Mandolins On TV - Advance Notice

[journeybear]

You realize, this is the Mandolin Café, and what you want, you get. (Sometimes some extra stuff you probably didn't want as well, but still ...)

OK, here's what I have found so far. On 1/31 Goat Rodeo played at House Of Blues in Cambridge MA. This was simulcast and also recorded for later broadcast by WGBH, the Boston PBS station. WGBH has a long history of producing music broadcasts, so this comes as no surprise to me. It looks like it will be broadcast 5/25 and 5/29 - there; check your local listings.

This is from the May WGBH program guide, page 11.

[journeybear]

As always, I can't say whether there will be any actual MA (mandolin appearance) this week, but I can offer a little MC.

5/7
View: Norah Jones (no MC but she has fans here)
Fallon: The Beach Boys (The Boys are back!)*
Daly: Jessie Baylin (no MC but there is some buzz about her around here; if The Watson Twins are with her there will some fine harmony singing)
5/9
DeGeneres: Carrie Underwood (rumor of MC)
Fallon: Mick Taylor (ex-Stones guitarist in rare TV appearance)
5/10
Letterman: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (known for imaginative instrumentation)
Leno: Sara Watkins (has worked with mandolinists sometimes)
Kimmel: Carrie Underwood

* OK. Several years ago I was playing at a club here, where there is no barrier between performer and audience - heck, a corner of the bar is barely two meters away - so people tend to just mosey on up and chat. One day a middle-aged guy came up while we were taking a little breather and started talking mandolins, for almost ten minutes - he seemed not only interested but knowledgeable, and this was so much more welcome than the usual "What is that, a ukulele?" We shook hands and he went back to his friends. The bartender motioned me to come over, and said, "Do you know who that is?" I shook my head." He said, "That's Al Jardine, from The Beach Boys." You could have knocked me over with a feather! I hadn't recognized him at all. Nice to know there is some awareness of our beloved instrument in one of the biggest bands ever, even if they have never used it (AFAIK). Maybe someday ... Wouldn't it be nice?

[journeybear]

Just a reminder - Sara Watkins on Leno tonight.

[Darren Bailey]

British viewers - Chris Thile with Punch Brothers playing a couple of songs on Later tonight Friday 11th May. They were live earlier in the week and sounded good.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Darren - I stayed up to watch the Punch Brothers on the Jools Holland show - i wish i hadn't ,'nuff said !!,
Ivan

[Kevin McELvanney]

Will be watching Jools Holland tonight. Not a fan of the recent material Ivan? I've yet to hear the whole album. Just heard a few bits and pieces so far.
Kevin

[journeybear]

We are looking at a week of No MC TV - zilch, nada, bupkis - but a few bright spots nevertheless:

5/14
CBS This Morning: Tenacious D
OBrien: Doyle and Debbie (rockabilly funsters)
Fallon: Willie Nelson ('nuf said)
Letterman: Tenacious D
5/15
OBrien: Gregg Allman
Leno: Santana
Fallon: Tenacious D
5/18
Leno: Tenacious D
5/19
SNL: Mick Jagger host; Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, Jeff Beck, and presumably Mick musical guests

And Craig Ferguson is offering a week's worth of shows from a recent trip to Scotland, and every night music from The Imagineers. Should be entertaining if nothing else, much as was last year's trip to France.

[journeybear]

Conspicuous in its absence - last week. Nothing going on. Although ... If any of you have been getting a performance/architecture series on your PBS station called "Live From The Artists Den" (pairs musicians with interesting venues), the episode featuring Iron & Wine came around here, and there was a lot of mandolin in there. Might be coming up for you. Check your local listings.

Real slim pickings, but one definite. Obviously there'll be mandolin in the appearance by The Band Perry on Friday's Today Show. They have the bad luck of being up against Brad Paisley on GMA, who I think is a lot more interesting, even without MC. But Merle Haggard on Monday's Today Show is whom I want to see the most. Always like to see what The Hag is up to, even if he's only in to chat (as the listing implies).

5/28
Today: Merle Haggard
6/1
GMA: Brad Paisley
Today: The Band Perry

[journeybear]

Don't see any mandolins coming on the tube this week. A few possibly interesting offerings nonetheless.

