While I knew of Brad from his monthly column in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, I had no idea that he was a hot mandolin picker.
Brad has played guitar with Sam Bush quite a bit and has picked up a lot of ideas from him.
Of course, it was Bluegrass-oriented. The main emphasis was on the "rhythmic groove", with a bit on improvisation. So, it probably wouldn't have been all that appropriate for strictly-ITM folks. It was one of the best-organized workshops I've ever been to, and Brad turned out to be nice, intelligent, and funny. He brought his son, who appeared to be about nine or ten years old and who could play a solid Bluegrass chop in perfect time, backing up his dad on some sample pickin'.
Brad's Web site is at http://www.braddavismusic.com/.
By the way, my Washburn Jethro Burns that I got from Rob (rh) got lots of compliments, both for its looks and for its sound, so I was pretty happy about that. Having a decent mandolin has really gotten me interested in the instrument again. Also, with two new guitars and a new 5-string in the house, it's nice that the Washburn's funky finish makes it unnecessary to be all paranoid about the possibility of the slightest ding.
