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buddhuu

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This has, I suppose, limited uke content, as I was the only one playing a uke.

My band played a community gig at an open farm day today. After the song in the video linked below, a lady walked over to the stage and thanked us for playing it. She said that of all the music from her youth, in the 1960s, this was her absolute favourite. Made us feel really good.

The comment Phil makes at the end is totally tongue-in-cheek.

Here's the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZsN2qMlcP8

My Kala solid mahogany tenor did a great job. Sadly it's not very audible in the video. Still, it's a fine uke for the money and I love it.

:music:
 
I loved it! :bowdown:
Isn't it hard to play together all spread out like that?
I also really love the warning in the comments: "The ploughmen may contain nuts." :biglaugh:
 
My band played a community gig at an open farm day today.

Looked like you had a blast, you really must get one of those hats.
 
Thanks guys. :)

Leroy, I did have a similar hat but I mashed it up a while back by putting the amp on it! I have to shop for another.

Uncle, We didn't have much of a choice about the spreading out thing. The trailer stage was a bit narrow! It can be a bit of a squeeze when we play small pubs; there are two more band members who weren't on-stage for that song - 9 of us altogether - so it gets a bit crowded! It's not too difficult to play like that. Everyone knows pretty much what everyone else is going to do. We don't often actually rehearse, but we've been playing together for quite a while, and we play a pub spot every week.

Pippin, Thanks. The two guys singing always do a great job on the vocal harmonies. They are kind of the straight men where singing is concerned. Our other singer is more... eccentric.

I'll be putting more vids up on YT later, but I think I was playing mandolin on most of them, so they're not really relevant to UU.

Another gig tonight at a bikers' bash. It's a busy couple of days!
 
Should I say 'yee-haw' here?

Looks like a fun gig, hats and all. There was a country revival in the late 60s, what wth the Byrds, Grateful Dead, CST&Y and others doing some crossover stuff. Fortunately it ended before any serious damage was done.

The music died in 1970 - the year the Beatles broke up, Joplin & Hendrix died, Verve went under new management and kicked out the Mothers of Invention and the Velvet Underground, Haight Ashbury crashed... it was the last great year for music driven by artists, although it continued to sputter along on life support for a few years with some talent like Bob Marley.

Then came disco. Pop music never recovered the corporatization that came in parallel with disco.​
 
Great job!
 
Should I say 'yee-haw' here?[...]

Er... if you feel you need to, go ahead - let it out! :D

Nah we're not a country or bluegrass band - much more rock and roll, skiffle and jazz than country. The cowboy hats are a gag that started with a cover version we did of YMCA when we played at a pub a year or two back. The landlady told us that her customer base was largely made up of gay people and asked if we could do a couple of stereotype gay anthems for a laugh. We were wary in case the audience thought we were mocking them, but it worked and went down really well. The hats thing still crops up occasionally, and as this was a farm gig it seemed essential...

We do a nod to Hayseed Dixie in a few songs. That whole thing about doing familiar songs in unfamiliar styles appeals to me. We cover some in bluegrass style, some in reggae, some in sleazy lounge style, some with a jazz vibe...

Our banjo player is more often a blues and soul bass guitar player - he got interested in banjo because he heard something Bela Fleck did a while ago and was blown away by it - and my mandolin and fiddle playing comes originally from Irish trad and folk music rather than bluegrass.

That said, there are some terrific bluegrass/newgrass musicians. Just because it's not my first choice of genre doesn't mean I don't recognise and appreciate the talent that exists in people like Mike Marshall, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Tim O'Brien etc.

ian said:
The music died in 1970

No way. You sound like Barry, our lead guitarist. He would even agree on the year! :D

Nah. Music is about more than just expecting to find quality and innovation in the commercial charts and on mainstream radio. It's about fun, community, sharing, communicating and just plain having the crack. Every so often something new or good still crops up.

In the gaps between those precious artistic occurrences lets just have fun.
 
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You boys are very tight. And yes, for me, it would be difficult to play all spread out like that. Wow, what an interesting gig.

Regarding music pre 70's, I was raised with music from the 40's, 50's and 60's, yet I graduated from high school in '79 (the dreaded disco era). I tend to still listen to the oldies and encourage my band to play old rock, but I have children 25 thru 13 so I am exposed to all decades of music. Once in a while a gem shines through the overly processed music of today, you've just got to open your mind and ears. I refuse to be stuck in the 60's. You can even take the attitude a whole generation back further, my father who's 84, swears the electric guitar ruined music.
 
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