About the Store

Maple Leaf Music specializes in fine new and used stringed instruments. We offer a wide choice of lovely acoustic guitars by Collings, Huss and Dalton, Goodall, Bourgeois, and the local favorite Froggy Bottom. We also carry guitars by Larrivee, Seagull, and Simon Patrick, all from Canada. Our new electric guitars are represented by Collings, Paul Reed Smith, and Fender. Used acoustic and electric guitars usually include Martin, Gibson, Epiphone, Guild, Taylor and whatever else we can come up with! We encourage trade-ins as a way of adding to our ever changing stock of used instruments and we also acquire used instruments through direct purchase.

If you're a banjo player you'll love our assortment of Goldtones from Florida. As a former owner of the Arthur E. Smith Banjo Company, Maple Leaf owner Kate Spencer picks up as many of these great banjos as can be found, as well as other interesting used banjos. We have Bluegrass and Old-Timey five strings, and regular four string and Irish tenor banjos. New mandolins from Fender, Weber (Sound to Earth), and Collings are also available at the store as well as used mandolins. Maple Leaf's inventory also features a good selection of instructional materials for the instruments we carry including books and DVD's. We specialize in fiddle tune books and have one of the largest collections anywhere. Kate is a Cape Breton-style fiddler who can't help adding more books to the collection. You can never have enough fiddle tune books; there's always that one tune you need the music for!

Because many of our customers come from all over the country we are happy to fill phone orders by mail or Fed Ex. We do not have a "shopping cart" type site, as we like to get to know our customers! Simply give us a call at 802-254-5559 and give us your credit card or mail us a check.

We would love to meet you! Brattleboro is the first stop off interstate 91 if you are coming from the south into Vermont to ski or summer vacation. (Directions follow). Or make a special trip to see us! There are many wonderful shops, restaurants, and bed-and-breakfasts, and plenty of parking here; do be sure to put money in the meters or buy a ticket in the lot next to the store or in the parking garage across the street. If you are a lover of music it will be well worth your time. We're easy to find; just follow our simple directions. We look forward to seeing you.

We do not accept on-line orders at this time. If you are interested in one of the items on our catalog and would like more information about it, don't hesitate to contact us.

If you would like to place an order, call us at 802-254-5559.

Directions

If you have any questions about how to get to our store please don't hesitate to call us for further clarification.

From the South

Take highway 91 north to exit 2 in Vermont. Turn left off of the exit ramp onto Western Avenue (High Street) and follow it about 1 mile until it ends at a stop light on Main Street¹. Here take a right and, after 1 block, turn right at the next light onto Elliot Street. Maple Leaf is located in the second building on the right and just after our shop is a public parking area. Be sure to feed the meter!

From the North

Take highway 91 south to exit 2 in Vermont. Turn left off of the exit ramp onto Western Avenue (High Street) and follow it about 1 mile until it ends at a stop light on Main Street¹. Here take a right and, after 1 block, turn right at the next light onto Elliot Street. Maple Leaf is located in the second building on the right and just after our shop is a public parking area. Be sure to feed the meter!

From the West

Take route 9 east into Brattleboro where it will turn in to Western Avenue (High Street) and follow it about 1 mile until it ends at a stop light on Main Street¹. Here take a right and, after 1 block, turn right at the next light onto Elliot Street. Maple Leaf is located in the second building on the right and just after our shop is a public parking area. Be sure to feed the meter!

From the East

Take route 9 west into Vermont where it will connect with highway 91 at exit 3. Go south on 91 and get off at exit 2. Turn left off of the exit ramp onto Western Avenue (High Street) and follow it about 1 mile until it ends at a stop light on Main Street¹. Here take a right and, after 1 block, turn right at the next light onto Elliot Street. Maple Leaf is located in the second building on the right and just after our shop is a public parking area. Be sure to feed the meter!

¹Alternative: Just before High Street intersects with Main Street, stay in right hand lane and go right under the brick arch; this will put you in the public parking lot behind Maple Leaf Music and save you two traffic lights.

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Shingle the Roof is a New England string band featuring Kate Spencer, Jerry Devokatis, and Tim Woodbridge. We play tunes and songs from two vibrant American traditions, contra-dance and string band music. For dances we play fiddle tunes from New England and Eastern Canada, as well as children's dancing and singing games. Our string band repertoire is drawn from the various mother lodes of roots music including old-time, traditional country and early bluegrass, gospel, ragtime and blues. We are equally at home playing a concert, contra dance, picnic, house party, wedding or other event looking for lively and entertaining acoustic music.

Kate (vocals, banjo, guitar, piano)
Born and raised in Montana, I went East to attend college in Boston. There I stumbled into Old Joe Clark's, an amazing household of traditional musicians. School became my day job as I immersed myself in the music, going to concerts, parties and festivals. One night in 1969 I dreamed I wanted to play the banjo, so I went to a flea market and bought 3 old instruments for $20 each. I kept the best one and fixed up and sold the other two. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this event foreshadowed my career in the music world!  I started the Arthur Smith Banjo Company in 1973. We made around 600 instruments, but I couldn't make a living at manufacturing. In 1979 I opened Maple Leaf Music in Brattleboro, VT, which nearly 30 years later is still putting food on the table. I continued playing music with my friends and in 2007, Tim, Jerry and I decided to put our talents and repertoires together and we started Shingle the Roof.

Jerry (vocals, guitar, mandolin)
I grew up in Newington, CT when it was still an agricultural community.  My earliest recollections of traditional music were from my pre-teen years, listening to the fiddle players at local fairs and the then ubiquitous polka bands at weddings and other gatherings.  While at Providence College I began playing guitar and performing in small groups. In the late 60's and early 70's Boston was a mecca for old- time and bluegrass musicians; while in law school I encountered the real thing head on at the Hillbilly ranch where the Lilly Brothers and Don Stover showed us how it was done. After serving in the army, I returned to Connecticut where I played with the Golden Age Retrievers, the Sounds of Bluegrass and for many contra-dances with Whiskey Before Breakfast...

Tim (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, Dobro)
When I was about six or seven, my family moved from New York City to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  In short order I discovered live hillbilly music on station WNOX in Knoxville and the recorded variety on one of the area's early FM stations in Lenoir City.  No doubt to the despair of my parents, I was hooked.  When I was about 14, I got my first guitar, ten bucks at a hock shop, a perfectly good waste of kindling. I took up other stringed instruments as my interests and playing circumstances expanded. I played with Jerry for many years in the Sounds of Bluegrass, the Golden Age Retrievers, and Whiskey Before Breakfast. In addition to performing, I have judged fiddle contests for about 30 years, mostly in New England.

Contact information: kate@mapleleafmusic.com or 802-254-8405