Really fun new Youtube series from Forrest O'Conner

[EvanElk]

Thought I'd share this recent video that Forrest and his partner Kate did. Really awesome playing, cool mandolin nerd stuff and some really funny clowning around

[AlanN]

Thanks for that, he has a nice way about him and a very nice touch on the mandolin.

[Denny Gies]

Randy Wood is in my top 5.

[forrestoconnor]

Hey Evan, thanks so much for posting this video! We're having a lot of fun over there on YouTube. Denny, Randy Wood is a great builder for sure!!

[JRG]

Hey Forrest, When are you guys comin' back to Asheville ?

[Doug Brock]

Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed the video then chased down some other YouTube videos from them. I love their music and need to find some CDs if possible (Amazon just had mp3's, the best I could tell.)

[illinoisfiddler]

Forrest, is that the mandos you play on the OConnor Band recordings? If so, they sound great! I like that fuller tone you get, even some Gibson F5's have a more delicate, fragile tone, but without that midrange punch that is so important, in my mind, to bluegrass and country music. I am a great admirer of your Dad. I am a fiddler first and foremost, but double on mandolin as he does.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Thanks, Forrest, for that nice and funny video and those great ideas on Whiskey Before Breakfast. I read your thesis a few weeks ago, well done, Sir!

[Old Growth]

Forrest is a really good person. He has indulged my online correspondence for awhile now. As nice a man as I have engaged with online. Clearly, exceptionally talented. Thanks Forrest.

[forrestoconnor]

JRG: Man I hope we make it back soon! The Isis Lounge is one of our favorite venues. I'm hoping we can book something there this fall!

illinoisfiddler: I actually played an Altman (from 2008) on our Coming Home album -- it has one of the biggest chops I've ever heard on a mandolin. I just had this Apitius built last summer. It seems to do everything well! It sounded awesome right out of the gate, and it keeps getting better...

Everyone else, thanks so much for your comments and responses!! Glad you're enjoying the video(s)!

[bradinbrooklyn]

Congrats to Dan Voight for the shot out in there!

[Demetrius]

Someone bought the one at Carter...

[illinoisfiddler]

JRG: Man I hope we make it back soon! The Isis Lounge is one of our favorite venues. I'm hoping we can book something there this fall!

illinoisfiddler: I actually played an Altman (from 2008) on our Coming Home album -- it has one of the biggest chops I've ever heard on a mandolin. I just had this Apitius built last summer. It seems to do everything well! It sounded awesome right out of the gate, and it keeps getting better...

Everyone else, thanks so much for your comments and responses!! Glad you're enjoying the video(s)!

Forrest--good to know, thanks for the response. That is the album I was thinking about. Great tone and amazing playing. Great songs on that album, too. I am particularly enthralled with Blacktop Boy, I would love to get some of my local musician friends play it in a slightly rocked up way (like they do around here), but still in the country vein. Great song either way, Pat Alger co-write, he did stuff with Nanci Griffith who I really respect as well.

[Doc Ivory]

I like his touch on the mandolin and his personality really shines.

[forrestoconnor]

Illinoisfiddler, man "Blacktop Boy" is still one of my favorites too. My wife and I are starting to perform the song "Goin' Gone", another one of Pat's that Nanci and Kathy Mattea both used to sing. He's the best!

[illinoisfiddler]

Illinoisfiddler, man "Blacktop Boy" is still one of my favorites too. My wife and I are starting to perform the song "Goin' Gone", another one of Pat's that Nanci and Kathy Mattea both used to sing. He's the best!

Oh, that's great! I just adore Nanci. I lived in Texas for 10 years growing up, and that is where I learned to play fiddle/violin and also mandolin. But of course, I have followed you and Kate, as well as the O'Connor band. Mark has been the biggest influence on my fiddle style among many of the greats. You have one talented family, and I am so glad to see you and Kate carrying on the torch of modern bluegrass and country. You guys have really done Blacktop Boy some tremendous justice, and it would be interesting to hear it with a little more rocky edge, with guitars, drums but also still fiddle and mando in there too. At least it is a vision of mine. So glad to see you have found your own voice, both in singing and mandolin, even out of your father's inimitable musical shadow. Play on!

[Ron McMillan]

I thoroughly enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing it. I also enjoyed trying to predict the top five. I thought Steve Ellis might be in there somewhere. The Apitius sounds fantastic and Forrest's playing is wonderful.

[forrestoconnor]

Thanks again guys! Illinoisfiddler, yeah we've recorded Blacktop Boy a few different times and still feel like we might not quite have done it the way we envisioned it from the beginning. Perhaps we'll do it again! And Ron, Ellis mandos are killer too -- he's probably one of the most consistent builders out there. Every one I've played has been great.

[mingusb1]

Thanks again guys! Illinoisfiddler, yeah we've recorded Blacktop Boy a few different times and still feel like we might not quite have done it the way we envisioned it from the beginning. Perhaps we'll do it again! And Ron, Ellis mandos are killer too -- he's probably one of the most consistent builders out there. Every one I've played has been great.

Hi Forrest, I enjoyed the video, your playing, and the bit about your thesis. I too have a maroon-bound thesis book that I sometimes make fun of, but hey, it was blood, sweat, and tears to get it done right? Do you have your thesis online anywhere to take a look? Feel free to PM me if you'd rather. Cheers!