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ACID TONGUE:

JENNY LEWIS

WHAT TO BRINGFestival Goers guide to waht to pack and why.

LAURA MARLING

A SHORT HISTORYFrom the begining all the way to its resurgence in todays popular folk music

+an exclusive chat with

DONNA THE BUFFALO

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FOUNDER

EDITOR

ART DIRECTOR

CO-FOUNDER

CREATIVE CONSULTANTS

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

GURU

MASSAGE THERAPIST

GENIUS

SUBSCRIPTIONS

MAIL ORDER

PRODUCT SALES MANGER

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR

SHIPPING

Roger Femmings

Veronica Safron

Justin Kunis

Sam Dodson

Elaine Damasco, Ashley Smith

Ashley Smith

Sinbad Gregory

Amy Peterson

Chelsea Alford

Sandy Wilson

Lindsey Valderama

Timothy Abernath

Jennefer Fields

Hank Hillock

Rambler Magazine is Produced and Published by Down Home Folks Productions, Inc 898-565-3986

EMAIL TO: Editor@rambler.com / www.rambler.com

This publication would like to thank everyone who has furnished information and materials for this issue.

Every effort has been made to reach copyright owners or thier representatives. The Publisher would

be please to correct and mistakes or omissions in our next issue. Since we are just a bunch of down

home, music loving, festival going, semi- professional folk, you’ll have to exucuse us for the occasional

blunder. We hope you enjoy this months issue and look forward to bringing you another one soon.

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INTROINTRO: 4, 2012 / Vol. 1

Welcome to another Issue of Rambler folk music magazine. The season

is upon us, the season we wait for all year long when sitting at home

or work listening to our music playing devices wishing we were hearing

them live and watching it happen. It’s finally arrived, festival season.

That magical time of year trumphs Christmas, or even halloween to us

serious music buffs. And this issue is largely dedicated to it.

In celebration of the season of hearing, we have a couple of real helpful

surprises in this issue for you to aid with your festival quests. Some to

help you remember, and some to helf you forget all about your nine to

five. I hope to see you out on the festival grounds folks.

I’m also excited to present to you a couple of up and comers with big hearts

and even larger talent. I won’t reveal just yet who they are, but you’ll find

out soon enough. Many of you may have already heard the buzz.

You’re also going to get a history lesson today, don’t worry there will

not be a test. We wanted to focus on where our little niche of music

comes from. So we spoke to some folks who know all about it and

asked them to give us the down low on what the folk started all

this mess of musical madness and when. We will learn who,

when, how and where. Have a good read, see you next

issue, and remember, I like mail, it makes me less

lonely in my little office.

-Veronica Safron-

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CONTENTS

Acid Tongue: Jenny Lewis

Laura Marling

Donna the Buffalo: 17 years

Short History of the Mandolin

What to Bring

612

1921

28Hey! we forgot to send out a giant thank you to

our support staff, this issue wouldn’t have made it

to shelfs if it wern’t for all the brilliant folks who have a

passion for spreading the word about folk music. So Thank you

writers, designers, coffee getters, research finders. Gracias, graphic

designers and illustraitors. Photographers and Pillow Fluffers (you know

who you are). Rambler Magazine hopes to bring you many more issues in the

future and is proud of its contribution to the folk scene. See you at the Fests!

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acid Tongue

Indie-folk goddess Jenny Lewis discussess

inspiration, writing her second record, and

why she loves collaborations.

J enny Lewis began her

career as a child actor in

kid-friendly ‘80s movies

like Troop Beverly Hills and The

Wizard, but around the turn of

the millennium she moved into a

bigger, brighter spotlight as the

frontwoman and co-songwriter

of the much-loved indie-rock

band Rilo Kiley. The tiny, big-

voiced, frequently adorable

Lewis blossomed into something

of an indie goddess over the

course of the first three records

she wrote and recorded with

Blake Sennett for Rilo Kiley. But

it was her glowingly received

2006 solo debut, Rabbit Fur

Coat, that cemented her status

as a captivating songwriter and

performer.

Jenny Belts out her title track “Acid Tongue” with her distinct big-voiced style.

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Lewis returned to Rilo Kiley for the

band’s 2007 major-label effort, Under The

Blacklight, which landed atop several year-

end best-of lists and earned the band the

most popular notice of its career, but also

alienated some longtime fans with its buffed,

pop-friendly sound. Seemingly undeterred,

Lewis has veered into yet another direction

on her sophomore solo disc, Acid Tongue.

The new album replaces Rabbit Fur Coat’s

old-school country-gospel vibe and backup

vocals from the Watson Twins with a livelier

collection of tracks that draw from a rock,

soul, and country influences, fused together

The A.V. Club: You wrote a lot of Acid

Tongue during the Rabbit Fur Coat tour and

while you were doing Under The Blacklight

with Rilo Kiley. Were you writing with

another solo record specifically in mind, or

did it just grow out of the material that you

really a different approach. A lot of the songs

came out of a live context. We played them

on the road 100 times, so we knew that we

could walk into the studio and record them

the same way. So the record had a different

intention from the outset. It wasn’t really a

studio record, but more of a live record in

in a live-tracked studio setting and assisted

by a stable of guest musicians. The A.V.

Club spoke to Lewis the day before her

new album’s release to talk about touring,

the pros and cons of Pro Tools, and how

Elvis Costello stacks up against a tone-deaf

puppet.

had accumulating?

