View Full Version : Bands With Mando
We've been batting around the question "what bands should have a mandolin" so I ask, what rock bands do feature a mandolin? #Niles pointed out in the referenced thread that it might be more interesting to consider situations and line-ups where a mandolin supplants a more conventional rock instrument. #So, what are some examples of bands which feature a mandolin in a prominent melodic or rhythmic role.
Four I listen to quite a bit:
1)Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit: Matt Mundy is the reason I play mandolin, I am sorry he no longer plays but I hope he is content.
2)Blue Merle : Fairly new band, just released a cd, you can download a whole free show from Nashville from their website, bluemerle.net I think.
3)Jump (Formerly Jump Little Children): #From my hometown, my wife was like their first fan, and they feature a Cello
3)Rusted Root: Use a fair amount of mando
Please, other bands I should be tuned into.
And obviously String Cheese Incident
Bret Roberts
Mar-02-2005, 6:59am
One of the bands that got me started with the mandolin is the Dropkick Murphys. A great celtic/punk band.There last album Blackout had a lot of mandolin. Also, have you tried Hayseed Dixie ? pretty much a bluegrass band that does covers of AC/DC ,Kiss, Motorhead and lots more.
Hope this helps
keith_rowan
Mar-02-2005, 11:20am
Hayseed Dixie is definitely a ton of fun.. and I have to mention Railroad Earth.. one full time mandolin player, and a multi instrument player that can and does throw down w/ the mandolin on some tunes as well
Joe Deninzon is primarily an electric violin player but plays the mando as well..
I know they're not touring anymore but you have to include Leftover Salmon on a list like this. Drew Emmitt! If you get a chance to catch his new band it's a must. More traditional bluegrass but with Drew on mando and Matt Flinner on banjo it becomes something else again.
Railroad Earth definitely. I went to see Phil Lesh (both in December and in Feb.) and both the fiddle player and the mando player for RRE were with him.
Wayne
Gotterdamerung
Mar-02-2005, 5:00pm
David Immergluck is the mandolin player for Counting Crows, and he also played on a couple of great albums by John Hiatt, Crossing Muddy Waters and Walk On that feature quite a bit of mandolin. Toad the Wet Sprocket uses mandolin on a few of their songs, most notably "Walk on the Ocean."
jefflester
Mar-02-2005, 5:45pm
Not sure how well known they are outside of Southern Cal, but there's a band called The Fenians with a frontman who plays mandolin and sings. They're a rock band, but play mostly traditional or traditional-inspired Irish music.
Flogging Molly is more to the side of the Pogues, punk-Irish.
hellindc
Mar-02-2005, 10:15pm
I listed Steve Earle and the Dukes on the other thread because I misread the posting. They belong here. Earle won best folk artist this year at the grammies, but most of his stuff (not the CD with Del) is pretty much blues-rock, often with a political edge. Lot's of mando.
mando bandage
Mar-03-2005, 8:01am
Earle won best folk artist this year at the grammies
A well-deserved honor in my book. One of my favorite songwriters, bar none.
Wish someone would include the mando parts in his books, though. Chords are nice, but including the mando in either standard notation or tab would spare my family many annoying hours of listening to the same snippets from his songs over, and over and over.....
R
frankseanez
Mar-03-2005, 8:17am
What's John Paul Jones doing these days? While he was the bassist for Led Zeppelin, he also added the fine mando licks in Battle of Evermore, Goin' to California, and other classic Zep, which IMHO should be in the repertoire of any mandoband that does covers.
Frank
just played with nickel creek and the toad the wet sprocket dude. i forget the name under which they toured.
other bands with mando- not on every tune, but don't forget "the band"
TeleMark
Mar-03-2005, 11:40am
just played with nickel creek and the toad the wet sprocket dude. i forget the name under which they toured.
other bands with mando- not on every tune, but don't forget "the band"
Mutual Admiration Society...
Back in the 80's you had The Hooters with some nice mando playing. And, when you combine a mando with a melodica, how can you go wrong?
CraigF
Mar-03-2005, 1:24pm
Ok, let’s rewind back to 1979. Styx has a song on their Cornerstone album, called Boat on the River which features extensive mandolin. It is not the typical Styx song. It is quite different having a kind of folky feel. Mando is the main accompaniment instrument. It even has a solo mando lick in the middle.
jefflester
Mar-03-2005, 5:56pm
What's John Paul Jones doing these days?
In 2004, JPJ did:
- attended Merlefest: played mandolin with Nickel Creek, Welch-Rawlings et al at the Midnight Jam, played bass with John Cowan Band for a version of Dazed and Confused also with Sam Bush on mandocaster.
- toured with Mutual Admiration Society, playing a mandolin-guitar instrumental duet of Going to California with Sean Watkins
- attended the Mandolin Symposium
- attended and performed briefly at a Mandolin festival in Lunel France with Mike Marshall doing Choro music
He's starting work on a new album that is going to be more acoustically oriented. He's put out a couple of solo albums in the last 5 years that were mostly hard-edge instrumental rock. They were released on King Crimson's Discipline Global label, and the music could be compared to what KC has been doing lately.
mandoaz
Mar-05-2005, 11:26pm
Carbon Leaf is a really cool band out of Virginia that features mando fairly regularly. They're signed and I believe currently on tour nationally...Check 'em out if you get a chance...
Wayne, I couldn't agree more...Drew Emmitt of Leftover Salmon is the man! Have you ever seen him play slide on his mando with distortion and overdrive? Amazing...
