I've been so intrigued by these two from the Directions album, 1978. Some serious mandolin picking here. Thebes written by Norman and Loch Layan Castle, Santa Ana's Retreat, Cattle in the Cane medley. Thebes definitely has the 70's mandolin vibe, and reminds me of Frodo's Journey by Al White (Kentucky Blue album, The Bluegrass alliance, 1975) I'm including Al's song here too. Edit: About what Norman Blake calls "Loch Layan Castle": The Medieval ways of spelling have resolved to several modern ways of spelling this, the modern spelling in Scotland I believe is Loch Leven, but I've seen Loch Leyen, Loch Lavan, and Loch Layan. You can find TAB or ABC for this under the spelling Loch Leven Castle.
Now is that Norman or Nancy on the mandolin? Either way it is beautifully played.
That's Norman Blake on mandolin. Both Norman and Nancy are multi-instrumentalists, and both seem to prefer both mandolin and guitar to other instruments; in recording sessions and performances either of them will play backup to the other, and they both write music. On the Directions album, Norman plays all the mandolin parts. Nancy only plays cello and does backup vocals on that album. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct...n_Blake_album) The tune Father's Hall appears on Directions; Nancy wrote that song and often performs it, but Norman played the mandolin part on this album and has recorded that song on mandolin on other records with other musicians as well. They are quite the musical team.
OK, correction - I should know better than to trust Wikipedia too much - according to the liner notes, Nancy does play guitar and mandolin on this album as well as the cello, but not on the songs I mentioned. Thebes: Norman Blake, mandolin, guitar; Nancy Blake, cello Loch Layan ...: Norman, mandolin; Nancy, guitar Father's Hall: Norman, guitar, mandolin; Nancy, cello Off now to edit that wikipedia article
Those were great videos. I love to listen to the Blakes- thanks for posting. Bonnie
Bonniej I think I saw your post in another thread, seems we are working on some of the same things - The Mandolin of Norman Blake, from Homespun. I love that set of lessons, I'm working on Hollow Poplar right now. The music for Thebes is over at mandozine.com, both a guitar and mandolin version. I'm a little further on guitar than mandolin right now with Thebes, but I think that tune will take me about a year. There's a lot of pickin' in that one.
Mark, Yes I do have the Homespun and never get tired of playing it. I pick up something new every time I watch. I've got Greencastle Hornpipe almost to my satisfaction. I'm going to try and play it at their speed eventually. I can get through it pretty clean but not at their speed yet. I'm going to start another one soon so have to pick out which one to do. Thebes is really pretty- that will be a great accomplishment. Yea lots of picking in that one. From some of your videos I can see that you are a more advanced Newbie than I am. I can play by ear and can write the music or tabs either one -so I have that going for me-if I could just get my fingers and hands to get with it! I'm so impressed by the diverse genres of the Blake's music. I think Nancy was originally a cello player so maybe her classical style added to their repertoire. Some of the utubes that I've seen where they play with a violinist sound like classical chamber music. Let me know if you ever see a concert date for them. I saw a few posted last year but they were in Canada I think. Bonniej
Bonniej, here's a very interesting post from a couple months back: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ke%27s+guitars
I saw that when it was posted. That Gilchrist is beautiful.
I've been learning Thebes both on mandolin and on guitar; I've learned the song all the way through on guitar and partways on the mandolin now. Here's a sneak preview of the guitar part. I recorded this to hear my "new" 1949 Harmony Patrician archtop. I got this for myself as a birthday present just after Christmas. Yesterday I made a mahogany veneer pickguard for it and installed it just before playing this. I fell apart near the end as you'll see. I tried a few more takes afterward, and didn't even get this far. I'm having great fun learning this tune though, and tons of fun playing this old guitar! I hope to one day make a nice recording of this tune with mandolin and rhythm & lead guitar.
Wow. That's gonna be really nice. Just keep on crankin'. I like it so far. I don't know much about guitars. Is that a really big guitar or does it just look big after looking at mandolins for a while?
It's a large-ish guitar, Henry, I suppose this body would be considered a Concert or Auditorium size body. The Dreadnaught, which was a Martin design and is probably the most popular now, is about this size with a not-so-rounded lower bout, not as narrow a waist and a larger, less-rounded upper bout than this type of body. This looks big after looking at mandolins awhile, and it is big after holding a mandolin awhile I like the sound and the playability of this old lady.
