The Jim Richter Mandolin Camp for the Rest of Us will celebrate its 13th year in 2026. The camp is scheduled from Wednesday July 8th through Saturday July 11tg and is again held in Bloomington Indiana at the Grant Street Inn. Don Julin, Mike Compton, and Laurelyn Dossett return as camp instructors, along with new instructor Laura Boosinger and host Jim Richter.
Don Julin, the masterful writer of Mandolin for Dummies, returns for his 11th year at camp and has been instrumental in shaping the camp into what it has become. Mike Compton returns for his third year and is a modern mandolin master gifted at tastefully incorporating rural, roots-based lead and rhythm mandolin styles into modern Americana music and who is an incomparable instructor and organizer of the Monroe Mandolin Camp. Laurelyn Dossett returns for her 4th year as co-director and associate instructor in voice, performance, and songwriting. Most importantly, Laurelyn is the director of this year’s Celebration of Mandolin (faculty concert). Joining officially for her first year as an instructor, Laura Boosinger brings her well-deserved reputation as one of North Carolina’s most talented singers and interpreters of the music of the Southern mountains. She’ll provide harmony and banjo instruction, as well as assist with the faculty concert.
Though the Richter Camp focuses on rock and blues as its genres, the camp also intends to address “beginner-itis,” or the dreaded disease effecting those mandolinists who never seem to move beyond beginner status. If your goal is to win Winfield next year, this may not be the camp for you. But, if your goal is to learn to better enjoy the mandolin both in your practice and playing with others, this most definitely will be your mandolin camp. This camp is meant to create a protected space for all mandolin voices. With all that said, this is a mandolin camp and those with interest across the spectrum of mandolin styles are welcome, though the instruction leans to blues and rock.
This camp has many individuals who travel across the country each year for its very special and singular approach to mandolin instruction pedagogy. The camp is a dedicated program that all students attend, engage, and interact in. There are no level systems, concurrent classes, etc. This is an opportunity to develop a student cohort that will ensure the best outcomes of this type of camp.
2019 saw the introduction of Bourbon Tasting at our opening night Meet & Greet. It was a blast that year and have kept it an annual event for our first night meet and greet. We have continued that tradition, typically adding a new WhistlePig Boss Hog each year, in addition to Weller, Blantons, and other rare bottles.
The curriculum, which is in final development, will cover:
- Blues
- Rock
- Jazz
- Other Traditional Styles
- Arrangement
- Basic music theory (especially pentatonics)
- Technique (especially right hand)
- Practice routines
- Back-up and rhythm playing
- Jamming
- Instrumental construction
- Vocals (especially harmony singing)
- Songwriting
However, as in all previous years, attendees always help refine the curriculum by completing the questionnaire that is a part of the registration form. Let us know what you’d like to learn and we’ll do our best to work it into the schedule. We are also very sensitive to the needs of students in the moment and will always consider shifting the schedule to accommodate.
Also, 20 minutes of individual instruction per student is a standard part of the camp. This will be scheduled for the student.
Structure of Camp
Wednesday Evening: Meet and Greet, Bourbon Tasting, Jamming
Thursday: Individual Instruction, Classes, Evening Jamming
Friday Day: Individual Instruction, Classes, Faculty Concert, Evening Jamming
Saturday Day: Individual Instruction, Classes, Student Concert, Evening Jamming
Cost: Tuition for the workshop is $550 per attendee ($575 if paying via the Online Store). This covers camp instruction, printed materials, individual instruction, and the faculty concert. It does not include dining or lodging.
Housing: For out of town folks, you are encrouaged to use the Grant Street Inn as it is the center of activities and is offering a great discount for our group. Just tell them that you are booking for the Richter Mandolin Camp to ensure the $119 plus tax rate per night.
http://www.grantstreetinn.com 812-334-2353. Reduced rates are available for each night of the camp (Wednesday through Saturday nights).
Food: The Grant Street Inn provides an incredible breakfast for those who stay at the Inn. Lunch and dinner are on your own. The Grant Street Inn is in the heart of Bloomington’s renown food district and there is no shortage of international and college pub cuisine. Additionally, snacks/drinks will be served at the Wednesday night meet and greet and will be out through the week. Wednesday night’s meet and greet is also the bourbon tasting and there will be a great assortment of bourbons available.
Lesson Plan/Special Topic signups: Once all registrations forms are returned, curriculum will be determined and schedule finalized. As much as possible, the camp attempts to address the unique needs/wants of those attending.