Jenny Lewis: Yeah, it wasn’t the same

process as Rabbit Fur Coat, because I wrote

those songs in a relatively short period of

time and thematically I wanted all the songs

to relate to one another. With this it was

On stage at the Cat’s Cradel in Carrborro, NC.

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all your collaborators are a really big part

of Acid Tongue. I take it you’re not a big

control freak?

JL: I’m a control freak with regards to

certain aspects. I think you just have to be

when you’re making stuff in the world. You

have to have a clear idea what you want.

But I’m also fortunate to have friends that

are great and I trust them musically. So I

think with this record that it was matter of

having guest musicians, but not having them

overpower the songs. I think if you listen to

the record, sometimes it’s difficult to pick

people out, but they’re definitely there and

I think that their presence definitely more

supportive than anything else.

AVC: Originally you wrote the title track

from Acid Tongue as a potential Rilo Kiley

track, right?

JL: No, that’s quite not true. I wrote it

on the tour for Rabbit Fur Coat. So it was

first performed with that, and then recording

for Blacklight I had all these songs. We

[Rilo Kiley] tried “Acid Tongue” and it didn’t

really work. So I tried it again for my record

and it worked really well, immediately. We

recorded that one live actually, in a room

with myself and the male choir.

AVC: The live recording of Acid Tongue is

really striking, that analog-y sound. Why did

you to want to record like that?

JL: I am a child of digital generation. I

have done most of the records with Rilo

Kiley on computers, on Pro Tools or other

digital programs. On my last record we did

half of it on tape and then we dumped it into

Pro Tools. Then we tweaked things and we

comped the vocals together and we doubled

and tripled the [Watson] Twins. So it was

very much a record that Mike Mogis and I

tweaked out on for a long time after making

it. With this record I really wanted to go in

and capture the live spirit, mistakes and all.

I wanted to limit myself to 24 tracks, so

that the songs did breathe and all the parts

could be heard. Just returning to the studio

and recording on tape I think it puts you in

a different mindset, and I really wanted to

try something new. I think that Pro Tools is

a very valuable resource and you can use

it in some interesting ways. Tape is very

expensive. That’s why we didn’t really take

a long time recording this record. You can

use Pro Tools in the same way where you go

into the studio and you limit yourself to 24

tracks and you make a rule that you’re not

going to comp the drums together and fix all

of the mistakes. I really love hearing those

moments on some of my favorite records.

It’s fun to pick out the songs that speed up

and slow down and all those little flubs and

strange harmonies. I think you kind of lose

the human aspect when you make things too

perfect.

AVC: What are some of those favorite

records of yours that have that not-perfect

sound you seem to favor.

JL: All the things I grew up listening

to that were made pre-mid-’90s, and the

records that were made in the studio where

we worked, Sound City. Tom Petty recorded

there, Neil Young, Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac.

We were in the same room that Nevermind

was recorded in, which was pretty exciting.

And that record, I know that they worked on

it for a while, but you really hear the room.

You can hear the space and everything.

It’s so rocking but so clear. I mean you can

hear the distorted guitar and the background

vocals, and I think when you layer stuff in

Pro Tools you lose that clarity .

AVC: Because of the way it’s recorded, the

record has this kind of freewheeling, off-the-

cuff vibe, but many of the songs, like “The

Next Messiah,” are way too complex to be

spontaneously hashed out during recording.

How much did you bring in and how much

did you work out in the studio?

JL: We spent a couple of days arranging

the songs before we went into the studio,

and we put together a Band A setup and

a Band B setup. The Band B setup was for

the ballads and the Band A setup consisted

of Jason Boesel, Davey Faragher from Elvis

[Costello’s] band, myself, Johnathan Rice,

and Blake Mills on guitar. We kind of gave

the more complex, rock ‘n’ roll songs to

Band A, and then we kept the ballads for

the other configuration. So we had a pretty

clear-cut idea of what we wanted. But with

“The Next Messiah,” we arranged that song

in an afternoon and it took us a while to get

it right. Then when we got to the studio it

took us all day to remember the parts and

get to where we not only remembered all

the transitions, but where the energy and

the tempo were right. We had to choose the

one with the right kind of singing because I

wanted my vocals to be live, as they are for

the entire record. So it took us about 10 or

15 takes of the mix to get it.

AVC: That track is interesting in that it’s

a medley. Were those just scraps of songs

that you put together or was it composed as

a whole?

JL: Actually, those were three separate

songs that Johnathan and I wrote together.

We just played them around the house for

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backdoor of the Ryman and wrote down

some bullshit and then lost it, luckily.

AVC: How did the duet with Elvis Costello,

“Carpetbaggers,” come about?

JL: We had met each other a couple of

times. He actually called me when [Rilo

Kiley’s] More Adventurous came out. My

phone rang and I didn’t recognize the

number. I picked it up and it was Elvis on the

other end of the line. I truly thought it was

a prank. Johnathan wrote “Carpetbaggers”

for us to sing on some of the Rabbit Fur

Coat tour, because Rabbit Fur Coat, the

songs on that record are not exactly rocking.

There are some mid-tempo numbers, but

we wanted something that was a little more

upbeat. We sang that song as a duet on the

road for about a year. Johnathan sang it in

a very low register, and when Elvis came

in he basically took it up an octave and

changed the intention of the song, which I

really like. I think he made it less country.

