Tim O'Brien

[Nelson Peddycoart]

I have gotten hooked on this Songs From The Mountain disc. Thanks to all for your advice. I went to Tim's website and ordered up a boxful of discs and his DVD. Happy listening days ahead!

I hate to write this, because I know more than one of you are probably going to be offended, but I can't help that. The above mentioned order was placed through Tim's website as described. I spent $289.00 for quite a few CDs and one DVD plus shipping.

31 days later, I have not received the order and cannot get any response from the contact email listed on his website. Since I paid using PayPal, I filed a claim which is now in the process of being resolved, I hope. As it stands right now, I am out nearly $300, and the seller is refusing to reimburse me.

I opened this thread saying how much I enjoyed Tim's music and looked forward to exploring alot more of it. The treatment I have received on this issue has killed any desire I have to listen to him.

[sgarrity]

Nelson, I understand your frustration. 31 days with no order and no communication is totally unacceptable. I also placed an order from Tim's site on the same day I placed orders with CDbaby and Elderly. Those two orders arrived promptly and it took about another week for the two cds from Tim's site to arrive, but they did arrive. I did receive an email through PayPal showing that my order shipped. It just took a while to get here for whatever reason. I too had emailed the contact and received no response.

There is probably a much better than average chance that Tim has no idea this is going on. So please don't hold it against him and his music. He truly is a gifted picker, singer, and songwriter. I have learned over the last few years that ordering directly from artists is dicey at best many times. Artists are on the road touring and trying to make a living and many times the people that are supposed to be helping them with merchandise don't do a very good job. That's why for the most part if I buy a cd I get it from Elderly, CDBaby, or Amazon. I also subscribe to eMusic and download from there each month. I know artists get a larger profit margin if you buy directly form them and I want to support acoustic musicians as much as possible. But for the best customer service and prompt delivery, I'd try one of the sources listed above.

[Perry]

Maybe Tim ships his "merch" himself and he's been out of town. I often try to order directly from the artist because I am guessing they make more of a profit that way.

I bet Nelson will get his money back or his mdse eventually; yes it is a hassle but not life threatening.

One of fastest artist merchandise turnarounds I know of is from David Grier. Great service!

I always thought that Tim O' was one of the most unsung mandolin players around.....maybe because he is so good at so many things except maybe retail.

[Nelson Peddycoart]

Some guy named Chris does his shipping, and no it's not life threatening. It is annoying to be ignored in a case like this. Particularly since I mentioned that Chris has elected not to refund my money. I had ordered directly from the artist in order to have them receive more of the take (nearly $300), which I usually try to do

Since I ordered those discs, I also ordered from The Haints, Skip Gorman and someone else I can't recall. All of them came within a week of being ordered.

[Ed Goist]

Tim O'Brien on eTown Radio Broadcast

From Tim O'Brien's Facebook Page:
Listen to Tim O'Brien with the Indigo Girls and others on the 12/22-12/28 eTown radio broadcast.
To find a station near you, click here.
Or, listen to the podcast here beginning 12/22.
Click here to read a summary of the show.

[R. Kane]

I was in an "elective class" at the 2006 Mandolin Symposium sitting three feet from TimO when he pulled out his Nugget and sang 'A Mountaineer is Always Free." The hair on my arms stood up and a chill went down my spine. Became a huge fan in that moment.

Daniel

I was there in 2006 too, and I thought the amazing moment was when someone handed Tim their octave mandolin, and he played and sang 'When I Paint My Masterpiece.' Reasonable TO'B fans can differ.

[mugbucket]

I'm not a big fan of Michael Jonathon's singing or rhapsodizing about any particular subject but that man can book talent - Woodsongs show #477 features Mr. O'.

Wow.

http://www.woodsongs.com/showlist.asp

Ski

[jasona]

Look at that right hand. I wanna play that relaxed.

[mandolirius]

Maybe Tim ships his "merch" himself and he's been out of town. I often try to order directly from the artist because I am guessing they make more of a profit that way.

I bet Nelson will get his money back or his mdse eventually; yes it is a hassle but not life threatening.

One of fastest artist merchandise turnarounds I know of is from David Grier. Great service!

I always thought that Tim O' was one of the most unsung mandolin players around.....maybe because he is so good at so many things except maybe retail.

