The Golden Horse Ranch Square Dance Band

I’ll be at The Hideout tonight (Tuesday, March 31st) with the Golden Horse Ranch Square Dance Band, 5/7ths of whom are pictured in the adjacent photo. We’re filling in for Devil in the Woodpile. We’ll also be playing this weekend, with an early evening set Sunday at The Whistler in Logan Square.

We’re actually performing as our musical alter-ego, the Golden Horse Ranch Musical Band.

From the GHRSDB MySpace page:

The Golden Horse Square Dance Band was founded in 2000 by Annie Coleman and Anthony Burton. Annie grew up calling square dancing at her families resort (The Golden Horse Ranch. www.goldenhorseranch.com). The Golden Horse Ranch Band’s 5 part harmonies and good time stomping cowboy style is not to be missed. This 7 piece ensemble features mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, banjo, guitar, snare drum/washboard, and the occasional bassoon, played by a stellar group of musicians from a cross section of Chicago bands, such as Reds and Blue, Palliard, the Lawrence Peters Outfit, The 1900’s, Tangleweed, and everyone’s favorite marching band, Mucca Pazza.

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin and case

I’m in the early stages on an equipment purge (or, to use the terminology of the day, “equipment right-sizing”). One of the early casualties is this Fender FM-60E 5-string electric mandolin. It’s up for sale now on eBay. Fender no longer makes `em, so if you want one, this is your chance.

I bought this mandolin back in 2000, and used it live and in the studio with the Kennett Brothers. I also used it on some recordings with Consortium.

It’s a 5-string instrument, tuned C-G-D-A-E, like having a mandolin and mandola all in one. Like a Stratocaster, it has individually compensated saddles in on the bridge, and it uses ball-end electric guitar strings.

It plays well, and, equally important, the intonation is solid up and down the neck.

It’s all original except for the toggle switch. The one that came with it was crap, so I replaced it with a higher-quality switch. If you prefer crap, the original is in the case.

The auction runs through Apr-01-09 16:34:38 PDT.

Sound samples:

This mandolin performs well in a variety of different live performance and recording contexts. With the pickup in the bridge position, it’s bright and cuts well. Here it is with the Kennett brothers:

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And here it is with the Kennett Brothers again, using the out-of-phase toggle and the lower register:

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And here it is with a wee bit of distortion, in an excerpt from the Consortium record:

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Images

Click on any of the images below for a larger-scale version. The instrument is in excellent condition. There are the usual belt buckle scratches one would expect on the back. These are detailed in one of the images below.

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin and case

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin headstock

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin, back

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin, detail of scratches on back of the instrument.

According to Cool Noise, Tangleweed is a band that ‘reeks of authenticity’. They posted a very kind review of our newest CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals.

Tangleweed are an Americana five-piece from Chicago who have a recent album “Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals”. The fiddle and banjo give away that they play a good bit of Bluegrass. It is quality stuff that reeks of authenticity – this band really knows their musical history. But there is more than history here – songs like Trishanku’s Heaven and California are great additions to an American songbook.

On a few of the tracks, Tangleweed demonstrate some irish folk roots music. In particular they cover a traditional song (once performed by Ewan McColl, I believe) Join The British Army. Now, I’m not very keen on people going “Too ra loo ra loo ra loo”; okay as background in a crowded pub maybe but I have great prejudice against all of that ‘finger in the ear’ cliché of folk. However, after immensely enjoying this track I can now say: if you have to “Too ra loo ra loo ra loo” then this is the way to “Too ra loo ra loo ra loo”.

Read the review and hear a song clip at Cool Noise.

Lake Shore Drive, that is. This latest driving and drumming video has our ‘With a Bottle in My Hand/ Farewell Blues’ medley as the soundtrack, and the view from the southbound lanes of Chicago’s most famous motorway providing the scenery.