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Thread: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin playing

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    Default This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin playing



    I stumbled on this song entirely by accident, and I'd love to know who is playing the mandolin on this. The break after the first verse blows my mind.

    Anyone have an idea?

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  3. #2

    Default Re: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin play

    Quote Originally Posted by In Nashville View Post


    I stumbled on this song entirely by accident, and I'd love to know who is playing the mandolin on this. The break after the first verse blows my mind.

    Anyone have an idea?
    Quite possibly Loyd Armstrong of the Armstrong twins from Arkansas. Cool playing for sure.
    Steve Smith

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    Default Re: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin play

    Who’s kidding who! The timbre of the instrument sounds to me like they slowed the tape to half speed when they recorded it - think “The Chipmonks”. We did that with a bowed bass once ‘cos we wanted it to sound like a cello. (Ten minutes later I asked the engineer to say to the bass player “That was great, lets go for a take this time”.)

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    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin play

    Interesting. That sure sounds like an electric mandolin being recorded through the signal from its pickup, rather than being mic'd acoustically.

    Does anyone know whether it would have been possible at the time to record an electric instrument direct to the board, rather than putting a mic in front of its amp? Because that's what this sounds like to me.
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    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin play

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    Who’s kidding who! The timbre of the instrument sounds to me like they slowed the tape to half speed when they recorded it - think “The Chipmonks”. We did that with a bowed bass once ‘cos we wanted it to sound like a cello. (Ten minutes later I asked the engineer to say to the bass player “That was great, lets go for a take this time”.)
    Agreed. Definitely has some of that Les Paul-style trickery going on. I wouldn't assume it's a mandolin.
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    Default Re: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin play

    "His uptempo single "Merle's Boogie Woogie" showed him working with multi-part disc recording at the same time as Les Paul."

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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: This old Merle Travis song has the most amazing mandolin play

    Here's an on-line discussion that supports the "speeded-up studio recording" theory.

    Travis was reportedly influenced by the guitar studio work of Les Paul around the same time (late '40's).
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