Shenandoah Run - Tell God And The Devil

[Johanna]

Occasionally my band lets me do something interesting. Here we are covering Solas:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yQRHjovksA

[Jim Besser]

Occasionally my band lets me do something interesting. Here we are covering Solas:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yQRHjovksA

 

Nice.

 

Hope to see you folks at the minifest this Saturday, but I'll probably be playing for the Morris dancers most of the time.

[Sarah Swett]

Fabulous. I'm astonished and delighted by how well the concertina holds its own in the midst of so many instruments.

[Defra]

Lovely to hear an English concertina used so effectively for accompaniment in this way - is that a Geordie tenor ? Could you please explain your strategy when accompanying these types of songs, e.g. single note runs/double stops or partial chords/ full chords etc.?

Thanks for posting,

Dean

[Johanna]

Sarah: Heh...you (and I) say "holds its own" - many of my band mates would say "is too darn loud most of the time."

 

Dean: It's actually a vintage brass-rivet-reeded Wheatstone (with some inexplicable Lachenal parts, but all the important bits are Wheatstone). I love the sound and how it incorporates with the rest of the group.

 

On this particular song, our whole arrangement draws heavily on Solas's original - I'm playing a combination of the fiddle and button accordion parts. In general, my strategy is "try something, and if it doesn't work, try something different." I'm almost always choosing between single-note lines and straight chords, because I'm not smart enough to play melody and accompaniment at the same time and get them consistently correct. (Plus, with all the other instruments, we neither need nor want for me to cover everything by myself.)

 

Often I'll start out on low drones - either single notes or two-note chords - and then progressively work my way to higher notes and/or faster rhythms. If I find a riff I like, I'll repeat it on different verses - softly and subtly at first, and then more prominently toward the end. Sometimes I'll take a known tune with the same or similar chords as what we're playing, and play it underneath everything else and see if anyone notices. (So far, no one has.) Sometimes I'm guided by the lyrics of the song (e.g., playing a bouncy happy tune under a lighthearted verse and an ethereal high drone under a somber one).

 

That's about it. All in all, though, I'm still very much a newbie at this and should not be mistaken for someone who knows what she's doing.

[Defra]

Many thanks, Johanna, very interesting and useful tips. You certainly sound like you know what you're doing to me!

Keep posting the clips, please.

All the best,

Dean

Edited February 4, 2014 by Defra

[Johanna]

There are far too many videos of us on youtube. Just search for Shenandoah Run.

[Steve Wilson]

Occasionally my band lets me do something interesting.

 

 

 

Stand up for yourself, do something interesting more often. I did enjoy that Johanna, the tina added that extra something. Don't know your bands music, I'll have to search some of those vids.

 

What are the mics you're using? Microvox or something else and how do you find them, whatever they are?

 

Cheers Steve.

[Johanna]

Yep, Microvox. They're not perfect, but they're better than playing into a single instrument mic. The biggest drawback I've experienced is that sometimes the acoustics come out sounding very odd, like I'm playing in a different room from everyone else. It's not usually noticeable, but once in a while it is.