Don't know how widely he is recorded on our little wonder, but does pick on an Alison Brown LP called Pre-Sequel, namely on Dixie Hoedown, in G. He gets some quirky moves on that, flatting the 3 and 5 here and there, for a hip sound.
I was recently listening to Alison Krauss's recording "I've Got That Old Feeling" and I noticed in the liner notes that Stuart Duncan played mandolin on 4 tracks and Sam Bush on the remaining tracks.
He plays mandolin on one of the Cracker Barrel albums, but the playing is credited on the back to Mike Compton. I played a bit of an mp3 for MC during a lesson and he confirmed it was SD. On the stuff I've heard, their styles are similar.
Nelson
Madison, Alabama
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2011 Duff F5
1928 Gibson A
Thanks for those sources. Need to check some of them out.
I always admired those who could do both - Bobby O., Ricky S., Sam B., Bill Poffinberger, Vernon Derrick, Ricky Simpkins, Ray Legere, Emory Lester, Shane Bartley, Dave Harvey, Mark O., many others.
He is a fabulous Monroe style mando player when he wants that sound, along with being terrific at any style he wants to play. A number of the favorite mando solos I've learned are his.
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There's two great recordings I can think of with Stuart on mando. One is a guitar record by Slavek Hanzlick (sp?), with Stuart playing both fiddle and mando, and Bela Fleck on banjo. Forgot the title. Great playing all around. The other is a track on a Children record put out by Sugar Hill a few years back. One of the track is written and performed by Alan O'Bryant and features Stuart on fiddle and mando again. Great mando tone on both those recordings. I believe he was playing his old Fern that now belongs to Wayne Benson.
I've heard he spent his early years becoming an accomplished Rice-style guitarist.....
But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
And London never fails to leave me blue
And Paris never was my kinda town
So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues
Stuart is on a planet all his own in my opinion. Besides being a multi-instrumentalist, his command of the fiddle is not natural. Try to emulate some of his fiddle breaks on mando, it will give you some interesting ideas.
Not on a recording, but when he backed up Alison Krause & Robert Plant live, he soloed on numerous instruments........I was surprised by his versatility, both setting the groove to kick off the tunes, and of course improvising. He even played some of those slick modern 'lectric instruments....... Stuart is the real deal!!!
I saw Stuart recently with N.B.B. He can do it fiddle wise from slick 'so in tune' double stops to Tommy Jarrell old time in between the cracks. His buddy Compton played some good mandolin too
Hes playing a custom Gibby F5 that is slightly bigger than norm. Although not grass virtually every Alan Jackson recording has Stuart on fiddle and mando.
I remember seeing him playing the Fiddle and his fern w/ Larry Sparks back in the early/mid eightys. Very personable fellow. I was looking for a mandolin at the time. Someone at the festival (Lawty,FL ) there was selling mandolins. It was a table of Gibson A models and about F-2s and F-4s. Seems like he was giving me advice about buying one of those. But I digress.
Not on a recording, but when he backed up Alison Krause & Robert Plant live, he soloed on numerous instruments........I was surprised by his versatility, both setting the groove to kick off the tunes, and of course improvising. He even played some of those slick modern 'lectric instruments....... Stuart is the real deal!!!
I saw him with Krauss and Plant in Bergen, Norway, and Alison introduced him as "my favourite musician in the world."Talk about compliment.And he deserves it. Fantastic musician,who is a virtuouso and making it look as simple as anything. And at the same time keeping the soul in the music. Guess he won't be around these parts of the world for a while. Unfortunately.
Just saw him on an old Reno show w/ The Nashville Bluegrass Band yesterday. I miss those guys ! We still have Gene Libbea at our Lyons pick (I think) !
Stuart is an awesome picker! Got to see him several times but the last time I seen him was with the NBB Oct. 2004 at the Ozark Folk Center in Mt. View Arkansas. Great show! I am a big NBB fan. At the "meet and greet" afterwards I got to visit with Stuart a little. Nice guy. I remember the story he told of his Dad's, very recent at the time, passing and going thru his Dad's belongings and coming across a hand written letter/bill of sale signed by Kenny Baker for a fiddle that his Dad purchased long ago and Stuart still had it I think. I thought that was pretty cool. Here's a pic of me, Stuart and Pat Enright taken that day.
I Pick, Therefore I Grin! ... "Good Music Any OLD-TIME"
He plays mandolin on one of the Cracker Barrel albums, but the playing is credited on the back to Mike Compton. I played a bit of an mp3 for MC during a lesson and he confirmed it was SD. On the stuff I've heard, their styles are similar.
I know of exactly the CD you speak...Bluegrass Highway.....? The mandolin sound on one tune sounded a little more "mainstream" then Compton. A little less grease then Compton. Stuart is credited on the inside liner notes as playing mandolin just not on the back. Regardless it does not say who plays what when.
On a side note the song Homer the Roamer off the excellent Memories of John CD doesn't quite sound like Compton either but I think it is. Sounds like an oval...a little more notey then typical MC.
Reviving an old thread ... New West Records recently re-released the video/audio of Guy Clark's 1989 Austin City Limits performance. The trio setting features a young Stuart Duncan on mandolin and fiddle and Edgar Meyer on bass.
Everyone was in fine form that evening, and you get to see and hear Duncan play some fine licks (though I'm not so sure about his mullet).
Here you go.... Great Larry Sparks instrumental album from 1984 that seems vastly overlooked "Lonesome Guitar". Very bluesy guitar playing (think along Clarence lines). Duncan's on the whole thing, half the time on fiddle, the other half playing mandolin. Lots of hammer-ons, slurs, slides in both fiddlistik and guitarish application, similar to some of the stuff I was doing myself back then.
(Long ago, I even gave a copy of the LP to Richard Thompson, since he dug Clarence.)
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