A cover of Paul Simon's Graceland

[Maddie Witler]

Here's a cover of Paul Simon's classic, Graceland, performed by my group the Lonely Heartstring Band.



We're currently in the midst of our kickstarter campaign to raise money to record our first full length record. Contribute to or learn more about the campaign at:
http://https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1019026124/the-lonely-heartstring-band-full-length-album?ref=nav_search

Thanks!

[JEStanek]

Nice!

Jamie

[Peter Coronado]

Really nice! Matt, would you say a few words about how you approached this on mandolin? Looks like you did mostly or all percussion without chords.

[roysboy]

Superb . I might suggest utilzing the lead instruments a bit more...fills, color, dynamics, ....think Punch Bros. Best of luck with the album .

[UsuallyPickin]

Nicely done fellows .... maybe a little spare ... but better that way than too busy ..... everybody supports the song and the singer... I am curious to hear your recording when it arrives.... R/

[Steve Ostrander]

Very nice. I like that a lot. The banjo is playing the lead, the guitar plays the rhythm, the mandolin plays the snare drum part, the fiddle adds the strings. Good job on the backing vocals, too; that's not an easy part to sing. I'm not sure I would add a lot of fills. This is very close to the original arrangement, just different instrumentation. I think a lot of fills would muddy the waters. Just my opinion.

[Mark Wilson]

Well done!

[Bertram Henze]

My hat is off to the banjo player and to his ways of managing.

[Maddie Witler]

Really nice! Matt, would you say a few words about how you approached this on mandolin? Looks like you did mostly or all percussion without chords.

Thanks! My band has worked up a number of covers of pop and rock tunes. In particular we spent the first year of our existence as a Beatles cover band. With most of our arrangements of these songs we try to be as true to the original recording as possible. This means assigning the individual sounds of a pop band to our bluegrass instruments. Usually the mandolin ends up playing the role of the drums. I think in the earlier stages working up the arrangement for Graceland I may have tried a more strummy approach mixed with chopping, but I think that just made it feel cluttered. Sometimes all a song needs from the mandolin player is a well placed chop.

If you’d like to hear any of the Beatles material, we recorded an EP a couple of years ago that you can download or listen to at this link:

http://lonelyheartstringband.bandcamp.com/

The EP has five Beatles tunes, one original tune, and one bluegrass number.

[Charles E.]

I got to see this band a couple of times during the IBMA last Oct. They were a blast to see. The bass player is all over that tune!

[ianbarton]

Matt,

Been listening to your stuff on bandcamp, I am assuming the original number is Until I Cross That Line? Great stuff! Definitely dig into originals some more, you guys have something there! Some pretty slick pickin on Ole Slewfoot too, I'm impressed man.

Ian

[montana]

I could play the mandoline part.

[Tony Pearce]

Nice cover.

[Maddie Witler]

Here's our latest video. A more straight ahead cover of a Bob Dylan tune.