Michael Lee Ammons and The Water Street Hot Shots: Links

Musicians of note

John Fabke Music: Here's a great acoustic musician and a really good friend of ours. Whether playing old-time blues or traditional bluegrass, John's musical pursuits put him at the top!
Lil' Rev: Be sure to check out Lil' Rev's site for more info on this old-time expert. With major accomplishments on the harmonica, ukelele, and mandolin, Rev uses his skills and wide repertoire to stay busy. We've welcomed him on many occasions as the sixth Water Street Hot Shot!
Catfish Stephenson: A Madison institution, Ammons played on the street and elsewhere with Catfish during the 1990's. Here's a site with a little more info on Catfish. You don't have to look to hard around Madison to find him playing somewhere.
Steve Cohen: Milwakee's Steve Cohen was the first to put blues in Ammons' ears. Ammons took some harmonica lessons from Steve Cohen in the mid-1980's. Find a chance to catch Steve perform as soon as possible!
Eric Noden: Be sure to visit the new website featuring Eric Noden. Eric is a great blues guitar and piano player based out of Chicago. His CD, recorded live with harmonica expert Joe Filisko, is highly recommended by the Hot Shots! Also find his most recent CD, "The Original" for some great songwriting.
Filisko Home Page: We met Joe Filisko last fall and we were blown away! Joe is known around the world for his harmonica playing, teaching, and custom built harmonicas. Harmonica fans MUST check out his work. Hear him play with Eric Noden.
Katie Dahl: Here is our friend Katie's website. She's a great songwriter and her new CD was released Summer 2009. She has many friends on the CD, including our own Rich Higdon and Doc Mock. Stop by to check this out.

Paramount Records and Grafton, WI

Grafton Blues Association: Here's more information about Grafton, Wisconsin, and what's in the works for focusing more (and long overdue) attention to the history of blues recorded in Grafton by Paramount Records.
Paramounts Home: Here is THE website for the history of Paramount records. Plenty of great articles, pictures, and other information about The New York Recording Company, Grafton, the records, the music, and all the people that were involved. This is a must see for blues fans and history buffs.

Online acoustic blues source

Sheboygan Blues Society: We met Mike after the 2007 Paramount Blues Fest. He's got a great site for the blues fan, with plenty of links and music topics for discussion. He hears a lot of live blues and shares his experiences. Nice T-shirts too! Visit his pages now!
Weenie Campbell: Here's a great site for acoustic blues guitar tips, reviews, blues links, and so on! Highly recommended!

Instruments

National Resophonic: This is the company that makes awesome resonator guitars, ukeleles, and mandolins. Ammons always performs with at least one of their metal-bodied guitars, sometimes two. This website has info on the instrument history, new models, tips, etc. Check it out.
Fraulini Guitars: Here's a luthier we really like. Todd Cambio builds great guitars in the traditions of Oscar Schmidt, Larson Brothers etc. Many of the guitars we used for our recording have been through Todd's shop including Alan's Stetson, Michael's Stahl, Gibson, and his handbuilt Fraulini 12 string. Check out Todd's work!
Frets.com: We found this site with the help of Fraulini Guitars. Frets.com is provided by Frank Ford, an expert in acoustic instrument repair. Please check out his advice on all sorts of instrument topics. Don't add tone enhancers or that extra sound hole with your belt sander until AFTER you see this expert's work.