Wait, you asked me how it happened. Sorry,

I’m rambling on and on, I haven’t had my

morning coffee yet. [Laughs.] I e-mailed him,

basically, and I sent him a YouTube video of

myself and Johnathan singing that song with

a tone-deaf puppet.

AVC: A puppet?

JL: A puppet, yeah. We did this thing

backstage at Town Hall a couple years ago

for this puppet show called Steve Paul’s

Puppet Music Hall. That was the only

recording or reference that I had for Elvis.

So I sent him that YouTube and told him to

Top: Jenny Lewis poses for the camera showing off her trademark folky style of vintage

shirts and oversized belts. Bottom: Jenny performing live with her band Rilo Kiley in

2006 at the house of blues in hollywood california. Photographs by Dana Williams.

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just nostalgic in a different way, kind of

a ‘70s California-country vibe. Was that

a natural transition from the old-school

country of Rabbit Fur Coat, or was that a

sound that you’ve always wanted to explore

and didn’t really get a chance to until now?

JL: No, I really didn’t plan out the

direction of this album. I didn’t say, “I’m

going to create a California-country record.”

The songs kind of just came about, and my

friends happened to be in Los Angeles and

these are the sounds that we created as a

group. I think you can definitely hear the

influence of the producers on the record,

myself included. Some of it might reference

some older Rilo Kiley songs because that’s

where I come from, I kind of come from an

indie-rock world. Farmer Dave Scher, one

of the other producers, he was in a band

called Beachwood Sparks. They’re a Sub

Pop band and they were and are huge fans

of The Byrds, so you can kind of hear some

of those aspects listening to some of the

singles on the record. Johnathan Rice made

a record in the same studio the year before

and his record was heavily influenced by

Tom Petty, so you can kind of hear some

of those aspects, like some of the tones of

the guitars. The whole thing kind of reflects

the tastes within the group and within our

production team. Between the four of us we

make a really sweet human being.

AVC: It’s interesting that this is what

immediately followed Under The Blacklight,

because that record has such a different set

of influences—it’s more dance-oriented, and

just shinier.

JL: I like all different kinds of music, but

that particular sound reflects Rilo Kiley. That

isn’t entirely my sensibility. It’s about what

the four of us enjoy listening to and playing

as a group. So that’s what you get when you

throw us into a room at that particular time.

This record wasn’t necessarily a reaction to

Under The Blacklight, but I think the process

with which we made this record was. It took

us a long time to make Under The Blacklight,

and it was somewhat agonizing because of

that. This record was made in under three

weeks, which I think for me, I tend to work

well within a deadline. If I know I have to get

something in three weeks.

AVC: Speaking of Rilo Kiley, fans of that

band seem very protective of your so-called

place in it. Do you ever worry with your solo

material that how they’re going to react to

it, because it is in a pretty different direction

than in the band, or are you like, “Screw you

guys. This is what I want to do.”

JL: I know. I mean I love all of our Rilo

Kiley fans, but you know, that’s a different

band. I’m not trying to repeat myself or cater

myself to one specific group of people. I

think the people that come out to my shows,

it’s a different kind of audience. Senior

citizens are welcome.

AVC: Acid Tongue seems to move away

somewhat from the religious theme that

was on Rabbit Fur Coat, lyrically at least,

but there’s still definitely kind of a spiritual

vibeSDo you consider yourself a spiritual

person, or is it more of the aesthetic that

appeals to you?

JL: No, I think I’m a person who is always

looking for answers. I’m always questioning

things and searching for clues. I tend to also

to get bored with one subject, so I think I

exhausted some of those ideas on Rabbit

Fur Coat and I think I exhausted them in a

way that’s very, you know, in your twenties

singing about these things.

--Genevieve Koski

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Laura Marling sits at her kitchen counter, small and pale in an Iron Maiden T-shirt, and smokes a cigarette in the mid-morning sunshine.

T he pack of Camels, the heavy metal

shirt – both seem to serve as gentle

reminders that the darling of the

British folk scene is perhaps not quite what

you might expect; allusions to the fact that

while, in person, she may appear poised

and still and quietly reserved, in song, she

is a different animal altogether: one marked

by the keenness of her songwriting, the

steeliness of her lyrics.

This month the 21-year-old Marling

will release her third, accomplished album,

A Creature I Don’t Know, inspired by the

work of Robertson Davies and Jehanne

Wake, as well as a fascination with

John Steinbeck’s third wife, Elaine. Its

preoccupations – strength and weakness,

love, hate and the complexities of

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14 RAMBLER

desire – help to tell a story of sorts, a

tale centred around a hulking six-minute

song named The Beast. It is a towering

record, darker and bolder than its

predecessors, that will cement Marling’s

growing reputation.

The record’s roots lie in the lull after

touring 2010’s I Speak Because I Can;

an electively solitary time in which she

remembers a lot of sitting in cafes,

newspaper crosswords and scrawling in

notebooks before any songs took shape.

