Michael Bolbott News Today

♪ its a packed house at open mike night in a restaurant nearby philadelphia. ♪ but instead of tuning a guitar or running through vocal scales, these performers are making sure their accordions are ready for their moment in the spotlight. ♪ the accordion? its an old-school sound thats finding a modern audience thanks to michael bolbott, founder of liberty bellows. >> i decided i was going to take a 19th century craft and try to bring it to the new millennium. >> in high school, michael disc...

Brand of accordion, often their website comes up first and ours is second. its really a win/win for us. >> beyond the commerce, michael knows that the core of his business growth comes from nurturing a vibrant community of active players. >> just trying to get people to learn how to play that they can get to a point where theyre comfortable, that theyre enjoying it, and our thought is that, you know, if they keep making progress, theyre going to keep buying accordians and accessories. >> that me...

This is especially true for accordion aficionados who previously had nowhere to send their instruments when they needed tender loving care. >> until you worked on 100 accordions you dont have enough basic skills to tune one up. over time, we found that as we built up a reputation, that we were good at repairing things. >> that word of mouth got celebrities coming on by. >> bruce springsteens accordion player got a couple from us. jenny conley from the debbists, the folks from flogging mollie. >>...