Solo-Act, Vocal with Only Mandolin?

[FLATROCK HILL]

You can find a thousand YouTube clips with people singing while accompanying themselves on guitar; some are good, some not so good. There's James Taylor and Jose Feliciano and countless others that we've all seen. It's a common combination, singing while playing guitar.

I've seen a few people who attempt to sing while accompanying the selves with a mandolin, but not many. Is there anyone out there who does this and does it well?

There's a Hank Williams CD called 'Alone with His Guitar'. Are there any recordings of Bill, alone with his mandolin?

I know this question is an open invitation for a bunch of smart-alec responses, but I would really like to know.

[zeeku777]

I think 'Alone with his Mandola' would work wonders!
Mandola's are so much nicer to accompany the voice than Mandolins..

That being said, Chris Thile has done it before, not as an album, but he has been known to do solo shows, and he sings accompanied only by his (insanely expensive) mando! It sounds pretty good to me!

I've been doing it lately street performing, and I've recorded a few original tunes on Soundcloud just voice and mandolin. I think if you make each voice (mando and vocals) interesting enough, and sometimes sit on the low end of the mando doing diads on the D and G strings, you can really make it work wonderfully.
Definitely takes some getting used to though, the average bluegrass-turbo-chuck-strum won't stand a chance against a man with his guitar!

:mandosmiley:

[djweiss]

Brian Oberlin put out an album called Solo Swing...Good stuff!

[allenhopkins]

Mandolin, because of its largely treble voice, is less often used as a solo vocal-accompaniment instrument. Those who use mandolin-family instruments for vocal accompaniment often "go lower" -- mandola or octave mandolin.

Doesn't mean it can't be done. (See Paul McCartney, Dance Tonight and R.E.M., Losing My Religion, as examples of mandolin chordal accompaniment for vocals -- picked a couple of easily accessible "hits").

IMHO, more of a specialized accent to some particularly well-suited songs, rather than an overall plan to sing with just a mandolin. Could work, but I'd like to hear how one would approach it.

[garthh]

Mike Compton's Rotten Taters is solo mandolin (or mandola) with voice. Worth lots of listenings.

[ald]

Marc Woodward does a fabulous job of singing with mandolin accompaniment.

[SincereCorgi]

Mandolin, because of its largely treble voice, is less often used as a solo vocal-accompaniment instrument.

This is the conventional wisdom, but there have been approximately ten billion videos made in the last few years of people singing and accompanying themselves with a ukulele, some of them very convincing. I think the reason that mandolin (or, say, bluegrass banjo... or the xylophone...) isn't more common as a solo accompaniment is that, in addition to the high range, they have a very piercing timbre with a relatively short sustain. Guitar and piano work so nicely as accompaniment because they have a relatively neutral tone that doesn't compete with the voice.

[billkilpatrick]

i second the marc woodward and mike compton suggestion - great stuff.

i'm sure there are others in the classical repertoire who play solo mandolin as well.

[jaycat]

Do a search on here for Ry Cooder, "Going to Brownsville." that should convince you. His live act used to include a few mando/vocal only numbers including "Long Gone From Kentucky." (I know that's not the right name but I just woke up.)

[Martin Jonas]

I was going to refer to Ry Cooder, too -- Going To Brownsville is quite some tune. Andy Irvine also sings to his mandolin leads, e.g. on The Blacksmith:

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(He plays a mandola on this video, but it's capoed at the 7th fret to get to mandolin pitch -- Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILOPead0_qs) is another video of Andy playing the song on an actual mandolin, but the video quality isn't as good.)

Here's another very rare sight, Paul Brady singing and accompanying himself on mandolin (a teens Gibson A, by the look of it) -- just to show that anything that Andy Irvine can do, he can do as well. Andy is also in this video, playing an actual Greek bouzouki:

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Going back a couple of centuries, Mozart wrote two songs for solo mandolin and voice -- no other instruments involved. They are usually performed by a separate instrumentalist and vocalist, but can also be performed by a single person playing and singing: here is a nice version of "Die Zufriedenheit" with Roberto Carreca singing and playing, although he has transposed it down into mandola range to suit his vocal register:

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Here is the other Mozart song "Komm, liebe Zither" on vocal and mandolin (but by separate performers, not a solo act):

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(A better performance is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6oOy5xkXZE), but it's audio-only).

