Congratulations Matt!

Hey Jim
I had planned on talking to you during the fest, but it seemed the time escaped me, and when I did get up to the stage, I saw that you were busy, so I thought an email would be easier. :)

I wanted to update you on a couple happenings. First, The Sunday before the fest started, I was on the way home from Ann Arbor, MI, where I became a certified Mark O'Connor Method teacher. The Mark O'Connor Method is a series of books for violin, viola, cello, and orchestra, and is the American version of the Suzuki Method. The certification was a 15-hour class (which counts as a college course at some places) taught by Pamela Wiley at the School for the Performing Arts. In the 15 hours, books 1 & 2 were looked at piece-by-piece and what technique was being taught in each. The session closed with a presentation by O'Connor himself. The experience was great, and the knowledge gained was immense.

Here's a group pic of all the participants
And here's a scan of my certificate

Also, a little older news, but still something I wanted to bring up is about one month ago around this time I released my debut album, Going Places. It's a solo album of me multi-tracking the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass, dobro, dulcimer, and some of the banjo parts, with John Lee, Bill Landow, & Elizabeth Loring helping on vocals, and Larry White on banjo featuring 12 bluegrass tracks.
You can check out/stream the album here:

Thanks, 
Matt Scutchfield

PS: Enjoyed the fest like always. It was extra great seeing some new food vendors.