The late great Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase run by Baker Rorick has been permanently retired. R.I.P.
But in late August 2026, a brand-new event took place at New York’s Woodstock Playhouse – the Woodstock Fingerstyle Guitar Festival!
Plenty of folks were anxious to support it: sponsors, attendees and the many participants, including competitors, workshop presenters, concert performers and luthiers.
I wanted to support and check it out as well, so took a 2-hour (and change) drive over for its last day, Sunday. There were people I had hoped to see all three days, but I could only pick one, unfortunately. Here are a few photos of highlights I managed to capture, including many harp guitar sightings!
Upon arriving, I strolled up to the front porch of the facility (where 24/7 jams took place) to discover my SB (my pal, Stephen Bennett), Jesse Smith (center) and Tim Thompson (left).
With friend Wilson Schünemann in front of his Guitar Museum of New England booth. He and his wife Jennifer (who I finally met for the first time) were a major sponsor of the event. That’s a new Steve Kauffman parlor guitar hanging behind us.
Bryan Allen and Muriel Anderson were the next celebs I ran into. After visiting with all the above, I next took in the final fingerstyle competition:
Coincidentally or not, they came on in the reverse order of their eventual wins: L-R: Cameron Olver – Co, USA – Fourth; Jeremie Groleau – Quebec, Canada – Third; Henry Ferland – NY, USA – Second; and Jaco Liu – China – Grand Prize.
I’d predicted that order as they played their sets. Each had at least one great original, all had wonderful chops, but Jaco was the discovery for me. Does all the insane two-handed tapping stuff, but (perhaps being classically trained?) was the most musical and clean by far. I picked up his new CD with includes his incredible arrangement of Corea’s “Spain” (the first thing I heard him do) and original heard below.
Matt Thomas with friends from China. The woman was wearing a mask (so disguised), but I knew the guy looked familiar – finally I shouted “Hey, I know you guys; you were at my house!” She took off the mask and sure enough, it was Ranphi and David Li, who run fingerstylechina.com.
Here they are visiting me in L.A. before NAMM in 2017.
Later, a concert by winners of previous contests held elsewhere in the past: my friend Glenn Roth (an occasional harp guitarist), and two new to me: Mikey Bilello and James Diller.
Out on the front porch, another jam soon began going full blast. Baker Rorick is standing, listening (I only then met him in person). Players are Mark Scanga, Dave Irwin and Matt Thomas.
They were next joined by Tim Thompson and I shot some video (I could get up in Matt’s face as the 6-string/harp guitar virtuoso is an old friend).
Finally, the last Winners Circle Showcase, with Patrick Woods, Nick Johnson, and Hwajong Kim. SB told me that Hwajong was the runner up when he (SB) won his Fingerstyle Championship at Winfield (3rd place was apparently Mikey Bilello, seen above).
Meanwhile, all this time there was a small luthier room set up next door with nearly 20 vendors. Most were new to me, except of course for Michel Pellerin (below) from Quebec!
Harp guitar fans – this is a rare opportunity to see real time photos of a customer seeing his specially-commissioned instrument for the very first time. The customer is of course Alex Anderson, a past Gathering feature in Milford, CT. He sold his first Pellerin a year ago to pay for this one and has been hg-less since then. The new one is virtually identical but now with super-trebles.
Above left: Happy builder and player. Above right: Another Pellerin customer had come down from Quebec with Michel. This is a fine player named Jean-Francois Godbout, who entered the competition on 6-string (he’s had the HG just a year, having got it not from Michel, but in a trade). Note that Alex’s is a fan fret, and also the different configurations/scales for the super-trebles: the left one based on an older Mike Doolin model, on the right, using John Doan’s mathematical idea.
I love how Michel provides custom “String Change Protectors” for the tops of his pinless bridge instruments! Simple and brilliant!
Dinner next door ran quite late (long story), so we missed the opening act for the evening concert but caught Jaco just starting a dynamic “Mission Impossible” arrangement. Then he played this stunning original from the new CD.
The host and creator of this new (and hoped-for continuing) festival, Jon Donnel introducing the next performer…
…our own Stephen Bennett…
…followed by Muriel Anderson.
For some years now, she’s been doing a show with special visuals behind to go with the songs she plays (Bryan wrangling all that from the front/side of the stage). It’s highly effective. I love that she’s still doing “Under Paris Skies” (Sous le ciel de Paris) in all her shows. It’s the tune I came up with for the “Harp Guitar Arranging Challenge” upon my turn of picking one in 2013. Both she and Claude LaFlamme did such a great job they both put it in their repertoire!
The show ran late, and I had to hit the road for my drive back home, so unfortunately missed this:
Wow! Wilson sent me the photo, explaining how she brought up Alberto Lombardi from Italy (one of Saturday’s features) for a 6-string duet. Then a harp guitar extravaganza with Matt and SB joining in! Really sorry I missed that one, but will be seeing them in November in Kansas at HGG24 hosted by Andy McKee!