Martin

[Rodney Riley]

She doesn't do any singing/playing solo on stage. Look for Heaven's Gate, Eva Holbrook.

[dang]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxtIwzP9_OY

Tim gets to some solo mando somewhere in here...

[mandolino maximus]

Try at 2:59 and 6:35 marks. The solo mando and voice at least seem like a possible successful act based on these two songs. Just not act that I can do. (Although the mandolin can yodel quite well.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTis0S9zxXg&NR=1&feature=endscreen

[MikeEdgerton]

My friend Eddie Connors can pull off a vocal backed by a mandolin only. Me, it just doesn't work but I can do it with a guitar.

[jaycat]

Here's another Ry Cooder clip, one I hadn't seen before. Evidently he's playing what's described as a "Vox Mandoguitar tuned to the same range as a mandolin." Hadn't seen one of those before but I'm sure one of our resident gurus may have something to add.

Ry's solo begins at 3:16, but obviously he can sing and play at the same time, though not solo in this instance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2FrFBceLuY

If the OP is talking about just playing chords on the mando and singing at the same time, I can do that. It helps a lot if the song is in the Key of C, though.

[Martin Jonas]

Maybe this video shows the best way of performing a song solo with a mandolin -- I was getting rather anxious about its well-being by the end though, wanting to shout to Paul to put it down before he has somebody's eye out or, worse, done irreparable damage to a fine teens Gibson A.

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Martin

[FLATROCK HILL]

Thanks to all of you for your replies and thoughtful suggestions. I've seen some of those before, some I'll be sifting through for a while yet. It seems that it takes special talent to really pull that combination off well.
The Tim O'Brien clip was especially impressive to my way of thinking and to my taste.

[JeffD]

Here is one of my favorites. Jez Low. His mandolin playing is very unique. I like how different it is from what is expected for a mandolin, and how well it goes with his song.

Here he is singing his song about Vikings landing in the north of England in modern times. Great song, great song writer, great entertainer, great mandolin playing. I wish I could see him live more often.

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[jaycat]

Good thing Paul wasn't holding a Gibson Explorer.

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[greg_tsam]

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Scott Gates tore this one up pretty good.

[Geir Kavli]

This is the conventional wisdom, but there have been approximately ten billion videos made in the last few years of people singing and accompanying themselves with a ukulele, some of them very convincing. I think the reason that mandolin (or, say, bluegrass banjo... or the xylophone...) isn't more common as a solo accompaniment is that, in addition to the high range, they have a very piercing timbre with a relatively short sustain. Guitar and piano work so nicely as accompaniment because they have a relatively neutral tone that doesn't compete with the voice.

Something I noticed immediately after I bought a ukulele half a year ago; how easy and comfortable it is to sing with a ukulele compared to a mandolin. The ukulele seems to support the voice, whereas the mandolin competes with the voice.

[seg]

I've seen Tim O'Briens' name everywhere on the cafe and in publications, but other than a couple of his Dylan covers have not really seen a lot of his performances. WOW !!!!!!! That guy is pretty amazing. Thank you for posting that video. Top shelf vocals and picking!!!! WOW!!!

[Sid Simpson]

Then there's Sam Bush, as always.

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/XEne36YxyKI/search/sam%20bush

[Paul Brett]

http://youtu.be/32Js2Ef5Ojg

[barney 59]

Steve Earle

[vegas]

Steve Earle

The man who sparked my interest to begin with.

The folkie Bob Dylan made me pick up a guitar.

[Markus]

That's what I was thinking too. Steve Earle has a couple such tunes that work.

The John Hartford 'up the hills where they do the boogie' song does have backup instruments but the mandolin is way out in front and is the primary accompaniment. Such a fun tune too.