Registration: You can email Jim Richter (jim@jimrichter.com) for questions or to hold on a spot for you. You can register through the online registration form. All registrations will be done online. However, payment can be done either via check or through the online store. If you choose to pay by check, please let Jim Richter know. Thanks!
About Jim Richter
Over the last 15 years Jim Richter has built a reputation as a solid blues mandolinist who draws heavily from classic electric blues guitarists, such as Freddie King and Hollywood Fats. Due to his extensive background as a blues-oriented rock guitarist, he has garnered respect and notoriety for his mandolin renditions of tunes by Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. This respect also extends to mandolin instruction, as he has become one of the more visible blues mandolin instructors, including maintaining the rock/blues mandolin instructor spot at Mandolin Camp North in the Boston area since 2018. Jim has additionally taught at the Midwest Mandolin Camp and the venerable Blues Week in Virginia. 2012 saw the release of Jim’s iPad interactive mandolin instructional book Richter Mandolin. In terms of recent discography, 2013 saw the release of the dual release In-Tuition Mandopoly and Blues, containing mostly original tunes and special guests from artists such as Mike Compton, Gordon Bonham, the Forecasters, Will Kimble, and others. Will Kimble and JimI were also on The Road Home/Butch Baldassari Tribute CD and Gordon Bonham and Jim were on The Tribute to Yank Rachel CD.
About Don Julin
Don Julin is one of Michigan’s premier instrumentalists and the nation’s foremost mandolin educators. From jazz to folk, gypsy to avant-garde, Julin is loved for his talent and fluidity. 2012 saw Don release his CD Vibe, as well as the much acclaimed Mandolin for Dummies, a much needed addition to mandolin instruction. 2014 will see Don’s release of Mandolin Exercises for Dummies. Don has achieved national acclaim for his original compositions from his cd’s Tractor and Mr. Natural. Don has won national songwriting contests and his music is often heard on NPR’s radio magazine All Things Considered. Don performs thoughout the United States and Europe and has been a featured performer for the Classical Mandolin Society of America including other international events. Don’s performances with Billy Strings over the last two years have shaken up the old time and Americana worlds. The last half dozen years as seen Don rally multiple mandolin instructors together to contribute to Don’s “Mandolins Heal the World” instruction site.
About Mike Compton
Befriended and mentored by Bill Monroe, the acknowledged Father of Bluegrass Music, Mike Compton is one of today’s foremost interpreters of Monroe’s genre-creating mandolin style. Mandolin students from around the world make the pilgrimage to his annual Monroe Mandolin Camp, where Compton and a select handful of other experts teach everything from the basics of bluegrass mandolin to the most intimate details of Monroe’s endlessly inspiring mandolin style.
Compton’s mastery of mandolin is at once effortless and exceptional. A compelling entertainer either alone or with a group, his skills as a singer, arranger, instrumentalist, composer and accompanist also make him in-demand as a band member and ensemble player at festivals, clubs and concert halls, recording sessions, music workshops and as a private instructor. With more than 140 albums in his discography, including work with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Patty Loveless, Compton has helped keep mandolin a cool, relevant sound as the modern musical styles ebb and evolve to reach an ever broadening audience.
When A-list Americana producer T-Bone Burnett needed experts in authentic rural musical styles to anchor the landmark O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie project and subsequent tour, he called upon Compton’s unique knowledge and signature mandolin style to authenticate the Soggy Bottom Boys’ rootsy sound. That Grammy Award Album of the Year -winning album went on to sell seven million copies and sparked a global revival in old-time and bluegrass musical styles.
Equally skilled in bluegrass, old-time string band music, country blues, rootsy Americana styles, and much more, Compton soars beyond easy categorization as an acoustic mandolin player and singer.
Gifted at tastefully incorporating rural, roots-based lead and rhythm mandolin styles into modern Americana music, Compton’s unique musical skillset allows
About Laurelyn Dossett
Singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett lives and writes in Stokes County, NC. Her songs have appeared in film and television (Hell on Wheels, Ain’t In it for My Health) and have been recorded by many artists including Grammy-winning Levon Helm (Anna Lee) and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops (Leaving Eden).
In 2020-2021 Laurelyn hosted “A Place in the Band,” a discussion series sponsored by the Blue Ridge Music Center. This series of recorded interviews focused on women in bluegrass and roots music, both artists and industry professionals, the particular challenges that they face, and their rich history or contributions to bluegrass and folk music.
