A few months ago my buddy Forrest was flipping through some old vinyls in a thrift shop and picked up one for me. This is Dick Dia, his Mandolin and Orchestra. There’s a lot of really great mandolin work, and the arrangements are pretty interesting as well. This version of Guaglione was my favorite.

Also, the writing on the back cover is ridiculous. 

“They say that people are born with two everlasting loves–one for the motherland that nurtures them, the other for the Italy that eventually will lure them. For Italy, like a beautiful woman, boasts not only her physical enticements—her land, her watering places, her people and their passion for living, her food and drink. Italy also boasts great spiritual attractions—painting, sculpture, literature, music and romance—the stuff which these elements help to compound. The simplest ingredients are required to kindle romance. Of course, one must have the lady, and it usually is easy to have one on hand. Then there is the setting, and in Italy almost any place is ideal. Also, a bottle of wine generally helps, and this might be a full-bodied Moscato from the Italian island of Pantelleria, a Malvasia from Sicily, or any of a score of delectable vintages. Finally, there is always music—perhaps an accordion, a guitar, but most often a mandolin, or mandolino, as the Italians say. Somehow the mandolin seems most appropriate, perhaps because of its throbbing rhythm which, they point out in Italy, reminds one of the heartbeat, of moonlight and roses. Specialmente fra le rose nella primavera come bello fa l’amore nella sera, they sing. (Which means, And especially among the roses in the springtime, how sweet to love when twight falls.)”

I think I need to hire a better publicist to write about my music!