Live at the Café Carpe

I've been playing music with Mike Dowling for longer than any other band member. We met in Madison in early 1981 and have recorded three projects together and played gigs continuously in one form or another. In addition to being a great musician, Mike is also an awesome partner to fly fish for trout with, an inspiring musical mentor, and a wonderful friend. On April 4-6, 1996 we met at our favorite music club, the Café Carpe in Ft. Atkinson owned and operated by Bill Camplin and Kitty Welch. Mike came up from Nashville and brought his bass-playing buddy Chris Enghauser for three nights of live recording. Mike had been diving deep into country blues, ragtime guitar, swing, and other vintage styles on funky old guitars he was collecting - particularly metal resophonic instruments. I showed up with my fiddle, Gibson mandolin, and Kalamazoo archtop mandocello. Mike had a solid list of repertoire and after a few lessons I did my best to keep up with him. We wrote one tune together - "Minor Swing" and I play it regularly with my current groups.