrootsbluegrass.com), the host band at the Mt. Morris Jam Camp (http://www.mtmjamcamp.com) in August. This year SWBMAI offered tuition scholarships for two SWBMAI members to attend this weekend bluegrass jam camp at the beautiful Mt. Morris Conference Center near Wautoma (http://www.mt-morris.org). A wonderful experience for anyone interested in learning about bluegrass music and how to play it!

Barry Lehman, one of the jam camp organizers, shamelessly promoted SWBMAI at every opportunity. During intermission at the Saturday night public performance by Tangled Roots, Brian Wicklund demonstrated to the audience what that fine German fiddle is capable of sounding like. I sold quite a few raffle tickets that evening with their enthusiastic support!