Mandolin talk from inside the scene.
The Mandolins and Beer Podcast keeps close company with bluegrass and acoustic players, moving from album talk into process, tone, repertoire, and road stories. Its loose, friendly shape leaves room for Patreon notes, merch reminders, festival callouts, and practical nudges to buy the music.
PRESS PLAY
The Mandolins and Beer Podcast is a close-up, conversational show about mandolin music and the people orbiting it. It sounds rooted in the scene. The format is interview-centered, but the surrounding texture matters almost as much as the guest list: Patreon reminders, Mandolin Cafe mentions, album links, merch notes, festival dates, and repeated encouragement to support players directly. That gives the show a lived-in, working-musician feel. Recent episodes move comfortably across bluegrass, acoustic music, fiddle-tune repertoire, instrument design, and the practical business of getting new records heard. Eddie Barbash appears as a saxophone player and musician bringing fiddle tunes onto saxophone. Andy Leftwich’s episode turns toward tone, free-time practice, and the album Aced. Grant Flick’s conversation focuses on process, development, and The Great Door. Jake Jolliffe’s return centers on Jolliffe Plays Jones and a duo album with Michael Daves. John brings the perspective of a multi-instrument virtuoso whose mandolin playing is part of a larger musical life. Cortland Bills from Magoo opens up a discussion of influence, live energy, and how a player can absorb Sam Bush without simply trying to sound like Sam Bush. Adam’s episode shifts into KLOS Guitars, carbon fiber instruments, customer feedback, and the balance between innovation and tradition. Jesse Appelman’s conversation circles through social picking scenes, broad set lists, Bandcamp, and a new album. The show’s rhythm is loose, with restarts and side notes left intact. That looseness helps it feel like a scene conversation rather than a packaged broadcast. It is especially strong on craft talk that remains accessible: tone, repertoire, albums, gigs, gear, and the choices that shape a player’s voice.
Made for: Best for mandolin players, bluegrass fans, acoustic musicians, and record buyers who like hearing how players think, practice, tour, and make albums.
What sets it apart: It combines craft-focused interviews with direct scene advocacy, treating Bandcamp purchases, live shows, merch, and instrument choices as part of the same musical ecosystem.
I’m always looking for inspiration and it turns out so are some of the best players in the world! From tips and tricks to influences, let’s talk some mandolin! (And maybe enjoy a beer or two!)
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Player-to-player questions make mandolin craft legible, from practice and composition to live repertoire and instrument design.
Daniel Patrick turns mandolin conversation into working-musician detail, interviewing players about repertoire, practice, composition, recording and new releases while making room for instrument design.
A ten-bar blues meets carbon fiber, and your inner instrument nerd gets the next round.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A focused conversation about mandolin, influence, and building a sound beyond admiration.
Cortland Bills gives episode 300 a clear point of tension. Magoo is presented as a band with a high-energy live reputation, but the conversation keeps circling the quieter work of turning influence into a voice of one's own.
A grounded builder story about carbon fiber, customer feedback, and the business discipline behind sustainable instrument making.
Adam's account of building carbon-fiber guitars and mandolins works best as a grounded founder story, not a glossy origin myth. He describes starting at 22 with Ian, short on cash and paying builders in guitars for roughly 60 hours of work.
Bebe and Daniel Patrick discuss jazz study and the trouble of carrying solos between instruments.
Bebe recalls jazz school through the work it demanded: listening classes, transcription assignments, Peter Bernstein solos and a piece by Thelonious Monk. From her banjo player's perspective, copying a solo is only part of the task.
Daniel Patrick's release-day conversation with David Benedict turns mandolin craft, self-doubt, and community into one modest milestone.
Release day gives this Mandolins and Beer Podcast episode a quietly exposed center, with Daniel Patrick interviewed by David Benedict as Patrick's album arrives and the podcast's own story comes into focus.
Grant Flick turns a 10-bar blues idea into a clear lesson in restless musical form.
Grant Flick's The Great Door gives the episode its center, though the conversation spends as much time tracing how Flick thinks as how the record sounds.
Apple details, software habits, and everyday technical friction.
Records worth hearing, reasons worth arguing over.
Celebrity, clothes and chaos, talked through at full speed.
Daniel Patrick interviews John Reischman about his new album 'The Salish Sea' released on Bandcamp Friday.
Daniel Patrick recalls Sam Bush giving him two thumbs up after their first-take vocal harmony.
Grant Flick unveils a concerto for symphony orchestra he wrote with Jacob Warren, premiering in Indiana.
Daniel Patrick interviews Fred Kosak of the Stillhouse Junkies about their new concept album 'The Ballad of Charlie Avalon' and the songwriting process.
Daniel Patrick introduces a returning guest, Caleb Christopher Edwards, discussing his new album with Zach White and promoting the podcast's Patreon.
T-Bone Burnett heard about the Fretliners after Billy Strings joined their campground picking session.
Daniel Patrick interviews saxophonist Eddie Barbash about his album 'Larkspur' and his approach to playing fiddle tunes on saxophone.
Daniel Patrick interviews mandolinist Andy Leftwich about his practice habits, tone chasing, and new album 'Aced'.
Daniel Patrick interviews mandolinist Grant Flick about his new album 'The Great Door' and his approach to becoming a skilled musician.
Daniel Patrick interviews mandolinist Jacob Jolliff about his two new albums, Jolliff Plays Jones and a duo project with Michael Daves.
Daniel Patrick introduces an interview with virtuoso musician John Jorgenson, discussing his career and mandolin playing.
The Mandolins and Beer Podcast episode 300 features Cortland Bills of the Texas-bred bluegrass-jam band Magoo, who first touched a mandolin during a DMT experience in 2019 and was playing it professionally by 2023.
Daniel Patrick interviews Adam Klosowiak, co-founder of KLOS Instruments, about the launch of their new F-style carbon fiber mandolin with pre-orders now open and over 100 configuration variations.
Jesse Appelman tells Daniel Patrick how a childhood move to a "crunchy" Bay Area school, John Fuller, and a grandfather's mandolin pulled him toward the instrument.
Bebe Bowness says the biggest practice gains came from playing with people regularly, not isolated scale work.
Host Daniel Patrick interviews legendary fiddler Darol Anger about his new album 'Diary of a Fiddler 2'.
Daniel Patrick introduces episode 271 of Mandolins and Beer, featuring guest CE Jones discussing his new album Nocturne and debuting a single.