Even if you have a hard time getting to hear Contratopia play live you can still enjoy our music on compact disc or by legally streaming or downloading our tracks from a number of digital music services (including iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Spotify, Tidal, etc.). Check the CD page to learn more about the availability of Hands Four, Ballroom Echoes, Smitten, and Riff City.

It's probably worth noting that, apart from Contratopia, Pat, Patrice, John and Erik can often be found supplying great dance music with other excellent musicians at Tapestry and other venues throughout the year. In fact all four Contratopia members are musically active in a variety of ways.

Pat has teamed up with sometimes Contratopian fiddler Tim Reese and the great Bob Walser to form Northern Aire. Pat is also a member of the powdery Flour City Doughboys. You can catch both bands regularly at Tapestry in Minneapolis.

In 2016 Patrice became a founding member of Laura MacKenzie's 10 piece ensemble, Brass Lassie. Their first CD was released in 2018 and has received rave revues. You can see their performance schedule and buy a physical CD or a digital download from their website.

Erik and John often perform as a duo in concert and at special events in the Decorah area and are regularly heard with the Western Home String Band providing tunes for contra dances in Decorah and the surrounding region. In 2012 Erik and John released their first duo CD, titled Notes from the Farm. You can find this CD at Contratopia dances and also buy or download it online from Amazon.

Erik and John are still selling the Contratopia Tunebook, a collection of over 50 original reels, jigs, waltzes and airs. Almost all of the Goodin and Sessions tunes from Hands Four, most of the tunes from Smitten, many of the tunes from Riff City, and four of the waltzes from Ballroom Echoes are included as well as several other tunes that the group plays at dances and concerts. The tunes are in standard notation with chord symbols included and the book is carefully assembled at home using a nifty hand-powered comb binding gizmo. These are available for $10 each plus $2 shipping for each book in print or a PDF copy can be purchased for $6. Either version of the book can purchased here.

John released an instrumental CD of home recordings of original tunes in Fall 2011 titled Mandolin Tunes. He released a second volume of new tunes in 2018 titled Mandolin Tunes 2. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013, he also recorded and released a CD of solo mandolin compositions titled Deer Tracks (For Solo Mandolin). These recordings are all available at Amazon and Bandcamp. John also maintains the Mandotopia website, which contains information regarding his books and compositions as well as links to much free sheet music. In addition John is the owner of the So Many Tunes blog which provides free recordings and sheet music to over 300 of his original tunes.

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