Lisa Hannigan

[Jeff May]

Interesting mandolin technique, but I love her voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LFJ-...eature=related

[John Flynn]

Nice, thanks for posting. Finger-picking mandolin is not unheard of. Mickey Cochran has some online lessons on it. Although Lisa's finger-picking is not advanced, it is solid and she makes it sound good.

[Ed Goist]

Just beautiful.
Thanks for posting.

[JEStanek]

She has a distinctive voice (reminds me of Emiliana Torrini) and she used the mandolin well in that song. Nice!

Jamie

[Jeff May]

I should have said "Interesting mandolin technique AND I love her voice". I too think the mandolin fits well. There's another YouTube video of her doing "Personal Jesus" while she whacks on a dulcimer with a violin bow. Knowing nothing about dulcimer I don't have any idea if that's the normal approach to it or not, but it's pretty cool.

[John Flynn]

Yeah, I saw that video also. It is not unlike the technique of using fiddle sticks, but I've never seen it done quite that way before.

[journeybear]

Very nicely understated. Might as well embed it for all to see with ease ...



There may be a thread or two devoted to fingerpicking, as I know I posted my example for some reason.

Found it: Playing the Mandolin without a pick

[Jeff May]

Nice... Thanks, I should learn how to do the embed thing I guess.

[journeybear]

It's not that hard. First copy just the (usually) 11 characters after the = in the url of the youtube video of your choice - for instance, in this one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz3qfKX6mA8 - just the string mz3qfKX6mA8 From the advanced window, click on the red Tube button, paste that string onto the pop-up window, click OK, and shazam! If you have found a clip via a search that puts something like &feature-related after that string, then just copy up to that &.



I was wondering how one would bow a dulcimer - thinking the bridge would have to be arced - then I saw this, and realized the percussive/drone effect she is going for doesn't require such modification.

[Jeff May]

Thanks again, I'll give it a try.

I REALLY like that take on "Personal Jesus".

[timv]

Thanks for posting those! I first saw Lisa when she was accompanying Damien Rice, in his "Volcano" music video. I wasn't all that knocked out by him (yet another skinny, scruffy, sensitive 20-something singer-songwriter?) but I was quite taken with Lisa. It took a while to find out who she was, and longer still before she started performing on her own, but I was happy to eventually discover some of her solo work. But I hadn't heard or seen either of these.

Her "Personal Jesus" reminds me a little of Martin Gore's acoustic demo for the song, which got some play on LA radio before the the Violator album was released. He played it in straight 4/4 time and I never could quite warm up to the severe shuffle of the full band version.

[journeybear]

Just one more - for now. A little interview, no mandolin or dulcimer, just guitar ... and voice.





Doing a quick search through my archives, I have her on Leno 2/18/09, The Colbert Report 3/9/09 (with interview), and Carson Daly 11/20/09 (this performance) and 3/10/10 ("Personal Jesus" again).

[Jeff May]

Yeah, I saw her with Damien Rice on "Live from Abbey Road" a few years ago. She stole the show in my opinion; a great voice and a talented songwriter as well. I didn't know until I found this yesterday that she had done a solo CD; ordered it right away. I think she has another in the works.

[Paul Kotapish]

Saw Lisa Hannigan with Joe Henry and John Smith (guitars, mandolin, banjo) and Ross Turner (drums, percussion, banjo) last night at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco--a fabulous venue for that kind of program.



I wasn't that familiar with any of the players--despite Joe Henry's omnipresence--so it was all new to me and I really loved the whole show.

Lisa's fingerstyle mandolin playing totally works in the context of her songs, and she's a fine guitarist and killer singer. She writes intriguing, idiosyncratic songs with a huge vocal range, and she can really hit the stratosphere with those pipes. Great harmony singer, too. Her parts really lifted Joe Henry's choruses into something special.

I really like the way they blended the harmonium into the sound, too. Joe Henry was great, too, but the real treat of the evening was the soft-spoken John Smith, who is a dandy songwriter, terrific singer, and jaw-dropping virtuoso of the open-tuned taps-and-harmonics guitar style. He and Joe had worked out some great double-guitar arrangements, and the sound had a lot of dynamic range and surprising textures, with just the requisite amount of thrashing to remind us that there were three singer-songwriters on stage.

Ross Turner is among the most understated drummers ever, and his contributions were spot on throughout the night.

Lisa and John were lightly plugged in, but Joe played through a mic only and got a great sound. For their final encore they stood in front of the monitors with no mics and did a completely acoustic version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" in tribute to Levon Helm.

Two more dates on this tour. Catch them if you are in Portland or Seattle:

June 23 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
June 24 Seattle, WA Tractor

[journeybear]

Lisa backed up Joe Henry on Leno Wednesday, too. I think she was playing an OM - looked larger, and of course I could hardly hear it. Should be available at hulu.com by now. Yep - the whole show.

[Jeff May]

Lisa backed up Joe Henry on Leno Wednesday, too. I think she was playing an OM - looked larger, and of course I could hardly hear it. Should be available at hulu.com by now. Yep - the whole show.

Since I started this thread last year I've become a HUGE Lisa Hannigan fan. Great songwriter, singer, all-round talent. I came pretty close to driving the 4 hours up to Calgary just to see the only show she's done within range of my hinterland home. Joe Henry produced her most recent album, which I thought was great; I'm afraid it was largely ignored. Thanks for the posting the Leno clip.

[mahoganyfolk.com]

I love lisa hannigan! she has such a strange but awesome way of singing not to mention she plays guitar and uke as well!