Welcome to Five for Friday, a new column where we recap what went down in the guitar world this week…

Passings: Raymond Fairchild, Helen White, Gerry McGhee

It’s been a tough week for traditional music lovers in Appalachia: Banjo legend Raymond Fairchild and musician Helen White, the founder of the Junior Appalachian Musicians non-profit and a frequent partner to Wayne Henderson, have passed away. Meanwhile, the Ventures’ Gerry McGee died, onstage at a gig in Tokyo, Japan.

A Stradivari Guitar Gets Validated

Strad violins get all the attention but the legendary luthier also built a handful of guitars, along with plenty of other instruments (bowed and fretted). Here’s the story of a newly validated Strad guitar in Italy that covers some of the unique traits these instruments have.

Steve Dawson Airline Tips

Musician/producer/podcaster Steve Dawson is the latest guitarist to curse United Airlines, thanks to a checked-in Gibson 335 that now sports a broken headstock (Instagram link). In a lengthy and informative Facebook post, he discusses why the guitar was checked-in, some pitfalls to avoid if you are headed to the airport and plenty of additional food-for-thought for traveling musicians.

New Releases: The Milk Carton Kids, Neil Young’s Mountaintop

The Milk Carton Kids release their latest album, The Only Ones, today. On a much louder front, Neil Young just released the trailer for his latest big screen endeavor, Mountaintop, a documentary that chronicles the making of Crazy Horse’s new record, Colorado. The movie comes out October 22, 2019.

The Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival returns

Speaking of mountains: The dust hasn’t settled from the first Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival, but founder (and amp impresario) Peter Henriksen has already announced a follow-up, taking place September 11-13, 2020. We hope to be there.