Mandolin in indie and jam bands

**Scott Tichenor** · Sep-26-2006, 7:25am

I received an email from an National Public Radio intern interested in possibly doing a story on the mandolin in indie and jam bands. Not exactly my area of expertise. The specific question is this individual has been noticing more mandolins in these types of groups and is wondering if the mandolin's use is on the increase for indie/jam, etc. I suspect the answer would be that there's really no increase. More likely this person is just noticing them more and that places on the web like MySpace.com are making groups more visible. Appreciate anyone's input.

**mando andy** · Sep-26-2006, 7:57am

I would say that there could be some sort of increase just because "indie" music itself seems to have more crossover themes and is more prone to combining syles----Jack Johnson's uke stuff and of course Nickle Creek are prime examples.

Andy Morton

**fredfrank** · Sep-26-2006, 8:00am

After reading the title of this thread, I thought they might be banned from jams.

**JEStanek** · Sep-26-2006, 8:02am

Perhaps the Ditty Bops could be an example. They may be kind of mainstream for indie bands but still not heard much on commercial radio.

Jamie

**garyblanchard** · Sep-26-2006, 8:24am

I'm no expert, but I can tracemandolins in jam bands at least back at least to Old and In the Way with Dave Grisman and Jerry Garcia, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. More recently, there are groups like Yonder Mountain String Band who combine Bluegrass and Jam Band sensibilities. REM, though hardly and Indie band anymore, also have featured mandolins.

If you are looking for a place to refer the NPR folks, they might contact Relix, a magazine that covers the Jam Band scene. Their contact info:
Relix Magazine
104 W. 29th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: 646-230-0100
Fax: 646-230-0200

**mandomadman** · Sep-26-2006, 9:38am

The popularity of jam bands is on the rise. Young people are massing to the genre. The mandolin has been getting center stage more and more. The Yonder Mt.String Band, Hot Buttered rum and many others are doing quite well and making lots of money. They are all taking a page from the Greatful Dead and allowing their music, mainly taped shows to be available for free. I go to these festivals and shows from time to time and it's like stepping back into 1968. The hippie thing is still huge. The venues are packed with tie dye dressed people dancing around everywhere. Check out all the trade friendly bands on Live music archive also lots of info on Jambase

**ben_wv** · Sep-26-2006, 10:04am

One angle for the story would be a timeline illustrating how old-time and bluegrass circles were the origin of "jam bands", the definition of which changed when the grateful dead, who were to an extent rooted in traditional american music, began to use jazz-like improvisation over country-blues and rock-&-roll themed tunes. #That combination lends itself very well to an acoustic music setting, as it's accessible to players beginner to expert and sound equipment (effects, etc.) is unnecessary. #As this style of music grew in popularity, its adherents began including the other stringed instruments traditionally associated with BG, creating the sound and feel of jam rock, only with the warmth and tone of acoustic instuments. #The mandolin is naturally a partner (a star?) in this ensemble, and as such has grown in popularity.

The timeline should probably include Grisman, Sam Bush and NGR, Telluride, the bands mentioned in the above posts, and lots of other stuff that I'm either forgetting or that I don't know about #

.

**glauber** · Sep-26-2006, 10:09am

I'm surprised nobody mentioned String Cheese Incident yet.

**Jim MacDaniel** · Sep-26-2006, 10:57am

I too think that the mandolin's use in these genres may not be on the rise; rather, our awareness of their existence is on the rise due to the increasing oppotunities on the internet for these bands --and their fans -- to promote their music (e.g., homepages, myspace, youtube, fan pages, blogs, itunes, napster, emusic.com, etc.).

Scott -- if NPR needs the names of independent or lesser known artists with mandolins for their research, here are four that get a lot of time in my CD rotation (and all have multiple internet presences)...

1. Bonpony, an all out, high-energy, mandolin-driven acoustic blast -- with two band members that play mandolin.
Homepage: Bonepony.com:
Myspace: myspace.com/BoneponyStomp
Youtube: "Bleeker Street" (one of several vids posted here by fans)

2. The Emma Gibbs Band: sort of "Jam Grass meets alt.country". This band appears to be on a long term haitus, but its mandolinist (as well as other members of the band for that matter) has a presence on myspace.
Homepage: EmmaGibbsBand.com (note: this defaults to the RichardUpchurch.com, their guitar player's web site)
Myspace: myspace.com/WillStraughan (Will is their mandolinist, but Richard also has a myspace URL: myspace.com/RichardUpchurch)
Youtube: (no hits when I last searched)

3. Jimmy Ryan, the Boston-area alt.country pioneer (The Blood Oranges), who plays mandolin, emando, and mandola on his and many many others' CD's.
Homepage: JimmyRyan.net
Myspace: myspace.com/JRmando)
Youtube: (no hits when I last searched)

4. The Gourds -- what more can you say about a band whose frontmen play mandolin and accordian, with two guys who trade off on mandolin duties, who cover both David Bowie & Snoop Dog, and who write most of their songs?
Homepage: TheGourds.com
Myspace: myspace.com/TheGourds)
youtube: "El Paso" #(one of several vids posted here by fans)

**MDW** · Sep-26-2006, 11:45am

What about Drew Emmitt of Leftover Salmon and the David Grisman produced Old School Freight Train?

