We're raffling off a stunning mandolin handmade by Tyler White to raise money for North Carolina musicians that lost everything in Hurricane Helene.

Click the raffle ticket link above! The more raffle tickets you buy, the better chance you have to win!

The Raffle Closes on April 16th and the winner will be selected on April 17th.

Hey all, Ben here. There's a really cool story behind how all this came together and I hope you take a moment to read it. This all started last year when Jake told us he was meeting someone at a co-op grocery store we like to frequent in Bloomington, Indiana. While the band was getting food, a gentleman walked in and sat down with a black case, waiting patiently to talk shop with our ultra-nerdy, yet lovable mandolin player. We ate our lunch and watched these two aficionado's discuss artistry and tone, woods and string gauges. Tyler White calmly pulled a mandolin out of its case and Jake spent the next 15 minutes playing and admiring it.

Jake and Tyler in the food court at Bloomingfoods in Bloomington, IN. The instrument Jake is holding now belongs to Liam Purcell, another mandolin master!

We loaded up into the van and Jake was last to jump in, clearly wishing he could have stayed a little longer. As we headed down the road to our next show, I asked Jake what that was all about. He told me how Tyler had seen him perform and wanted Jake to try out one of his mandolins.

Now, Jake and I talk instruments a fair bit. If we're inside the van, we'll be a little more frank about things than we might be publicly. I asked him point blank. "So, how was it?"

In a rare display of succinct confidence, Jake replied: "This guy the real deal. I'm just shocked at how beautiful it sounded."

Look at that Red Maple back. Crazy.

Fast forward to about four months ago and our buddy Rob McCormac reached out to us, a talented musician with roots in both North Carolina and Bloomington, Indiana. Rob has friends and family in the regions that were hit hardest by Hurricane Helene and he was wondering if we wanted to collaborate on something to raise funds for the many musicians that lost everything in the floods.

This was a no-brainer to us. Both Henhouse Prowlers and Bluegrass Ambassadors have spent the last decade falling in love with North Carolina, both through our time in Raleigh for IBMA and also through the premier educational program we've built in Shelby in conjunction with he Earl Scruggs Center. We set to work.

Thanks to the generosity and artistry of Tyler White, we're raffling off this unbelievable mandolin. Let's take a moment to nerd out on the details of this beast...

"This Tyler White A5 mandolin—build #50—is a beautiful take on the classic pairing of spruce and maple, featuring a highly figured red maple back and sides and a tight-grained soundboard sourced from the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. In addition, this mandolin sports one of White’s striking hand-rubbed “mahogany sunbursts” and an oil varnish finish.

Contributing further to its aesthetic and tonal qualities, this brand new mandolin is finished with an engraved James tailpiece and Premium Rubner tuning machines, and a radiused ebony fingerboard (12” radius) with a 1 ⅛” nut and nickel frets (.053 x .037). This mandolin will be shipped directly from Tyler White to the raffle winner in a black shaped fiberglass case."

➡️ But hey, let's face it; all the pictures in the world can't tell you what an instrument sounds like. Check out this video of Jake playing the very instrument we're giving away. ⬅️

One more salacious shot of this beautiful beast

Where will the money raised in this raffle go? We're happy to share that we'll be splitting the funds between two very deserving and hard working non-profits that are helping the musicians of the most hard hit regions of North Carolina recover. Check them out here:

North Carolina Arts Foundation Disaster Relief Fund

and

Restring Appalaichia

Let the Raffling begin! Heartfelt thanks to everyone that participates in this fundraiser!

White Mandolin Raffle for Restring Appalachia and NC Arts Disaster Relief