Gregg Miner Plays His Rare and Unusual Stringed Instruments

UPCOMING:

KPFK interview with Mark Humphrey at 8 am on Christmas Eve, 2022!

PAST:

March 2022: I was honored to write the Introduction to Stefan Grossman's Mel Bay new publication of the late Dave Evan’s Sad Pig Dance tablature book.

2018-2022: Presentations and performances at the Harp Guitar Gatherings.

October 13-15, 2017: I'll be hosting the 15th Harp Guitar Gathering in Carlsbad, California! I'll also be on site for some of the Museum of Making Music's events during our 7 month public harp guitar exhibit!

October 1st, 2016: Special Harp Guitar Concert at the first Santa Barbara Acoustic Instrument Celebration!

October 14-16, 2016: The 14th Harp Guitar Gathering in Connecticut!

September 17th, 2016 3PM: Solo show at the Woodland Hills Public Library. Free!

2015: Most Sundays: Performing at noon at Jeanette's Edelweiss in Thousand Oaks.

May, 2015: Speaking and performing at The Harp Guitar Europe International Festival in France! Then the AMIS convention in Boston first week of June (members only)

October, 2015: The 13th Harp Guitar Gathering in North Carolina

October, 2014: The 12th Harp Guitar Gathering in Idaho

October, 2013: The 11th Harp Guitar Gathering in Connecticut

August, 2013: Played a fun gig with Ken Bonfield and friends.

Harp Guitar Gathering 10: Our 10th anniversary! Dallas, Texas, Nov 2, 3 & 4, 2012. Full blog series starts here!

September, 2012: I appeared and/or was referenced in a couple of issues of Acoustic Magazine, the U.K. guitar monthly, covering an intereview I did in January with writer Paul Brett, and later, some inspiration for his new harp guitar model.

May, 2012: At the AMIS meeting in New York I gave a short lecture entitled: "Harp Guitar: What's in a Name?"

April, 2012: I was honored to speak in Genoa at a special anniversary public concert/lecture Memories of Pasquale Taraffo

Harp Guitar Gathering 9, Milford, CT 2011

Harp Guitar Gathering 8, Indianapolis, Indiana: Nov 12,13,14, 2010

Summer, 2010: A 9-page illustrated article with Kathy Wingert interviewing me on my collection appears in American Lutherie #102

April-June, 2010: A great article on harp guitars (featuring "the pope"!) appears in the Spring, 2010 Fretboard Journal. I also got a mention in the city paper of Genoa, Italy during our trip, which included a harp guitar presentation. Later, I got a full profile in the CANTIERE MUSICAL, the publication of the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa.

Also a brand new video with a glimpse of the Miner Museum here!

1/1/2010: A review of my 4 recent Harp Guitar Music releases, with an in-depth interview here.

Halloween weekend, 2009: Harp Guitar Gathering 7, Williamsburg, Virginia

October 10-12, 2008: Harp Guitar Gathering 6, Portland Oregon

July 11-12, 2008: Guest performance on Chinese guzheng with Jeff Titus' Wood Dragon Tour, plus a command performance at Alex de Grassi's Summer Workshop.

October 26-28, 2007: Harp Guitar Gathering 5, Williamsburg, Virginia

CHECK OUT our extensive event pages or out concert finale!

August 26, 2007: Managed to score a nice interview on NPR.

August 18-19, 2007: Healdsburg Guitar Festival, Santa Rosa California

I played at the Russian River Brewery Pub to open for Rick Ruskin, Keith Knight and Don Alder. The next day I did a 20 minute harp guitar demo at the festival. Both featured a Duane Noble harp guitar.

End of January through July, 2007: The Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, CA: Harp Guitar: Passion • Imagination • Artistry

A spectacular 6 month exhibit, featuring most of my harp guitar collection, plus other loaned instruments. I will be on hand to host the first concert on February 3rd.

Sept 30-Oct 1: Harp Guitar Gathering IV in Florida!

Plus several other harp guitar activities during the Year of the Harp Guitar!

June, 2006: My presentation and performance at the Guild of American Luthiers Convention in Tacoma June 21-26 was a blast and a great success

The Fretboard Journal Issue # 3 includes my many-years-in-the-making article on Howe-Orme mandolins with my partner Bob DeVellis. I have available special reprints that accompanied the Howe-Orme exhibit at the Museum of Making Music as well.

November, 2005:

On the very day A Christmas Collection turned 10 years old, US Airways Attache' magazine published this article by Tim Brookes!
A new CD called A Musical Tribute to C. S. Lewis is out which features my Celtic harp arrangement of Of the Father's Love Begotten. The version licensed was from the CD below by my friend David Clifton - therefore my track is listed under the artist "Ikos."
The October issue of Acoustic Guitar featured a nice 2-page article on my Museum.

Labor Day weekend, 2005: The International Harp Guitar Gathering III in Portland and Salem, Oregon was a tremendous event! Read all about it here.

June.2005: A nice radio plug on NPR over the weekend, courtesy of Tim Brookes, author of the great new book below. I'm about 5 minutes in. Tim Brookes, Telling the Story of the Guitar

May 1, 2004: April seems to have been my lucky month for being featured in print - nothing I authored, but references by others. I'm honored and appreciate the inclusion in:

Guitar: An American Life by Tim Brookes. The author, whose passion I admire greatly, uses the Miner Museum as a jumping-off point for his 2nd chapter.
20th Century Guitar magazine, March, 2005. Scott Freilich's Oddball Harp Guitars article makes much reference to my work in Harpguitars.net (a few errors, unfortunately).
Washington Phillips: The Key to the Kingdom. This newly re-mastered CD of the 16 Phillips tracks includes brand new liner notes by Pat Conte (who wrote Yazoo's original liner notes), with references to my work (with my peers) on the fretless zithers Phillips plays (from my The Dolceola Pages).

