Subject: Re: OT: Rachel Price - Oh my!
wzambon: Completely OT: Chris Thile is one of the best mandolin players in the country.

Yeah, not much argument that Thile is one of the best and probably the most technically proficient player. His Bach renditions are crazy.

But Sierra Hull is my personal favorite. I saw her a few weeks ago as the opening act for The Milk Carton Kids. Speaking of Thile, she played alongside him when she was nine or ten. And with Alison Krauss and Sam Bush at about the same age (Same Bush, another top mandolin player said when he met her and she played for him at nine, he felt like he was watching the future of mandolin music... great fun to see them playing together more than 20 years later). Then she met Molly Tuttle at some music camps and has also played a lot with Billy Strings. She's been pushing the boundaries of her early bluegrass roots into some really innovative styles.

I guess I should also mention Chris Hillman, not technically as gifted a player but brought the mandolin into rock and country rock, I guess. Here's the brief story of how he was gifted his 1924 Gibson Lloyd Loar F5 mandolin (value, about $150,000 or so). https://www.latimes.com/943388...

Sierra Hull videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

With Sam Bush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

With Molly Tuttle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

On guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...