I didn't realise it at the time, but a wee trip to see Sam Gifford
turned into a mini CoMando Summit, with Mike Nelson visiting from
Southern England. Apologies to Alastair Brown in Edinburgh who might
have liked to make the trip North.
Sam had arranged a wee pub concert with visiting American clawhammer
banjo player Ken Perlman, so I drove the 45 miles to Sam's Pegasus
workshop in the afternoon. Mike Nelson was there with two of his
mandolins, a fantastic F-style and his brand new A style (Mike has made
lots of instruments, but only three mandolins), of which I was in awe.
It sounded excellent, and had a really lovely feel to it.
Mike and I did what any two CoMandos would do at first meeting: talked
Dawg picks, doodled a coupla licks, talked mandolins ("Have you ever
tried a ______ mandolin?" "Oh yeah, I had a shot of Tim O'Brien's last
year..."). Needless to say I'm terribly unsophisticated when it comes
to mandolin experience. I've played three great mandolins in my life:
Sam's Red Diamond, Mike's Nelson #3, and a friend's Vanden.
The gig was in an ordinary Highland hotel in Aberfeldy. I've seen Ken
before, so I know how good he is, loved hearing his selection of tunes
and his background stories. However, it was after he stopped playing,
and Sam said "Let's play some music" that it became, for me, a
brilliant evening. Sam played guitar, and let me play his Red Diamond;
Mike played Nelson #2, Ken on banjo, and we were joined by Pete Clark,
a superb Scottish fiddler. As Sam said, "We've got a band!"
I get nervous in such situations. I have a horror of not knowing any of
the tunes called, of sitting there like an idiot with a mandolin on my
lap doing nothing. I shouldn't. I knew almost all the tunes, and even
my fingers seemed to say "Relax, Nige, we know what to do". I managed
to access forgotten parts of my memory banks and pull tunes out that I
haven't played for years, and they kept coming! Bill Cheatham, Whisky
Before Breakfast, Cherokee Shuffle, Scotland (BM), etc. And the locals
loved it, cheering and clapping every time we stopped.
At 1.00am I had to stop - I had to go home! I was high, though, and
told everyone how much I'd enjoyed it. Sam and I talked of arranging
other sessions (John B, next time you come, make sure there ain't five
feet of snow on the ground!). Watch this space.
--
Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/
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