I can't imagine any full-time touring musician attempting to do their own retail. Touring is a chaotic lifestyle by its very nature whereas retailing requires stability. This could be an untypical situation. I haven't heard of problems ordering directly from Tim's website prior to this and you'd think that if this was normal, word would be on the street by now.

[g-mac]

+1 on "Real Time" w/ Tim & Darrell Scott. And "Fiddler's Green" is a great, great record.

He is, indeed, a fabulous guitarist. There's a Planet Bluegrass podcast where they interview him, and he plays & sings a couple songs - just him and his wonderful-sounding 00-18 from the 30s. Check it out at the bottom of the page here: http://www.bluegrass.com/podcast.html or on iTunes.

Lastly, to hear Tim just on mando for a whole record, you can check out "Bluegrass Guitar" by Bryan Sutton.

Lots of great stuff to explore!

[Ed Goist]

I know there are a lot of Cafe readers who live in or near Nashville, so I thought I'd post this here:

From Tim O'Brien's Facebook page:
Tim and Bryan Sutton at the Station Inn in Nashville TONIGHT, January 5. 9pm, $20. Come on down!

[Alex Orr]

You can still order a copy of the back issue of The Fretboard Journal featuring a long piece with Tim and Sam Bush at http://www.fretboardjournal.com/magazine

Well worth picking up, both for the article and because the Fretboard Journal is just a first-rate publication.

[ShaneJ]

I love everything about his music except for all the talking instead of just singing. He has a great singing voice. I wish he didn't do that little trying to be clever talking thing so much. His playing is topnotch too. I can get over the talking, but if I was the producer, his recordings wouldn't have that in them.

[Perry Babasin]

I love all his stuff, and just recently found him myself... Check out the "Bluegrass Journey" DVD, there are a lot of great bands but Tim talks a lot about his experience and thoughts about traditional forms of all kinds, and there are scenes with his Celtic band and also a great song with Darrell Scott... Real Time is a great album...

[mandolirius]

Since this thread got revivied, I notice the OP did not say if his situation was ever resolved. I'd be interested in knowing the outcome.

[Loretta Callahan]

Yes, that DVD is great. I keep ordering it from Netflix; I should just buy it! There's something so natural and rhythmic about Tim's playing and singing. I come from a Hawaiian tradition of music and Tim's strumming reminds me of the laid back, precise and clear music of the Hawaiians I I love to listen to, but with the Irish/American mojo that are my roots.

I love all his stuff, and just recently found him myself... Check out the "Bluegrass Journey" DVD, there are a lot of great bands but Tim talks a lot about his experience and thoughts about traditional forms of all kinds, and there are scenes with his Celtic band and also a great song with Darrell Scott... Real Time is a great album...

[Dobe]

Anyone know what album the song: "Music Tree" is on; or if that's the title?

Chorus has : "climbin' up, climbin' up , up n' then down that music tree "

something like that. Had it on cassette (that's an old type of music reproduction devise) years ago & just can't find it out of my hundreds of analog tapes. Positive it was Tim O' !

Thanks !

[Dave Gumbart]

Music Tree comes from the NewGrange cd, by the band NewGrange. This collection of artists includes Tim, Alison Brown, Todd Phillips, Darol Anger, Mike Marshal and, on piano, Phillip Aaberg. It's on Compass records, and is a great cd. That group originally got together to record a Xmas album called "A Christmas Heritage," which, I think was Darol's project, primarily. Fortunately, they all enjoyed it enough and did another album under the band name NewGrange (one of the songs on the Xmas cd, about the winter solstice). They toured for about a year, and returned to their normally scheduled bands/muses. I'd love to see another NewGrange project. Of course, all of them independently putting out music is okay, too.

Anyway, get the NewGrange cd. You'll love it.

Dave

[Jonathan James]

For you Tim O'Brien fans around North Carolina, he is doing a show with Bryan Sutton tomorrow (1/7) in Raleigh as part of the PineCone Music "Down Home" series....(www.pinecone.org)

[wsugai]

Look at that right hand. I wanna play that relaxed.

Tim O'Brien: Mandolin hanging off his shoulder, two hands waving around it in a blur, beautiful music pouring forth.

[GRW3]

There are some good vids on You Tube. I particularly like the ones in black and white from Rice Hall here in Texas. They also feature Texas mando sweetheart Sarah Jahrosz.

The Fretboard Journal dialog with Sam Bush is great.