SOUTHWEST MANDOLIN CAMP 2026
Wednesday - Sunday, October 28 - November 1
AT THE BLACK RANGE LODGE IN KINGSTON, NM
Please note: The Lodge blocks out our camp dates on their website. Rooms and camping spaces are indeed available. To reserve yours, please email Catherine Wanek at cat@blackrangelodge.com. To sign up for camp, just submit the form below and you'll receive a confirmation email from chrisclarksanders@gmail.com.
PLEASE NOTE: BY POPULAR DEMAND, SOUTHWEST MANDOLIN CAMP HAS BEEN EXPANDED TO 5 DAYS, WITH THE FIRST DAY STARTING AT 5PM AND THE LAST DAY CLOSING AFTER LUNCH.
To accommodate this extended date, fees have been adjusted to $440 for the camp. See below for registration (beginning in February).
Join us October 28th through November 1st, Wednesday evening through Sunday noon, at the historic Black Range Lodge in Kingston, NM for Southwest Mandolin Camp sponsored by DNA Music Camps. We welcome players of all levels from beginner to pro for a fun-filled learning experience to expand your mandolin horizons.
Returning faculty include Steve Smith, Tim May, K.C. Groves and Marla Fibish. And new for 2026, we welcome fabulous player and inspired educator, Don Julin. See below for more info about our faculty.
Camp begins with happy hour and dinner at the Lodge at 5pm on Wednesday, Oct. 28th and ends after lunch on Sunday. The Lodge and camp staff are dedicated to making this a safe and healthy environment. See below for an introduction to our 2025 faculty and class descriptions. Whether you'd like to improve your bluegrass, swing or jazz chops, or explore Irish music, we have classes for you. Our “High Tech Red Neck Old Time Jam” and reading sessions have become camp favorites. We provide jams for all levels of players.
• This all-mandolin camp features workshops and classes on all levels and skill sets from beginner to advanced.
• Classes are "hands on" including special demonstrations and lectures.
• Topics and styles include bluegrass, Celtic, old-time, cross-picking, swing and jazz.
• Faculty performances and jams organized by skill level
• Evening open jams
• Outstanding hospitality at the Black Range Lodge on the eastern border of the Gila Wilderness. Please contact the Lodge at 575-895-5652 to reserve room and board (or camping space.)
SOUTHWEST MANDOLIN CAMP FACULTY 2026
Steve Smith
Mandolin, octave mandolin
Steve is known not only as one of this country’s top mandolin players but also as an outstanding educator and composer. A touring musician his entire adult life, he currently appears coast to coast with The Hard Road Trio and the Tim May and Steve Smith Duo. Steve has been on faculty at many of the major US acoustic music camps including Kaufman Kamp, Camp Bluegrass and Colorado Roots Camp; he’s well known for performing and teaching bluegrass, swing, jazz and roots music of all kinds. Steve has been showcased on over 40 recordings on mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and guitar.
www.desertnight.com
Tim May
Old time mandolin
Tim has been working in and out the Nashville area for over 25 years as a sideman, session player, band member and performer on guitar, mandolin, banjo and dobro. His extensive knowledge of Old-time and early American musical styles come to light in his mandolin playing. Tim has taught at all of the major camps throughout the US. and Europe and has an extensive knowledge of the history of early Gibson mandolins and is an experienced mandolin and mandocello player as well.
www.timmaymusic.net
Marla Fibish
Celtic Mandolin
One of the prominent voices of the mandolin in Irish music, Marla brings a deep and distinctive sensibility to the tradition on one of its lesser-heard instruments. She has a new recording out with fiddler Rebecca Richman entitled Playdate. Her playing is also featured on her 2020 album The Bright Hollow Fog, the 2017 Noctambule release A Sweetish Tune, and The Morning Star, a duo CD with legendary Irish singer and bouzouki player Jimmy Crowley, as well as on the 2010 Three Mile Stone recording.
Marla also plays mandola, tenor guitar, and button accordion, and is a singer and a composer. She is known for her musical settings of works from a variety of poets, as well as original tunes written in traditional forms. This work is featured in the duo Noctambule, her longtime collaboration with guitarist and husband Bruce Victor. Together they have released 4 albums, most recently Every Migrant is My Fellow in 2021.
An experienced and sought-after teacher, Marla teaches private students and classes, online at Peghead Nation, and has been on the faculty of many music camps including The Swannanoa Gathering, The Mandolin Symposium, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, Portal Irish Music Week, Lark Camp and others. Her instructional DVD has been a popular self-learning tool, focused on acquiring the foundational technique for playing Irish music on the mandolin. More at www.MarlaFibish.com
KC Groves
Beginning Mandolin
We welcome this exceptional musician/songwriter to our staff to work with our beginner mandolins. KC was notably the band leader of the old time sensation Uncle Earl. She resides in the epicenter of the acoustic music scene, Lyons, Colorado, where she has spearheaded one of the largest and longest running weekly jams in Colorado.
Don Julin
Jazz and Swing
Don Julin, author of the best selling "Mandolin For Dummies" (Wiley 2012) has developed a reputation for being one of the most eclectic mandolin players/teachers on the scene today. Based in Traverse City, Michigan, Don has been playing, teaching, and writing music with the mandolin for over 35 years.
His original compositions have been used on many network and cable television programs.