She has partnered with Triad Stage’s Preston Lane on six plays-with-music: Brother Wolf (2006), Beautiful Star:An Appalachian Nativity (2006), Bloody Blackbeard (2008), Providence Gap(2010), Snow Queen (2013, and Radiunt Abundunt (2016). In 2018 she wrote the songs for playwright Mike Wiley’s Leaving Eden; it premiered at Playmaker’s Repertory in 2018.
Her song cycle, The Gathering: A Winter’s Tale in Six Songs was commissioned by the North Carolina Symphony and premiered in Raleigh in 2011, Grant Llewellyn conducting. Guest artists on that project included Mike Compton, Rhiannon Giddens, Joe Newberry and Jason Sypher. The cd “The Gathering” made many of the top 10 holiday cds in 2011, including the NY Times, the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune. The Wall Street Journal said “It’s what the holidays were before shopping and Irving Berlin.” It was reprised by the Winston-Salem Symphony in 2019, Timothy Redmond conducting.
Laurelyn has written songs for various protest movements in North Carolina including My Beloved Enemy and Vote Against Amendment One. She remains a voice for social justice and environmental activism in North Carolina and beyond. The River’s Lament is her testament to the devastation of the Dan River coal ash spill. She founded and continues to host the annual “Songs of Hope and Justice” at the North Carolina Folk Festival.
Laurelyn has taught songwriting and singing at the Augusta Heritage Center and the Monroe Mandolin Camp, as well as at many universities, workshops and festivals. She is the recipient of the Betty Cone Medal of Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship for songwriting, the Chris Austin songwriting contest at Merlefest, and has been a fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
About Laura Boosinger
After living throughout the south during her teenage years, her family came to North Carolina in 1975 when Laura Boosinger was seventeen. In January of 1976, she enrolled at Warren Wilson College where her life took a dramatic shift. Laura learned that she could take banjo lessons for college credit! Having no idea what she had really signed up for, she met David Holt and began a lifelong friendship with her mentor. She “designed” her own major around Appalachian Music and Studies. Laura began playing and performing with Holt and numerous other players around the Asheville area, which she adopted as her home, just as the area and its musical community adopted her. In 1984 she took over David Holt’s chair in the Luke Smathers Band, driving to Canton, NC for practice every Sunday through 1997. She learned the mountain swing style that the Smathers brothers created after hearing swing music on the radio in their formative days. They adapted tunes like “Whispering” and “Darkness on the Delta” to string band instruments and became a popular dance band throughout the region. Their repertoire included popular music from as far back as the 1920s, old-time fiddle tunes, western swing, and classic country. This band served as a training ground for Laura, and her experience with the Luke Smathers Band developed a wide repertoire and skill base.
One of Laura’s truest musical friendships has been the one she formed with George Shuffler, guitarist and bass player for the Stanley Brothers for over two decades. Shuffler helped innovate the cross-picking style of guitar so prominent throughout Bluegrass today. Cross-picked guitar and clawhammer banjo might not seem like a natural pair, but Laura and George turned the sound into a recording that artfully combines mountain tunes with Bluegrass standards, Mountain Treasures.
Laura has been a mentor for numerous young musicians in western North Carolina, always happy to sing another chorus or play a line one more time for inquiring young ears. One of those young musicians is Josh Goforth, with whom she has toured extensively in the US and Scotland. Their music is a combination of mountain standards, traditional ballads, and old pop songs. Their album, Most of All, is a striking blend of beautiful harmonies and virtuosic playing.
Laura’s newest venture is with the legendary Mike Compton. They call themselves The Knackered Ramblers. Watch for a performance near your and the new EP “We B Ramblin’.”
“Laura has recorded numerous solo albums, including Let Me Linger, Down the Road, and Sing it Yourself! She is instrumental in maintaining the tradition of shaped note singing from the Christian Harmony in workshops at Merlefest and The Earl Scruggs Center and annual singings across the region. Proficient in instruments including banjo, guitar, and autoharp, she also teaches multiple instruments and offers vocal coaching. She has vast experience teaching residencies in Southern Mountain Music to public school children of all ages. She has been a mainstay at numerous festivals in western North Carolina for decades and serves as a Master of Ceremonies for The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, the oldest folk festival in the nation, and at Shindig on the Green every summer in downtown Asheville, NC. Laura serves as a consultant to the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina project which strives to sustain the rich music traditions of the western North Carolina and the region. Laura was inducted into The Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2017.