RICHARD has become a mainstay in the San Francisco Bay Area Irish music scene, playing guitar with a large number of local musicians at most of the area's traditional music venues. Richard joined the Tipsy House roster in 2001, and he has since become quite proficient on the banjo and now adds it to the mix.

Richard Mandel's foray into Irish music began in 1995 with a trip to Ireland that included a stop at the South Sligo Summer School. While he'd been playing guitar since the age of 8, it wasn't until then that he'd gotten bitten by the Irish music bug. Sessions at San Francisco's Plough and Stars pub provided the training ground and necessary immersion. Prior to '95, Richard played a variety of styles, including folk, jazz and open-tuning finger-style guitar.

For the past five years, Richard has been teaching the Irish guitar class at the week-long Lark in the Morning Music Camp in Mendocino, California. He now plays exclusively in "DADGAD" tuning, which complements his intricate rhythmic and chordal variations.

Richard has performed with such masters as, Tommy Peoples, Andrew MacNamara, Gerry O'Connor, and Jerry O'Sullivan. Besides the Tipsy House CD, he can be heard on mandolin virtuoso Radim Zenkl's recent CD, "Restless Joy."