This gestation period was, she feels,

essential to the way she writes. “I think

I stew over ideas for a long time,” she

says, her voice faintly brisk. “And I can

get fixated on an idea, it will probably

start with something from a book I’ve found

interesting, and then I’ll probably think

about it and then I’ll have conversations

with myself about it, and then obviously

it seeps into my conscious and a song will

be written about it.” She looks vaguely

amused. “It’s not very romantic, but I’m

an amazing procrastinator,” she says. “The

songs had been written, or more accurately

there was nothing

left to say, but

I think I waited

for a month or

so before I did

anything with

them. Then most

of them were

demoed sitting here, with a microphone

hanging there,” she says, with a nod to a

shelf above her head.

The period of isolation, writing and demoing

the material alone, as well as working out

the vocal arrangements before she played

any of the songs to her band or her producer,

were reflective of Marling’s growing self-

assurance. “It was quite an interesting way

of doing it,” she says, “because it allowed

me to put my stamp on it before anybody

else put their stamp on it. With the first

two albums – Charlie [Fink, lead singer of

Noah and the Whale

and Marling’s ex-

boyfriend] produced

Alas I Cannot Swim,

and it’s as much his

album as it is mine,

and with I Speak

Because I Can,

the style of the drumming and the bass

playing is very much a representation of the

characters who were playing on that album,

and Ethan [Johns, the producer] stepping

in as well. This time I thought: ‘Well, I’ve

got the confidence now, and I know what

I want it to sound like, so before anybody

else gets their grubby mitts on it, why don’t

‘Well, I’ve got the confidence

now, and I know what I want it

to sound like, so before anybody

else gets their grubby mitts on it,

why don’t I put my stamp on it?’

15 RAMBLER

I put my stamp on it?’” Marling’s burgeoning

confidence is also a reflection of a young

woman increasingly at ease with her status.

“I think earlier on I was trying to prove I was

a songwriter,” she says. “But now I really

struggle with the idea of referring to myself,

or someone referring to me as an artist. It

makes me shudder a bit. But then there’s

some parts of me that would like to proudly

say that I’m an artist … I just wouldn’t ever

want to use it anywhere in between.” She

laughs. “One day, in retrospect maybe I’ll

say: ‘I was an artist once upon a time … ‘”

Marling grew up in the county of Hampshire,

the youngest of three daughters, and

was always drawn to music and writing.

“I was looking for some form of expression,”

she says. “I was thinking about it recently,

and I think one of the reasons I was a bit

of a recluse when I was younger is because

what defined me when I was a teenager

was my taste in music; nobody else liked

the music I liked. It was the old stuff – Joni

Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan.”

Encouraged by her school music teacher, and

by her father, who ran a recording studio,

she began writing her own material in her

teens, and released her first album shortly

after her 18th birthday. “I guess if I look at

myself at 17 and myself now, there’s a huge

difference,” she says. “Even the way I speak

in songs is different.” How would she define

that difference? “I think there’s less of

an insecurity behind it,” she says slowly.

“There’s more of a curiosity, about life, it’s a

tone in general.”

Marling has always been at pains to stress

she is not a confessional songwriter – to

the extent that some of her writing might

seem an elaborate process of covering her

tracks, an exercise in elusiveness. Are there

any of her songs, I wonder, that might be

identifiably her? “Mmm,” she draws on her

cigarette, and her voice disappears up her

nose. “I think the song that’s most me, and

most how I speak, is Goodbye, England.

Because it’s so sort of soppy.” She laughs.

“And the line ‘We will keep you little one’ is

so my family, because in my family I’m Little

One, even though I’m about twice the size of

them all. There’s some lines like that in my

songs that I think only people who know me

would know where that sits with me. That’s

one of them.”

The last time I spoke to Marling was

shortly after A Creature I Don’t Know

had been completed, when the songs

were still new and untested. I ask her if,

with time passed and a summer of festivals,

her opinion of the new songs has altered.

“It’s funny,” she says, “because I can feel

them shifting. There was a time when all of

these songs meant so much to me that I was

completely lost in the lyrics all of the time.

But for instance, we’ve been playing Sophia

a lot, and I guess it’s self-protection, but

the fact it starts so low, and the sincerity

of the lyrics makes me laugh. I suppose I’ve

already given my sincere bit [in writing the

song], and if I’m going to have to keep on

being sincere every night, I at least want to

have a little chuckle to myself.”

The pace at which Marling’s songwriting

has matured over three years and three

albums is testament to both a furious talent

and an untempered ambition as a musician.

Along the way there have been two Mercury

nominations, performances on the Pyramid

stage at Glastonbury, and much feting from

her peers; last year, she was invited by

Jack White to visit his Third Man recording

studios in Nashville to record a cover of

Jackson C Frank’s Blues Run the Game.

“It was amazing,” she says. “He’s one

of the people who I think forms the last

bastion of how music is created. I think he’s

phenomenal.”

There are other ambitions, she says –

to record with some “old boys” for instance,

and perhaps to try different styles of music:

“We were on tour with Smoke Fairies last

year,” she recalls, “and jokingly talking about

starting an all-girl garage band. Those kind

of things you always say you’ll do, but if

we actually did it, it would be so cool.”

“I guess if I look at

myself at 17 and myself

now, there’s a huge

difference,” she says.

“Even the way I speak in

songs is different.”

16 RAMBLER

She speaks of “barely feeling like I’m

attached to the music industry now,” and of

relishing that sense of detachment. “I think

it’s really important,” she explains. “If there

were more people who understood my music

or what needs to be done in order for me to

prosper, I’d probably spend a bit more time

with them.” She pauses and remonstrates

with herself: “Ugh,” she grimaces, “horrible

thing to say. But it’s scary that there’s so

many people working in this industry that

…” She hesitates again. “Oh,” she chides

herself, “it’s my scorn bucket coming out!

