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Darren Nicholson
Darren Nicholson is a musician based in Western North Carolina. He is a recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association's - Album of the Year award, and has appeared countless times on WSM's Grand Ole Opry and at the Ryman Auditorium. For three years he toured with Rounder recording artist Alecia Nugent as a full time member of her band. He has shared the stage was such greats as Merle Haggard, George Jones, Marty Stuart, Doyle Lawson, Jon Randall, Raymond Fairchild, Rhonda Vincent, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Sam Bush, and Vince Gill. He has toured with Audie Blaylock and Redline, Hazel Creek, and the Crowe Brothers, and has performed around the world.
I have two mandolins that I play regularly. I have a Gibson F5-G that Steve Sutton purchased for me when I first started playing the mandolin in about 2003. I had been playing about a year but it was my first legitimate working instrument and is still one of the best mandolins I have ever played. This mandolin means a lot to me personally; because it was also the one I played first on the Grand Ole Opry and most of my traveling and recording. Ed Weber created my great Truss Rod Cover. This mandolin was made in 2001. I also have a JBovier mandolin that I have been playing recently and I love it. Jeff Cowherd at JBovier was nice enough to build a mandolin specifically for me. After several talks and meetings we came up with the A5-X, which he called the Darren Nicholson Model. It has all the features I wanted in a mandolin. For years I had been wanting an A-style. It has a solid black face, dull-satin finish, with a sunburst showcasing the beautiful maple on the back. The fingerboard has a very slight radius. It has a very nice, unique tone and is one of the prettiest instruments I have ever seen (www.JBovier.net). It was made in 2008. Both of the mandolins have a James Tailpiece, a Tone Guard, and Baggs electronics. Danny Bishop and Jack Dillen have exclusively done the repair and maintenance for my instruments the past several years.
Since early 2008, I have been using Blue Chip Picks (www. bluechippick.net). And I exclusively use GHS mandolin strings. I switch back and forth between the silk series occasionally and the custom set I get from their custom shop. My custom set favors extra heavy E strings. GHS has a quality and tone that consistently withstands my heavy playing schedule (www.ghsstrings.com). David Schenck from Dogwood Designs (www.dogwooddesigns.com) created the strap for my F-Style out of Deer and Buffalo hide. It's amazingly comfortable. First Quality, Elderly Instruments, Blue Ridge Music, and Strains of Music have taken care of the rest of my musical supplies and needs. I owe a huge thanks to all these folks.
To learn more about Darren Nicholson and his solo project, visit www.DarrenNicholson.net
Discography
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