6/5
9 ABC: Concert for the Queen: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration Hosted By Katie Couric; with Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue, Stevie Wonder, will.i.am, Jessie J.
Leno: Chris Robinson Brotherhood (something new from singer of The Black Crowes, I suppose)
Kimmel: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (odd, offbeat, often enjoyable)
6/6
Leno: The Beach Boys (yes, they're back)
Fallon: Leon Redbone sits in with the band (too bad we won't get to hear most of what he does, but there should be some cool stuff)

Also, my local PBS station is running a special called Chris Isaak Live: Beyond the Sun, originally ran two months ago. If you're a fan like I am, this ought to be cool. Bound to be broken up by pledge breaks.

[Mike Bunting]

Anybody see the mandolin backing up Eric Idle singing "Always Look at The Bright Side of Life" on Graham Norton. Yes, a real mandolin on TV.

[Zeke Chandler]

Direct quote from The Del McCoury Band on his facebook.

"TV ALERT: Del will be appearing on Letterman tomorrow night with Jerry Douglas to promote Jerry's new album."

[journeybear]

Nice going! That looks like a late schedule change. They moved tonight's booking to tomorrow and put him on instead. It's just listed as Jerry Douglas, still. There was nothing worth noting this week when I looked so I didn't even bother to post. I mean, I thought of mentioning Patti Smith on Letterman tonight, with Bootsy Collins sitting in with the band (guess the 70s are back), or The Beach Boys on GMA Friday, or Norah Jones on Fallon tomorrow and Today Friday, but ...

[journeybear]

Also - if you are up late, Josh Turner did a song in the last hour of The Today Show (the one hosted by the extremely annoying, inexplicably employed Kathie Lee Gifford and the eternally exasperated Hoda Kotb), and there was a mandolin in the band. As usual, couldn't hear it, but in the instrumental the guy got to take a nice little ride on it. And the clip-on tuner didn't affect it, that I could hear. I say all this because this gets rebroadcast (again, inexplicably, as the hosts make it nearly unbearable, but I guess this is some desperate attempt to build viewership and boost ratings) after Last Call With Carson Daly, at 2:05 AM Eastern. The song will thus show up around 2:58 AM, but you may want to tune in a bit early so you don't miss the ladies fawning over the hunk (if that's your sort of thing). If you miss it, rest easy - it was all right but not the ultimate. Still, nice to see a double shot of mandolins on the tube today.

[journeybear]

Well, it was nice, but it was just Del and a fiddler I didn't recognize backing up Jerry - no Ronnie, no mandolin - plus a drummer, Will Lee and Paul Shaffer from the band on bass and organ, doing Leadbelly's "On A Monday" .... So bluegrass it wasn't. Nice and funky, and Jerry sang well, better than I thought he could, it just wasn't bluegrass. Not that there's anything wrong with it - you can do a lot more with dobro than bluegrass, same as mandolin. Just so ya know ...

[journeybear]

Just a few things - tonight, a repeat of the Tonight Show from 6/20 - Joe Henry with Lisa Hannigan backing him on some sort of mandolin-like instrument. Also, tomorrow morning Bonnie Raitt will be on CBS This Morning (formerly The Early Show). No MC, but so what? This may sound a bit far-fetched, but tonight on Fallon they are repeating the show from 6/8, which started right off with Carly Rae Jepsen playing an unplugged version of her ubiquitous pop hit Call Me Maybe with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots all huddled around. Maybe this song is like nails on a blackboard for some, but I think it's a charming trifle (Billboard magzine calls it the hit of the summer), but this rendition is relly nice. It's a cold open, so stay tuned in after the Tonight Show - a nice one-two punch. And Friday, Ringo Starr will be on CBS This Morning (formerly The Early Show). No MC, but so what?

7/4
Leno: Joe Henry with Lisa Hannigan 6/20
Fallon: Carly Rae Jepsen with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots 6/8
7/5
CBS This Morning: Bonnie Raitt
7/6
CBS This Morning: Ringo Starr

[journeybear]

Sorry in case anyone tuned in for the Caryl Rae Jepsen dealio I mentioned - its tomorrow night. Well, tonight, by now. Tonight - well last night, by now, I guess - was the show that has her actual full-band performance. But she hung around and taped the cold open performance I mentioned, which was originally broadcast the following day, and which will be rebroadcast tomorrow night - well, tonight - well, you know! Anyway, it's cool because the stripped-down instrumentation included things like the keyboard parts being played on melodica and accordion, stuff like that. Reminded me of when Jimmy Kimmel took Feist and her band and a few audience members on a city bus, driving around LA at night. Sometimes when you reduce the ornamentation the song comes through clearer. Nay be of minor interest here, but it was pretty cool all the same.