Nov 13 & 14, 2004:
I once again performed and "lectured" at the 2nd Annual Harp Guitar Gathering in Williamsburg, Virginia. We also produced the first-ever compilation CD of new harp guitar music to coincide with the event!

August, 2004:
I created theme music for a new National Geographic cable channel series, The Dog Whisperer - about local L.A. dog trainer Cesar Milan, and produced by MPH Entertainment. The "world" version will be used as title music on the DVD and foreign airing. The "heavy metal" version was at Nat Geo's suggestion. Short sections of it will be heard within the episodes as "Cesar entrance" music. For the Title music for the States, N.G. "went in another direction."

The Dog Whisperer "World" version (30 sec Download)	The Dog Whisperer "Heavy Metal" version (20 sec Download)
Lap steel, ocarina melody, fretless bass, Autoharp, acoustic rhythm guitars, drum machine and live percussion.	Same, edited - with my friend Doug Latislaw playing the lead guitar. More drum machine and electric rhythm guitar.

Nov 1-2, 2003:
I gave a presentation on The Knutsen Archives and performed at the first ever Harp Guitar Gathering in Williamsburg, Virginia, put together by Stephen Bennett. It was an incredible event!

April, 2003:
    These days I seem to be spending (for better or worse) the majority of my musical moments in research and publishing on various historical instruments (someone's got to do it!).
    On the web: In addition to the several-hundred-page ongoing Knutsen Archives, I've added an exhaustive study of the Dolceola and gospel singer Washington Phillips to this site.
    In print: My Harp Ukulele article appears in the Ukulele Occasional issue #2, out sometime in 2003, and I was featured in the May, 2003 Acoustic Guitar Magazine article on the harp guitar revival.

Winter, 2002:
The WB network licensed my recording of Jingle Bells for their Dec. 5th episode of "Do Over."
and...
My English friend, David Clifton, just released his own Christmas album, called Christmas Carols & Songs. It's predominately a vocal album, with choir and instrumental backup - but he included my Irish harp piece Of the Father's Love Begotten, with some new synthesizer backing. On his own label, distributed in Europe by Sony - hopefully someday in the States!

Sorry - no local appearances scheduled. I'm trying to concentrate on my next couple non-seasonal recording projects, while I also dedicate a lot of time for instrument research - especially the monumental Knutsen Archives project. Not to mention creating and maintaining the brand-new Harpguitars.net - perhaps the biggest musical site on the Internet! Then there's my wife, our dogs, the house, the museum room, my other hobbies, and of course, my Engineering day job! Thanks for your interest!

In 1999 I put together a new Holiday Show with a great trio. I bring a dozen instruments from the Museum (see photo), my indispensable associate, Dave Marchant, playing guitar, banjo, mandolin and uke, and upright bassist Tim Christianson. By necessity, we sometimes play slightly different (if not entirely new) arrangements of the tunes. I talk a bit about the instruments, hand out Gregg Miner Coloring Books to the kids, and generally have a good time with the group and the audience.

Past Live Appearances:

2000: Caltech Folk Music Society, Dabney Hall, Caltech
Boulevard Music, Culver City, CA

1999: Smokin' Johnie's, Studio City, CA
Palos Verdes Public Library

1995-98: Borders Books & Music (thoughout Southern California)
Tower Records
Hollywood Christmas Parade

2014	Appearance in The Hollow Arm, a harp guitar documentary by Alden Morgan
2004	Theme music for The Dog Whisperer, for MPH Entertainment and National Geographic (see top of page for downloads!)
Winter, 2002	The WB network licensed my recording of Jingle Bells for their Dec. 5th episode of "Do Over."
1996	CNN "Showbiz Today": 4 minute spot ran twice a day for a week - seen in the States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe (They came to my house - I had a horrible cold but you can't really tell. If everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, these guys way* overdid mine!).*
1996	A & E: "Breakfast With the Arts" (1 minute of clips from my promotional video).

12 24, 2022	KPFK interview with Mark Humphrey at 8 am on Christmas Eve, 2022. And still being played on NPR and local public radio stations across the country.
August 26, 2007	Scored a great harp guitar interview on NPR.
June 1, 2005	A nice radio plug on NPR over the weekend, courtesy of Tim Brookes, author of the great new book below. I'm about 5 minutes in. Tim Brookes, Telling the Story of the Guitar
1997-2004	Additional airplay: public and commercial radio - mostly Folk and American programs (CD promotions at WBAI [N.Y.] & WHFR [M.I.])
1996	Live telephone interviews: "Voice of America" (Europe) and New York (There was something very surreal about speaking into the phone in my office in my bathrobe, and being heard throughout Europe).
	Recommended on NPR (Also used for incidental music).
	Rotation on numerous public radio stations throughout the States.
1995	Airplay on KUSC, KCRW, KPCC (Doug Johnson was wonderfully effusive on his great, later-cancelled "D-Tuning" show), & KPFK (My good friend and Weissenborn guitar historian, Ben Elder, gave me a lot of coverage).
	1 hour live interview with Bonnie Grice, KUSC, my first and favorite public broadcast. Bonnie was already my favorite DJ and she proved to be even better in person. We had a blast! She was later unceremoniously let go due to pressure from a coalition of classical music snobs. A huge mistake). Read the Christmas Eve story on my blog: Best Christmas Eve’s Eve Ever \| Gregg's Blogg (harpguitars.net)
	1 hour live interview with John Schneider, KPFK (John is a fellow instrument scholar and eclectic classical guitarist.)