But there are some people working so hard

to keep the value of music, and keep the

understanding of what great music is, and

then there are some working equally hard

to sell it, and sell you know … crap.” All

the same, Marling appears tethered to a

generation of talented songwriters, namely

her contemporaries on the London scene,

such as Noah and the Whale, Mumford &

Sons and Jamie T.

“It’s the kind of thing you might

understand in retrospect,” she nods.

“Lately, a lot of people from Europe or

America have been saying to me: ‘So, tell

us about the new folk scene.’ And the last

time I was asked that, around the time of

the last album, I remember I said: ‘Oh

don’t be ridiculous, there’s no scene!’ And

now, I feel kind of sentimental, because

there was a time when we all used to

play gigs together, and if it wasn’t a

scene, well that was me and my generation.”

But if there is anything that connects that

generation, she suspects it is probably

little more than the fact that “we all

started digging into our parents’ record

collections at the same time”. Laura Marling

performs her song I Speak Because I Can

in an exclusive live performance at the

Guardian in 2010 Link to this video

She remains exceedingly close to her

parents, and they are, she says, “super-

supportive” of her career. She played her

father some of the new material as the

album was being made. “I was really nervous

about playing him anything,” she admits,

“especially The Beast, but he knew the

process that I’d been going through to try

and arrange it myself, and I think he was

proud that I’d done that.”

Her mother has yet to hear the new record.

“it’s my scorn bucket coming out! But there are some people working so hard to keep the value of music, and keep the understanding of what great music is, and then there are some working equally hard to sell it, and sell you know … crap.”

17 RAMBLER

“It’s quite different for her,” Marling says.

“She’s not really into music in the same

way, and my Mum’s the only one who

would dare pry into the lyrics.” She laughs.

“Even now she talks about a line from Tap

at My Window that goes: ‘Mother, I blame

you with every inch of the being you gave

… ‘ And I’ve told her so many times that

it’s artistic licence, and that she mustn’t for

her own sake take what I say in any song as

c licence, and I know there’s no mystery

behind it.” Is that, I suggest, an elaborate

double bluff? Marling laughs wickedly.

She has spoken of much of this album,

particularly The Beast, being about a

balancing act between wanting and needing.

It is, she says now, an internal battle that

remains unresolved. “It’s a constantly tipping

balance,” she says, “and songwriting is my

way of desperately trying to understand

it. Probably the reason why I will continue

to write songs is because I never will

understand it.” I wonder if this is a conflict

she feels more keenly at different times in

the writing and recording process. “I think

there are highs and lows,” she nods, “and

probably when I’m writing a record I’m at my

lowest, and that’s probably where it comes

from I’d say.”

The problem, she concedes, is that those

who buy her music only really hear her at

her lowest. “I struggle slightly with it,” she

says. She speaks of fans who approach her

after shows, of the people who tell her of

the connection they feel with her lyrics, and

then she lights another cigarette, and her

pale hands push at the sleeves of her T-shirt.

“And that’s a really lovely thing,” she says,

“but there’s also a side where I go home and

wonder ‘Do people think that they know me?’”

Marling must be familiar with the feeling of being written about in song – or at least of people thinking she’s been written about; after dating Fink for several years she was then romantically involved with Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons. “Yeah, I feel the weight of people thinking it,” she agrees. “And I also know what it’s like to be a fan and want to know the mystery behind a song. But actually now I’m on the other side of it, I know it’s artistic licence, and I see no mystery behind it.” Is that, I suggest, an elaborate double bluff?

Marling laughs wickedly.

18 RAMBLER

17 years strong

Sometimes all it takes is a niche, and

the members of Donna the Buffalo

have certainly found theirs.

With easygoing songs and a low-key peace-

love vibe honed over the past 17 years,

the western New York folk-rock band can

essentially play as many intimate halls and

small festival gigs as it wants

-- Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, for example,

where the band performed Thursday night.

It was a generous set, spread over more

than two hours, with guitarist Jeb Puryear

and violinist/guitarist Tara Nevins alternating

on lead vocals on songs drawn from folk,

country, rock and Cajun traditions.

Backed by drums, bass and keyboards,

the co-leaders had an easy rapport with

each other, and with the crowd, which

occasionally stood to dance in the aisles.

Puryear sang with the same mellow inflection

as Willie Nelson, though the former’s

voice isn’t quite as rich, and he played his

Stratocaster guitar without a pick, coaxing a

smooth, buttery tone from the instrument.

19 RAMBLER

Nevins, who also played accordion and washboard on the thrumming, bayou-flavored

“Part-Time Lover,” has a pretty, slightly frayed voice that sounded wistful on the

countrified “Locket and Key” and bobbed lightly on “Blue Sky,” an easy flowing rock

song with Puryear’s electric guitar cascading over Nevins’ sturdy acoustic strumming.

The band often stretched out, steering songs into light jams. The electric guitar and violin

each sounded in turn as though they were straining toward the heavens during an extended

middle section on “Let Love Move Me,” and the rest of the band left Puryear and Nevins

alone on stage to finish the aptly named “Funky Side” themselves, locked together on the riff

that drove the song.