So ...

7/4
Leno: Joe Henry with Lisa Hannigan 6/20
7/5
CBS This Morning: Bonnie Raitt
Fallon: Carly Rae Jepsen with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots 6/8
7/6
CBS This Morning: Ringo Starr

As you were ...

[Ben Milne]

Hey JB are you slipping?
Last night's Letterman performance was actually a rerun of Josh Turner from an August episode featuring a picker on a Collings Mandolin.
Dave seems to have a soft spot for the mandolin, wrapping up he even asks the picker what kind it is and confirms that it is a good one.

[journeybear]

Yep, really slipping. Got some serious stuff to contend with and just, well ... Yeah, this was nice, especially showing that Dave has learned what a mandolin is over the years. At least he isn't asking, ''What is that, a mandolin?'' any more. Also, there was a mandolin prominently featured in a band called Imagine Dragons hat was on Jimmy Kimmel last week. In fact, mandolin kicked it off, the guy looped it, and then switched to guitar while the riff kept running around.

But I'm going to beg off on missing these. Unfamiliar with the latter, and the former falls under the category of country-so-maybe-mandolin, and I am tired of being the boy who cried wolf on those. (But even so, I see Josh Turner will be on the Today Show next Wednesday, 9/19. I'm pretty sure fiddle is that guy's main instrument, though he certainly seemed to know what he was doing.) So though I could mention that Kix Brooks is on Good Morning America today, and Little Big Town will be on Ellen tomorrow, I won't. Just because they're country doesn't mean there will be a mandolin, or even that there could be, just potentially a higher probability.

[journeybear]

In fact, yes - just tuned in and there is a mandolin being played in Kix Brooks' band as they warm up and tease their performance on Good Morning America. Can't say whether it will be good, whether it will be heard, or whether it will be played or whether the guy will switch to fiddle - but there it is.

PS: Yep - for the song the guy switched to second electric guitar. See what I mean? So it goes - oh well! But at least now we know why Ronnie Dunn did the lead singing ...

[journeybear]

Gotta watch it with the smarty-pants comments - sometimes they come true. Much to my surprise - again - there was a mandolin in Little Big Town's band when they played on Ellen. Warning - the guy uses some sort of pitch-shifter effect. A bit weird, but there it is. Kind of a slinky little number, by the way.



Looks like I had better go back to being inclusive with my notices.

[journeybear]

I can guarantee there will be mandolins on the tube tonight, at some point during the three hour telecast of the CMA Music Festival on ABC. Not only are the odds overwhelmingly in favor of this, the event is being co-hosted by Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry, and it would be highly unlikely if they did not do at least one song. Yes, I'm sure there will be a lot of other stuff to slog through, but this is why PIP was invented. Or, if you are old school (like me), this is where having two TVs comes in handy. Just sayin' ...

Other than that, there are a few country acts up this week, some of which have been sporing mandolins lately. A couple of good olkd standbys for us baby boomers - Bonnie Raitt and ZZ Top, though I admit I will be more interested in Jay's headliner guest, Zooey Deschanel.

9/17

8-11 ABC CMA Music Festival
Leno: Rascal Flatts
9/18
Ellen: Carly Rae Jepsen
9/19
Today: Josh Turner
Leno: Big & Rich
9/20
Leno: Bonnie Raitt
9/21
Leno: ZZ Top

[lespaul_79]

Great thread.

[Mike Bunting]

Nothin'!

[journeybear]

Actually, mandolins have been showing up plenty on this show. In addition to The Band Perry, Little Big Town and a few other bands have featured them. And there's still an hour to go. I'm not saying the music is what a lot of people here like - it's mostly slick modern Nashville corporate country - but hey, they're still mandolins on the tube, which is almost always nice to see.

[Mike Bunting]

Actually, mandolins have been showing up plenty on this show. In addition to The Band Perry, Little Big Town and a few other bands have featured them. And there's still an hour to go. I'm not saying the music is what a lot of people here like - it's mostly slick modern Nashville corporate country - but hey, they're still mandolins on the tube, which is almost always nice to see.

I don't particularly like to see mandolins dumbed down.