**Paul Kotapish** · Sep-26-2006, 12:07pm

Wake the Dead features both mandolin and octave mandolin front and center and stradles the slighly esoteric fence between the acoustic jam-band and the traditional Irish music worlds. We've played the Fillmore with Bob Weir's Ratdog and we are regulars at the Dead on the Creek festival, but we've also played most of the tradtional Celtic festivals on the west coast, including the Sebastopol Celtic Festival this past weekend, where Danny and I helped host the mandolin & guitar workshop. Our fans are pretty evenly split between Deadheads and traditional music enthusiasts. Our CDs are in rotation on radio programs ranging from David Gans's Dead to the World to more conventional folk programs all over the country to pop/rock KFOG's Acoustic Sunrise show.

Wake the Dead Homepage

**Alex Orr** · Sep-26-2006, 12:11pm

I have an odd bunch of listening habits. About fifty percent is old blues, bluegrass, and country; the other fifty percent is indie/underground rock (pretty much from the '60s through today). I actually don't hear much mandolin in today's more critically admired and popular underground acts. Banjo and ukulele on the other hand seem to be fairly trendy. The last few years has seen the rise of what has been coined "the freak folk" movement which is loosely characterized by artists like Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhardt, and Animal Collective. Generally speaking, it's really sort've a lo-fi type of sound with somewhat whispery vocals, often quirky and obtuse lyrics, and a heavy nod towards the kind of acoustic psychedelia of bands like the Incredible String Band or perhaps the Jefferson Airplane's more noodly acoustic numbers. Often lots of acoustic instruments are piled on top of one another creating something of a mini-orchestral type of psychedelia. In these cases ukes and banjos frequently show up, but honestly, mandolin doesn't seen to ever be a prominent instrument. Out of a fairly obsessive interest in underground rock, I've cheked out a few of these bnds and artists, but honestly, the "freak folk" stuff doesn't really do much for me.

Jam bands? Dunno, stopped listening to 'em years ago. String Cheese Incident featured an electric mando guy...but I never much cared for them.

**ira** · Sep-26-2006, 12:11pm

railroad earth
jazz mando project (as much if not more so a jam band, than a jazz band)

**cooper4205** · Sep-26-2006, 12:17pm

eric mcfadden plays an eMando for parliament/funkadelic

**Danny Carnahan** · Sep-26-2006, 12:49pm

Thanks, Paul, for posting the Wake the Dead stage shot. Curious mandophiles might want to nose around www.wakethedead.org for more on WTD, as we seem to be the only flourishing jam band featuring mandolin (and octave mandolin) as the main course, rather than a musical sprig of parsley... much as we love parsley.

**Danny Carnahan** · Sep-26-2006, 12:55pm

Actually, Scott... if that NPR intern is really interested in input, let him or her loose on this forum or pass on an address. We'd love to toss some helpful stuff their way!

**mrmando** · Sep-26-2006, 1:49pm

There's some stuff at emando.com too ... although I haven't been as assiduous at listing individual players as I used to. Carter Gravatt (Carbon Leaf) and Mike Orlando are two players that haven't been mentioned. Ryan Shupe ... Todd McCloskey ... Andrew Hendryx is doing a side project called Toast that might have some jam-band appeal.

NPR's Jo Ann Silberner is a mandolin fan, apparently. She's on the mailing list for either John Kruth or Andrew Hendryx, I forget which. Or maybe it's both. There is a high mandolin quotient in the music clips played between stories on NPR newscasts.

Emmitt and Kang are the two big names, of course. Builders would be a nice related story, but unfortunately two of the builders most popular with jam-band types (Rigel and Rono) are kaput.

I would, of course, be happy to answer any of the intern's questions too.

**mrmando** · Sep-26-2006, 1:53pm

Mandolins are spilling over into other genres too ... blues (Otis Taylor) and rock (Lourds).

**Jim MacDaniel** · Sep-26-2006, 2:12pm

Originally Posted by (ira @ Sep. 26 2006, 10:11)

...jazz mando project (as much if not more so a jam band, than a jazz band)

However, they have been embraced by fans of the Jam Band genre, and here is Jamie Masefield's take on that:

"I have no problem being called a jam band...I find it a little bit silly that some bands try to distance themselves from the genre once they've really been accepted by it. I'm just lucky to have gigs."

**david blair** · Sep-29-2006, 5:14am

OK, I'll plug my band,
http://www.myspace.com/therustystrings
We play lots of traditional stuff, and honky tonk sorts, fiddle tunes, and sometimes the songs are just songs of our own.
Certainly Drew Emmit, Michael Kang, Jeff Austin, the Gourds.

**garyblanchard** · Oct-09-2006, 4:20pm

Thought I would resurrect this thread to state that I saw Yonder Mountain String Band this past Saturday night in Northampton, MA. Amazing music, and four talented players. The mandolin and guitar players were really great, and the banjo and bass were just behind them in talent. The did a version of Talking Heads' "Girlfriend is Better" that led into a very nice, free-form jam before resolving into another song, I think it was "Follow Me Down To The Riverside." I went there as a curious listener and walked out as a fan.

**Karen** · Oct-09-2006, 6:20pm

Where would the Waybacks fit in? They can play the puddin out of the mandolin.

**allenhopkins** · Oct-09-2006, 11:48pm

Lark Street Music is selling a Gibson Alright, listed as formerly owned by Rusted Root ("Send Me On My Way"). They used other acoustic instruments -- pennywhistle, etc.

Lark Street Stock List