After finishing the main set with Nevins singing the acoustic country-ish song “No Place

Like the Right Time,” she and Puryear started the encore as a duo as she played a mournful

violin line over a plucked guitar groove, before diving back into a good-natured jam on the

next song.

“ We have found that easygoing songs and a low-

key peace-love vibe honed over the past 17 years is

what keeps our band loving what we do”

20 RAMBLER

21 RAMBLER

The mandolin can

be described as

a small, short-

necked lute with eight strings. A lute

is a chordophone, an instrument which

makes sound by the vibration of strings.

As a descendent of the lute, the mandolin

reaches back to some of the earliest musical

instruments.

Deep in the grottos of France are beautiful

cave paintings made between 15,000 BC

and 8500 BC. These paintings include one

of a man with what appears to be a simple

one-stringed instrument that is being played

with a bow. This musical bow represents

the first stringed instruments man invented.

They were played by plucking the string with

the fingers, and later by tapping the string

with a stick. An increase in volume was first

gained by holding the bow in the mouth.

Later, gourds were attached to the bow to

act as resonators.

Lute-like chordophones appear as early

as 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. These early

instruments were fretless. Changes in pitch

were made by pressing the strings down

onto the neck of the instrument. The strings

were sometimes plucked by using hard

objects or plectrums rather than the fingers

as the plectrums or picks produced a louder,

sharper, sound than the fingers.

By the Seventh Century AD a folk lute called

the oud was in use. The oud remains in use

today, virtually unchanged, in the music of

the Near East, particularly in Armenia and

Modern mandolins

originated in Naples, Italy

in the late 1800’s.

Egypt. ‘Oud’ is the Arabic name for wood,

and the oud is a wooden lute. The oud

found its way into Spain during the Moorish

conquest of Spain (711- 1492), to Venice

through coastal trade, and to Europe through

returning Crusaders (around 1099).

In a gallery in Washington, a painting by

Agnelo Gaddi (1369- 1396) depicts an angel

playing a miniature lute called the mandora.

The miniature lute was probably contrived

to fill out the scale of 16th century lute

ensembles. The Assyrians called this new

instrument a Pandura, which described its

shape. The Arabs called it Dambura, the

Latins Mandora, the Italians, Mandola. The

smaller version of the traditional mandola

was called mandolina by the Italians. >

22 RAMBLER

1

2 3

MANDO EVOLUTION

1- A REALLY REALLY LONG TIME AGO

a.k.a about 15,000 BC the first single

string instrument was invented.

2- 7th CENTURY AD

A folk lute called an Oud was

developed. ’Oud’ is the Arabic name for

wood, and the oud is a wooden lute.

and is still in use today through much of

mesopotamia and the Spanish Moor.

3- THE FIRST MANDOLIN

in Naples, Italy somewhere around the

1500’s the first mandolin as we know it was

developed. It had a rounded back and single

round sound hole and was generally highly

decorated with either inlays or paint.

4- FIRST FLAT BACK MANDOLIN

By the mid 1800’S Mandolins were

enjoying a surge in popularity as a common

parlor instrument along with ukeleles and

guitars. Around this time the first flat back

mandolin was developed in America. It still

had only one sound hole but the shape was

becoming more like a modern Mandolin.

5- THE GIBSON A-4 1950’s

Gibson Deveopled and produced the

massively popular A series. By this time

F-holes were more common than the older

single sound hole style.

6- THE MODERN MANDO

The mandolin is fully developed and a

higly popular folk and bluegrass instrument

int he western world. Variations are starting

to occure as Instrument craftsman try new

ideas. Banjolins, octave mandolins, Steel top

mandolins, electric mandolins and others

are all the rage as the mandolin currently is

experiencing its highest popularity in years

with bands such as Mumford and Sons and

Fleet Foxes leading the way to mainstream

success.

THEN

23 RAMBLER

4

56

24 RAMBLER

COMING TO AMERICA

The mandolin entered

the mainstream of

popular American

culture during the first epoch of substantial

immigration from eastern and southern

Europe, a period of prosperity and vulgarity,

when things exotic and foreign dominated

popular taste.

It was in vogue in the 1850s, when it shared

the parlor with zithers, mandolas, ukuleles,

and other novelties designed to amuse the

increasingly leisured middle class. A marked

increase in Italian immigration in the 1880s

sparked a fad for the bowl-backed Neopolitan

instrument that spread across the land. The

mandolin was even among the first recorded

instruments on Edison cylinders. In 1897,

Montgomery Ward’s catalog marveled at the

‘phenomenal growth in our Mandolin trade’.

The Rage of the New Century

By the turn of the century, mandolin

ensembles were touring the vaudeville

circuit, and mandolin orchestras were

forming in schools and colleges. In 1900,

a company called Lyon & Healy boasted

‘At any time you can find in our factory

upwards of 10,000 mandolins in various

stages of construction’. From the Sears

and Montgomery Ward catalogs, mandolins

proliferated across the South. Attempting to

beat the competition, the Gibson company

sent field reps across America to encourage

sales of mandolins, and to establish mandolin

orchestras.

From the turn of the century through

the 1940s, a handful of American virtuoso

mandolinists, mostly immigrants such as

Bernardo Dapace, Samuel Siegal, Dave

Apollon, and Giduanni Giouale, performed,

recorded, composed, and arranged for the

mandolin. These artists appeared in concert

halls, and vaudeville settings, performing

ethnic, popular, and classical music.

