Mitch Corbin - Looking For Home (CD, 2006)

by Nigel Tuffman, 08/15/2006

Mitch Corbin. Ever heard of him? If you’re a flatpicker or mandolin player, maybe you have. If you’re not, maybe you haven’t. Mitch is one of only 2 players to have won both the mandolin and guitar contests at Winfield the same year (Mitch did it back in 1982 – I think Mark O’Connor was the other guy.) Mitch has performed with such bluegrass and other notables as The Special Consensus, Jethro Burns, Suzy Bogguss, Terri Binion, and most recently David Bromberg and Byron Berline among others. Mitch was also featured on David Grisman’s recent “Tone Poets” project.

Here, Mitch has produced a CD of a lot of wonderful acoustic music. All of the tunes were written by Mitch. He played all of the instruments (guitars, mandolin, bass, percussion, etc.) and recorded the project himself. Pretty amazing, huh?

Actually, the most amazing thing here is the great tunes and fantastic playing. Mitch has included tunes representing many different styles and moods. “The Rapids” opens the CD with an intricate and delicate crosspicked intro, followed by a cooking minor key melody with some hot and tasteful picking. “Waiting for April” features Mitch’s guitar and some interesting timing and cool string bending. “Razor” is a really fiddly-sounding tune with some neat changes and more great guitar and mandolin. “Hackberry” reminds me of an old timey waltz. “Upper Captiva” is a pretty guitar medley that would be great to lie in your hammock with. And the great tunes just keep on coming.

Mitch plays every instrument he touches with amazing dexterity, beautiful choices of notes, great tone, and perfect timing. I guess that’s what you would expect from a Winfield champion. He’s one of those guys who can do it all. He makes me sick. But in a good way.

Mitch Corbin may not yet be a household name, in the bluegrass music field or otherwise, but that’s not for lack of talent or musical ability. Looking For Home really showcases a lot of his talents and should help bring Mitch out into the limelight where he belongs. If you like good acoustic music or great guitar or mandolin playing, you need this CD.

Click here to visit Mitch Corbin website