This is an unusual and effective mandocaster application I think.
This is an unusual and effective mandocaster application I think.
New Isaac video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eUdSBiQd0f0
John Kruth, The Cherry Electric. Somewhat avant garde, venturing toward punk rock. Also rather obscure. One of his songs is about meeting Bill Monroe in the parking lot of a Country Kitchen. John was playing his mandolin. Mr. Monroe advised him to "get some new strings and a harder pick, keep on playing that old tater bug and tell them that Big Mon sent you"
https://www.allmusic.com/album/cherr...00080594#no-js
Last edited by MrMoe; Jun-07-2021 at 7:37am. Reason: add story
No mando, but speaking of EC, you know he was influenced by the rockabilly players too. Like Carl Perkins. I would like to hear somebody play some of that on mandocaster.
Good stuff! There's also this from several years later, with George as well. OMG, the talent on the stage - Ringo just playing tambourine! BTW, the rhythm section is from The Stray Cats. Brian Setzer was elsewhere. Would have liked to hear him with this crowd.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
I'm not sure I'd say these are among my favorite electric mandolin artists, but I believe they are worthy of consideration for having used it before just about anyone else - in rock, anyway.
I've mentioned them before - Shocking Blue had a lot more going on than their one worldwide monster hit, "Venus." They were pretty big in Europe, and the nabobs of their native Netherlands. They were early roots-rockers, and also innovative in their instrumentation. They incorporated sitar into their sound better than most, and also included mandolin on 14 songs, by my count. (A bit of banjo here and there, too - nobody's perfect. ) I had a list, but lost it, so I've spent some time recreating it for you. These aren't all rockers, and some feature it just as a rhythm instrument. Even so, when they used it, they incorporated it into the sound for that song, so it wasn't just a novelty item. To my mind, they're important historically for being among the first bands to explore the possibilities of rock mandolin.
Their mandolin history begins with their third album, "Scorpio's Dance," on the title track( not the excerpt with similar name that's the lead track). It's more fully integrated on their fourth album, "3rd Album." (They don't count their first album, which didn't have their female singer, Mariska Veres, considering the original lineup to be a different band.) "Velvet Heaven" has a very nice lead, though it's acoustic. It's also the most traditional-sounding use; it got wilder. "Inkpot features it twice, including on a rollicking version of "Jambalaya." Their next album, "Attila," is the one to have if this is what floats your boat, as there is mandolin on five songs. The next album, "Dream On Dreamer," has it on two tracks, then they're done. The following album, "Good Times," was their last. Robbie van Leeuwen, lead guitarist/mandolinist/sitarist/chief writer had gotten pretty well burnt out. Also, their star was fading, it seems, and they were sort of reeling in their innovation in order to stay afloat. The used synthesizer one one track, another track was an attempt to "go disco," but they seemed a bit, I dunno, ordinary with their sound. They could have been any band, rather than the unique, innovative one they had been for years.
I've included the chrono list at the bottom, with url's. Three songs I'm not 100% sure have mandolin, as they did a lot of tweaking in the studio, but I think they do. I've embedded a few clips of the more fully realized songs. Sorry, no footage. There are lots of those, though most of them are lip-sync and not live.
Scorpio's Dance
Scorpio's Dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iEHs_ADS5c
3rd Album
Velvet Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q3HBfSdYfI
I Saw Your Face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH8hf1h_ovc
Inkpot
Navajo Tears - rhythm only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-UnDhnZDB4
Jambalaya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QhTkhrdISg
Attila
Never Release The One You Love ? lead @ 1:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVcFXaMvKA
Rock In The Sea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26EdgArV9HI
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIJIT3TjzSE
Early In The Morning ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndj8pRcNVVQ
I Built My World Around You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QREvBdg4fDg
Dream On Dreamer
A Little Bit Of Heaven ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL3dVIaVKxo
Wild Rose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12DK7GmRVFo
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris.
Legendary production by Daniel Lanois, with quite a lot of what I understand to be some kind of electric mandolin played by Daniel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrecki..._Harris_album)
David A. Gordon
Favorite: Richard Thompson. On an electric 4- or 5-string he sounds like he's playing guitar an octave higher, double bends, chicken picking, RT vibrato and all. Not much on LPs and CDs of him playing mandocaster. But then again Thompson was, by far, my favorite electric guitar player throughout the 1970s-mid 1980s.
Face it, an electric solidbody single strung "mando" is nothing more than a short-scale electric guitar in an alternate tuning. Or you can just call it an electric tenor guitar. On the latter count, you may as well put someone like Tiny Grimes at the top of the list of players.
When bluesman Albert "the Iceman" Collins capos his Telecaster at the 7th or 9th fret, for my money, he's playing an "electric mandolin". Besides, he didn't use standard guitar tuning anyway, but something like an open Dm (in reference to no capo) chord tuning.
Jazz guitarist John Abercrombie played an electric 4-string on various albums on ECM (Gateway, Gateway 2, etc) but he just tuned it the to top for strings of a guitar an octave higher.
There was a guy I met in Maine some 20 years ago who impressed me. Ben Trout. He gave me a copy of his electric mando CD called "Metalgrass" If memory serves, I think he said one of his major influences was Jeff Beck. He's probably put the mando(s) down and works as a guitarist. (a wise musical and economic choice, if so.) Don't think he is still in Maine anymore.
https://www.emando.com/players/Trout.htm
Besides guys like Nash The Slash, Ben Mink, Ray Jackson, Eric Bazilian (Hooters), Leif Sorbye, and the Western Swing contingent (Gimble, Tiny, Danny Levin, Glasse...) there were some obscure guys like Dennis Pash (The Leopards).
Just listen to your favorite players (of whatever instrument). Get their stuff into you head, learn standard notation and buy some "off the record" transcription books of their playing. Get a Strat of SG, or go with some hybrid.
Niles H
Honestly, I can't tell if this is electric or acoustic - the tone is pretty ratty. But it's a great showcase for the mandolin. This is the B-side of his hit "Guitar Boogie." Back in Ye Olden Times, when I was in a jug band, fearless leader insisted I learn this as a spotlight feature for me. He lent me his single, and I put a lot of time and effort into learning it. I may have gotten more than 90% of it - there is a lot of stuff going on here. I mean, there are probably upwards of a hundred little riffs all thrown together. I might have to revisit it. One of these days ...
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Billy plays a Gibson EM, so I suppose this qualifies.
Isaac is not kidding.
I'm surprised Andrew Hendryx hasn't been mentioned. "Widening Circles" released in 2020, has a few pieces that are undoubtedly electric mandolin, not amplified acoustic, not a tiny guitar. Excellent stuff.
Eastman MD505w/K&K, MDO315 w/K&K, MD415GD, Emando (JBbouvier) 5-string
Sam bush kills it in laps in seven:
Diego
Eastman MD315
Kentucky KM505
JBovier ELS
---
Ivan Dunov VL402 Violin
I don't think Eva Scow has come up. Her Godin A8 is, according to those in the know, an acoustic mandolin with a pre-amp, but what the heck -- you can plug it into an amp.
If the links don't work, search YouTube for Eva Scow/ After You've Gone".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl6o...hannel=EvaScow
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
https://pierogalloproject.com/js_videos/zafara/
I will add Piero Gallo to this list.
https://pierogalloproject.com/js_alb...-mediterraneo/
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