By this time banjo, mandolin, and guitar

clubs had become the rage among middle-

class youth on college campuses and in

towns and cities throughout the South,

and a variety of playing styles-- some of

them borrowed from guitar techniques--

were made widely available in instruction

books and on the recordings of such urban

musicians as Fred Van Eps and Vess Evan.

The Evolution Of The Modern Flat-Back Mandolin

Orville H. Gibson was born in New York

in 1856, and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan

as a young man. He began designing and

building instruments in the 1880s. In 1898,

he was granted a patent for a new design in

arch-top instruments. His early instruments

were highly experimental and ornate. In

1902, a group of businessmen bought his

patent, and formed the Gibson Mandolin-

Guitar Co., where Orville remained as a

consultant, but not a partner, until 1915.

The 1905 Gibson A-4 was a revolutionary

instrument in its time, breaking radically

away from the traditional bowl-back

instruments brought to America by Italian

immigrants (disparagingly referred to as

‘taterbugs’). Instead of having a flat or

bent top and a bowlback, Orville’s new

design was based on principles of violin

construction, using a carved top and back.

Though this design was subtly modified

over the years, it clearly set the standard for

what was to become the preferred style of

mandolin used in American folk and music.

Orville Gibson was apparently obsessed with

ornamentation, particularly the scroll. He

also emphasized the importance of machines

in precision manufacture. His personal

hallmark, included as an inlay on many of his

early instruments, was an occult star-and-

crescent.

The 1910 Gibson F-4 with its lavishly

detailed flower pot headstock inlay featured

a new scroll 3-point design. In general, this

mandolin represented a huge step forward

in the development of the modern mandolin

look, one that has carried over to the present

time. The new mandolin had a full resonant,

well-balanced tone with great power.

In 1922, Gibson, under the influence of their

new acoustic engineer Lloyd Allayre Loar,

refurbished their entire line of mandolins. The

new versions had a number of distinguishing

features including an adjustable truss-rod

in the neck, adjustable two-piece ebony

bridge, and a new tapering peghead contour

called the ‘snake-head’. Perhaps Loar’s

finest achievement, at least for devotees

of bluegrass music, was his F-5, one of his

new Master Model style-5 series. There were

approximately 170 F-5s signed and dated by

Lloyd Loar himself. These mandolins are in

great demand, and today are often sold at

astonishingly high prices.

25 RAMBLER

The Influence of Bill Monroe

As the popularity of mandolin orchestras

and the mandolin as a parlor instrument in

the United States began to wane, it began

to take somewhat of a back seat to other

instruments. In old-time country music, the

mandolin was often present, but generally

only as an accompanying instrument, playing

along with the ensemble.

All that changed with the emergence of Bill

Monroe and the Monroe Brothers. Like most

of the other brother acts of the 30’s, Bill

and his guitarist brother Charlie sang sacred

and sentimental songs in beautiful two-part

harmonies. But in contrast to the sweet,

relaxed tremolo style of mandolin playing

so common in the other brother duets, Bill

played fiery cascades of rapid-fire notes

that brought a power and urgency to the

music that simply had not been there before.

As Doug Green from the Country Music

Foundation has noted, he ‘... drew his inner

fire and turmoil into his music, expressing it

with his mandolin...’.

Monroe fused the influences of his two

childhood mentors, Uncle Pen Vandiver

and Arnold Schultz. Uncle Pen played the

fiddle, and had a rich repertoire of songs

and melodies that Monroe was to draw

from throughout his career. His fiddle-

playing techniques became an intricate

part of Monroe’s style of mandolin playing.

Arnold Schultz was a black country blues

player who Monroe would see whenever he

came through Rosine, Kentucky. Through

his influence, Monroe spiced his playing

with blue notes and blues licks. The fusion

of these influences created a unique and

unmistakable style.

This was also the time when radio was

sweeping the country. Monroe’s mandolin

playing was getting to a lot of people via the

radio, people who didn’t know the mandolin

was being used that way. People responded

to the raw emotion of his playing, and the

Monroe Brothers became one of the more

popular brother acts of the era. Monroe later

went on to create the bluegrass style (named

after Monroe’s band, The Bluegrass Boys),

which put the mandolin securely at the

center of the worlds stage.

Close up of the signiture scroll

work on a Morgan Monroe

Rocky Top mandolin. This

High-end Mandolin is a favorite

of performers for its

deep

resonating voice and fret-play.

26 RAMBLER

THE COMEBACKKID

Today the mandolin continues to be

a popular and vital instrument. In

country music, the mandolin has

made quite a comeback since the heyday of

the Nashville Sound in the 60’s and 70’s.

In the early 80’s, the syrupy strings and

layered vocals gave way to a powerful neo-

traditionalist movement that re-introduced

the mandolin to country audiences. In rock

music, the mandolin has been present

consistently since the late 60’s. English

folk-rock, the acoustic-tinged albums of Rod

Stewart, and the heady acoustic ballads of

Led Zepplin all made the mandolin a familiar

sound to rock audiences. Today, the present

interest in ‘unplugged’ music continues to

showcase the mandolin. The Explosion in

popularity of bands such as Mumford and

Sons, Fleet Foxes, Yonder Mountain String

Band, First Aid Kit and many others is paving

the way for mandos in popular music culture.