GnomeGrown
Mar-06-2005, 1:57am
I had the pleasure of seeing LOS multiple times before their "extended hiatus", and yep, they do rock...with mando!
It is also amazing to here that the guys from RRE were playing with Phil....What were the dates, I would love to hear those shows!!!!!!
RolandTumble
Mar-06-2005, 11:22am
Carbon Leaf, of course (slaps forehaead). Various sizes of mando-family, at that. Haven't heard their latest (the Dirty Linen reveiw said they's abandoned "most of the Celtic influence"), but I highly recommend earlier discs, especially Echo Echo and Ether-Electrified Porch Music.
Eva Trout is a band out of Australia (I think), that has a couple of discs available in the USA (though somewhat hard to find). The only one I've heard is the eponymis stateside debut, which is one of my all-time favorite discs.
madog99
Mar-06-2005, 12:51pm
Mellemcamp uses madno a fair bit , if anyone caught the A&E show it was featured on a number of tunes. Also caught the Bare Naked Ladies on the CBC tsuami concert and they used a mando. Dave Alvin featured Greg Leitz(?) on his BlackJack David disc ,doing a great job I might say.
Karen Kay
Mar-14-2005, 9:56am
We just pulled out Elton John's Madman Across the Water. A tune Called Holiday Inn was almost totally mandolin! 1972 no less.
K&R
firefly
Mar-16-2005, 8:57pm
REM's album GREEN got me interested in the mandolin.Took 16 years but finally took up the mando last year......played drums back then.
Didn't the Dreamboat Annie album by HEART have a slew of folk instruments-mando,dobro,fiddle,banjo.
mandoaz
Mar-17-2005, 1:15am
Carbon Leaf, of course (slaps forehaead). Various sizes of mando-family, at that. Haven't heard their latest (the Dirty Linen reveiw said they's abandoned "most of the Celtic influence"), but I highly recommend earlier discs, especially Echo Echo and Ether-Electrified Porch Music.
I'd agree that their latest CD, Indian Summer, has less Celtic influence than their previous recordings, but, after a couple spins, I think it is still an outstanding disc...The mando content is still present, albeit in more of a rock context, but I dig it...What also remain are the thoughtful lyrics, quality songwriting, and expressive musicianship that dominate their previous recordings...
To me, Carbon Leaf qualifies as a genre-bending band...They have one foot in the Celtic/acoustic camp and the other in rock and roll...In my opinion, Indian Summer is an earnest nod to their rock influences with their Celtic leanings still brewing just below the surface...
I'd definitely recommend giving it a spin or two...
Mike
RolandTumble
Mar-17-2005, 1:56am
I'd definitely recommend giving it a spin or two...
Oh, I plan to. I didn't mean to imply that it was only the Celtic-ness that I like (it's not), or that the DL review wasn't positive (it was). Just attempting the impossible task of describing music, in my own ham-handed way....
My first introduction to Carbon Leaf came when I was the last customer to check out at a Borders one night. Since they were closed, an employee put on her own mix CD, which happened to lead off with The Boxer. I demanded (well, that's a bit strong) to know what I was hearing before I left.
mandroid
Apr-26-2005, 11:39pm
I'll give a plug for 'McGnarly's Rant' Pac NW band ,quite energetic lads.
Eagles1986
May-08-2005, 12:56am
One of the reasons I was so drawn to the mandolin was because of the Eagles, and the talent of Bernie Leadon. If you listen to any of the early albums you can definetly hear the mandolin a lot more before they turned to a rock influence after Leadon left the band. He could play pretty much anything (guitar,mandolin,banjo,Dobro-you name it) and was such a versatile musician. Listen to songs like "Tequila Sunrise", "Saturday Night", or anything off the Desperado album and the mandolin shows its presence.
Peace,
Kevin
Kevin, yes those were the good ol' days of the Eagles before they gave into the dark side and the Joe Walsh influence...Now, I do like Joe, but they cut that country feel upon his arrival...lot of good stuff afterwards, but I did/do love those first 4-5 albums...
prayerbone
May-11-2005, 7:53am
hi,david eugene edwards from the band 16 horsepower as some mando on is solo cd wovenhand also the title of act..16hp have just split but i caught wovenhand in london last week no mandolin in the show but a real cool banjola lol..there from denver but seem more well know over hear..also viglantes of love and tombstone trailerpark have some..aj
chirorehab
May-11-2005, 1:23pm
I just listned to Widespread Panic's "Pickin Up the Pieces"-- It feature Matt Mundy....
Incredible playing on this song.....
Eric
prayerbone
May-16-2005, 8:08pm
hi willard grant conspiracy are another band with mando..on the first cd's if i remember right,mellow playin i thought..great band and a great voice..aj
mad dawg
Jun-13-2005, 11:41am
Roots-rockers Bonepony (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009EIQT/qid=1118532885/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/002-3290443-7871215)
mad dawg
Aug-30-2005, 4:04pm
...and former Blood Oranges member Jimmy Ryan (http://www.jimmyryan.net).
phriend2spin
Aug-30-2005, 4:36pm
Let us not forget Leftover Salmon.
John Craton
Aug-30-2005, 5:11pm
I don't know if you'd classify her as rock (maybe "soft rock"), but the Japanese singer Kiyomi (http://www.kiyomi.cn/) plays a mean mandolin. So does Milla Jovovich (http://www.millaj.com/) on occasion. And they're both much easier on the eyes than Carbon Leaf #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif