|
|
Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 123
Location: Pensacola,FL | I saw a thing on TV last night about Vince Gill and his new wife (Amy Grant). Anyway, one shot of him on stage was with an Ovation mandolin, (not bad considering his wife had recently bought him one of Bill Monroe's mando's for more than $25K ;) ).
[ October 04, 2002: Message edited by: OGL1 ] |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | A good friend of Vince's gave him an Ovation mando when he was playing Hartford several years back. It was a great show, by the way. Maybe it's the same one, I don't remember if it was black or s/b. What was on this show? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15674
Location: SoCal | I don't think anybody would take a $25k mando on the road. But an Ovation mando? You bet. Even Ken Skaggs (Glen Campbell's rhythm guitarist) who's a devout Faylorist, plays an Ovation mando. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | OGL1
That is interesting, Vince did the PBS series on bluegrass instruments, all of which were pretty traditional. I'll keep my eyes open for this Ovation mando, what was the program and was he playing bluegrass or country?
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 150
Location: Minneapolis, MN | There was recent segment about Vince Gill and Amy Grant on one of those news magazine shows... I think the story was about marital infidelity?? Date Line NBC or 48 Hours or something... was the Ovation mando sighting here? Maybe some stock footage of Vince on the road... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 123
Location: Pensacola,FL | CWKII,
Lighting on stage wasn't great but I think it was black (or maybe the dark SB ?)
Rich,
Yes it was on one of those news mag shows,
had him and Amy singing together. It was about how they had gotten together over a 10 year period
(without infidelity, so the story goes.)
Bailey,
He was playing stuff that he wrote for the two of them, Country/bluegrass/christian/gospel sort of stuff. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | OGL1
Whatever Vince plays sounds good, I've got him somewhere on vinyl in "Pure Prairie League" or "Two Lane Highway" or some such CA country rock. Maybe we'll see more of His Ovation mandolin as I think they sound great when plugged in. I have a question for anybody who might know; I taped an Austin City Limits tribute to Townes Van Zandt with various artists including Willie, Emmy Lou, Rodney Crowell, and more. They closed with "White Freight Liner" and Peter Rowan played some great licks on a mandolin that looked similar to an Ovation but a little different in the shape of the body, I couldn't get a good look at the head stock but the bridge looked very similar, does anybody know if Peter Rowan has an Ovation mandolin?
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Peter Rowan usually plays Gibson F-style instruments. I've booked Peter several times with the Rowan Brothers & solo, everytime he was using a vintage Gibson f-style Mandola rather than a mandolin. I would be cool if a bluegrass icon such as Rowan started using Ovation mandos but I think it's unlikely, he's very much a traditionalist when it comes to instruments, though I think I recall seeing him with a Tacoma mandolin, so maybe that was what you saw him playing. He has a particular liking for 12-fret "00" guitars, which is unusual as most bluegrass players prefer Dreadnoughts. A luthier friend of mine made a killer 0042 replica for him, which he appeared with on the cover of "Frets" magazine in the 80's.
Paul
[ October 06, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Paul
It might have been a Tacoma, it definately was not a Gibson, it was flat topped with a guitar like bridge exactly like the Ovations from what I could see.
You mention the 00 style Martins and it reminded me of the SDSU folk festivals in the 70's. One of them featured a jazzy folk group whose lead player played an 00 size Martin that sounded great and I could see from what I've heard of Peter Rowan's playing why he might favor one. They have a nice snappy sound that is better for fast lead than the booming resonance of a big dreadnought. I remember that one as sounding almost electric maybe like Django's jazz guitars, he played with his own group and backed some other groups as a lead player. I can't remember his name, but the SDSU festivals had top notch talent put together by Mike Seeger. Sam and Kirk McGee, Patsy Montana, Doc Watson, many prewar blues and country artists who were still alive at the time. I had a book named "Black and Blue" that detailed the crossover influences of the prewar recording artists of the black and white races, which was considerable. I caught Patsy Montana, who was in the book, taking a break and approached her to show it to her, she sat down looked through it and spent 30 minutes or so discussing others in the book she had met. She liked it so well I gave it to her and I've never found it again. It was worth it, one of the best 30 minutes I had in life.
Sounds like you have dealt with some who are becoming historical artists from the 60's and 70's, maybe the time is becoming ripe for new folk festivals featuring some of them, you should think about it.
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Bailey, I've been involved in promoting acoustic music in my corner of the UK for 20-odd years and I'm fortunate enough to have met & worked with a lot of my musical heroes, including Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Sonny Curtis, Peter Rowan, Steve Young, Peter Case, Darden Smith, Joe Ely and lots more. I also run an annual Blues & Roots festival, but while there would appear to be an increase of interest in non-mainstream acoustic music globally, in provincial England it's becoming a struggle to get audiences for anything other than tired old 70's rock or tribute acts & it's really starting to piss me off. I've arranged some local dates in November for Bob Cheevers, a singer songwriter from Memphis (Tennessee, not Egypt)& I'll be on the road with him playing my Ovation guitars & mandolin, then that's my promoting days over for good. It's just not worth the grief.
Paul
[ October 07, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | miami steve from springsteen's band plays a springsteen also |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Paul T.
You just listed some of my favorite artists, I play bluegrass but I listen to for example, Joe Ely, I just got a reissue CD of Mickey Newbury's "Frisco Mabel Joy" that I bought in the early 70's on vinyl (a great songwriter and performer and he just died 2 weeks ago).
Today a folk production as I was suggesting would not be done as a tour, it should be a done by video taping the artists either as a one time show or as a series of sessions video taped and put together as a video. the atmosphere should be relaxed with good backup musicians and maybe a small audience with emphasis on recording quality, but no concern about attracting a big audience. Some of these artists will be gone in the next 10 or 15 years, if done properly the video should be much easier to promote than a live show. Wouldn't something like this be manageable?
Maybe Peter Rowan was playing a mandocello, I'll look closely again when I play the tape.
Bailey
[ October 08, 2002: Message edited by: Bailey ] |
|
| |
Ovation Mando on TV