Some rock musicians today use

mandolins, typically single-stringed electric

models rather than double-stringed acoustic

mandolins. One example is Tim Brennan of

the Irish-American punk rock band Dropkick

Murphys. In addition to electric guitar,

bass, and drums, the band uses several

instruments associated with traditional

Celtic music, including mandolin, tin whistle,

and Great Highland bagpipes. The band

explains that these instruments accentuate

the growling sound they favor. The 1991

R.E.M. hit “Losing My Religion” was driven

by a few simple mandolin licks played by

guitarist Peter Buck, who also played the

mandolin in nearly a dozen other songs. The

single peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot

100 chart (#1 on the rock and alternative

charts),[13] the highest ranking for a song

featuring mandolin in twenty years. Jack

White of The White Stripes played mandolin

for the film Cold Mountain, and plays

mandolin on the song “Little Ghost” on the

White Stripes album Get Behind Me Satan;

he also plays mandolin on “Prickly Thorn, But

Sweetly Worn” on Icky Thump.

And of course the vibrant, organic folk

musics of Ireland, Scotland, England, and

the American South continue unabated.

Bluegrass music, while far out of the

mainstream, continues to attract young

players who keep the music alive and

growing. And as long as there is bluegrass,

there will be a place for the mandolin

Marcus Mumford performing with his mandolin at a

Folk Festival outside of Oxford, UK.

27 RAMBLER

28 RAMBLER

29 RAMBLER

30 RAMBLER

SUNBLOCK We all know the dangers of UV

rays, and at most fes- tivals, you’re very

exposed to them. You don’t want a sunburn

now, and you certainly don’t want skin can-

cer later, so lather up. For festivals, I like to

use sport spray- on sunblock; I can put it on

myself without having to ask for help with

the hard-to-reach areas, and it won’t sweat

off in the summer heat. Remember to reapply

every few hours!

HEADLAMP I refused to buy one of these for

way too long because of the dork factor, but

now I don’t leave home with- out it. These

convenient flashlights strap around

your head on an elastic band (no more

holding a mini-mag between your teeth).

They’re invaluable for nighttime Porta- John

trips (the scariest thing ever) and they work

well for mixing drinks, making beds, and all

sorts of other things.

BABY WIPES Not just for babies any more,

wet wipes can keep you feeling fresh as a

daisy even after a few days with no shower.

Your hair will still be a rat’s nest, but at least

you won’t smell. Remember what their

original purpose is, as well... they can clean

up even the most sensitive areas when a hot

shower just isn’t available.

Legally run festivals (which are the only

kind you should attent) (wink, wink) are

requiredby law to have first aid ser-

vices available and an ambulance on call, so

if something major happens, there will be

people to take care of you. However, they

often don’t dispense headache medicine,

and sometimes it’s more hassle than it’s

worth to get a simple band-aid put on, so

make yourself a simple first-aid kit and save

yourself some trouble.

TOILET PAPER No one ever wants to talk

about this, but every seasoned festivarian

knows to bring a couple of rolls of Charmin

from home. PortaJohns often run out of

toilet paper pretty quickly and even when

they have paper, it’s usually of the super-

thin super-scratchy variety. Toilet paper also

doubles as facial tissues, and a few well-

tossed rolls can take care of your problems

with the neighboring campsite (kidding}.

We ARE NOT KIDDING, bring this STUFF!

31 RAMBLER

CAMERA You can’t go to a music festival

without your camera! Some festivals have

rules about what types of camera you can

bring (no movie cameras, etc.), but every

out- door festival that I know of lets you

take snapshots. If you’re worried about your

expensive digital camera and you’re not a

hotshot photographer anyway, bring a few

disposables just in case.

BLANKET OR CHAIRS At some point, you’re

probably going to want to sit down

in one place and hear some music. Some

festivals don’t let you bring chairs, but most

do, and if you’re bringing them, the folding

canvas chairs with carrying bags are the

best, comfy and easy to carry. I personally

prefer to sprawl, though, and I really like

those ten-dollar woven wool Mexican-style

blankets. They hold up and they’re easy to

carry, but if they get lost or forgotten, they

are quite replaceable.

BACKPACK Between my little cooler and

my little backpack, I can carry just about

everything I need for the day. Carrying a

purse (as much as I love them)

just isn’t practical at a festival; it’s tough on

your back and purses generally don’t hold

as much as you need. Keep the stuff you’re

carrying to a minimum; you probably don’t

need three changes of shoes, for example

(that’s mostly advice for me).

WATER AND SPORTS DRINKS If festivals

let you bring your own drinking water, by

all means, do it. Staying

hydrated in the hot

sun is very important.

Remember, also, that if

you’re sweating heavily,

it’s important to keep the minerals (salt,

calcium, potassi- um, etc.) in your body

replenished as well. I seldom attend a festival

without a jar of dill pickles for this reason

(seriously), but I’m told that normal people

just drink electrolyte-rich sports drinks.

SMALL COOLER you bring

your own drinking water,

by all means, do it. Stay-

ing hydrated in the hot sun

is very important. Remember, also, that if

you’re sweating heavily,

it’s important to keep the minerals (salt,

calcium, potassium, etc.) in your body

replenished as well. I seldom attend a festival

without a jar of dill pickles for this reason

(seriously), but I’m told that normal people