American folk guitarists

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about American folk guitarists

Answer 1

Bill Madden (musician)

Bill Madden (musician)

Bill Madden is an American singer-songwriter, also regarded as an indie and an activist. Madden is best known for his environmental song and music video Gone which was in rotation on television networks, MTVU in America and MuchMusic in Canada. As a short film and music video, Gone also won numerous film festival awards and commendations. Madden's music is typically labeled as alternative folk rock or neofolk. Vocally, Madden's voice has been described as a "deep breathy voice [that] serenades listeners," full of range, melodic, and "reminiscent of Jeff Buckley." In his lyrics he often uses metaphor, verse and poetry, to articulate his socio/political and spiritual themes. Madden currently resides in the Lower East Side / Chinatown neighborhood of New York City.

Madden was originally signed by Paul Atkinson, former guitarist for The Zombies. When RCA shelved Madden's project, Madden co-founded MADMUSE and released Chillin' In Hades in 1995, Samsara's Grip in 2004,Gone in 2006, and Child of the Same God in 2008.

In September 2014, Bill Madden released his fifth studio album, which was recorded with long-time partner, multi-instrumentalist/producer Billy Mohler. The album cover and insert features the artwork of Mexican artista plástico Héctor Falcón.

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Answer 2

Martie Maguire

Martie Maguire

Martha "Martie" Elenor Erwin (before Maguire; born October 12, 1969) is an American musician who is a founding member of both the female alternative country band, Dixie Chicks and country blue grass duo, Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in national fiddle championships while still a teenager. Erwin is accomplished on several other instruments, including the mandolin, viola, double bass and guitar. She has written and co-written a number of the band's songs, some of which have become chart-topping hits. She also contributes her skills in vocal harmony and backing vocals, as well as orchestrating string arrangements for the band.

Erwin learned several instruments at a young age, honing her skills with her younger sister, Emily Strayer (born Emily Erwin) and two schoolmates (a brother and sister team, Troy and Sharon Gilchrist) for over five years as a part of a touring bluegrass quartet while in high school. After graduation, the sisters forged an alliance with two other women they had met through the Dallas music scene, Laura Lynch and Robin Lynn Macy, forming a bluegrass and country music band, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits for six years. After the departure of Macy, and the replacement of Lynch with singer Natalie Maines, the band widened their musical repertoire and appearance. The result was a trio so commercially successful that it took the country music industry by surprise, with a number of hit songs, albums, and awards that have set records in the music industry. Erwin subsequently stood by her bandmates as they were engulfed in political controversy.

Martha Elenor Erwin, nicknamed Martie, was born October 12, 1969, in York, Pennsylvania, to Barbara Trask and Paul Erwin. She was raised in Addison, a northern suburban town on the edge of Dallas, Texas. She has an elder sister, Julia Erwin-Weiner, born in 1967, and her younger sister and band member Emily Strayer, born in 1972.

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Answer 3

Jack Maness

Jack Maness

Jack Maness is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist.

Maness began his career singing and playing guitar on Sublime's "Rivers of Babylon", and later joining the Long Beach Dub Allstars as a keyboardist. He was a founding member of Dubcat and has recently released his debut solo album Simple Man featuring members of Dubcat, Slightly Stoopid, and motown bass legend Carol Kaye. Jack's work has been licensed to Lexus auto, Procter and Gamble Bounce fabric softner, and various other medias. He has also collaborated with Reggae legend Half Pint on a track entitled "Unity" on Half Pint release entitled No Stress Express, Jack was invited to Jamaica to play at the 2007 Reggae Sumfest. Mister Maness now resides peacefully in Long Beach, California with his daughter Mia. It is been said that he's passing his legacy onto her and she too, will soon start to tour and create her own music. A Mister Maness Mini me? You can bet on it.

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Answer 4

Jay Mankita

Jay Mankita is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His original songs integrate elements of blues, bluegrass, ballads, ragtime, swing, and samba, and he also performs old standards. His work features humor and is often pointed politically, as in his 2004 release "They Lied", which is critical of the George W. Bush administration. He has recorded several albums, including music for children.

Mankita has also been an actor, photographer, swing dancer, environmental activist, and playwright.

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Answer 5

Leigh Marble

Leigh Marble is a singer/songwriter and record producer living in Portland, Oregon. Over the past eight years, he has released three albums whose approach to indie rock and folk music has been described as ”punk Americana”.

The son of two Harvard, Massachusetts software engineers and nephew of science fiction novelist Piers Anthony, Leigh Marble is also the direct descendant of 19th century spiritualist Hiram Marble who spent years vainly searching for pirate's treasure that he believed lay buried within the abandoned cave of Dungeon Rock (now part of the Lynn Woods Reservation of eastern Massachusetts). Marble has maintained a lifelong fascination with the more macabre fringes of colonial history, and he has acknowledged that this obsessive interest in the “spooky/gothic side of American folklore” has substantially influenced his music.

Through his teen years, the young Marble actively pursued music in and out of school, but he’d always considered himself more of a budding poet or novelist. It was only after an introduction to Suzanne Vega and similarly styled singer-songwriters during Marble’s undergraduate tenure at Brown University that he first saw how these twin passions could be combined. In particular, Ani DiFranco’s blend of stylized instrumental facility and trenchant lyrics proved to be influential. (Marble has compiled the guitar tablature for dozens of DiFranco songs and still oversees the AniTabs web site.)

After graduating from Brown in 1997, Marble moved across the country to Portland, Oregon. Throughout the late 1990s, he regularly performed at a diverse array of popular venues throughout the area including Satyricon (nightclub), Berbati's, and the Ash Street Saloon and became “a fixture on the Portland music scene”.

From 1997 through 1998, Marble gained experience in the business side of musical promotions while serving as an employee of indie label Undercover Records. During this time, Marble contributed several articles about production techniques for music recording magazine Tape Op and assisted founding editor Larry Crane (the producer of Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney, and Stephen Malkmus) with varied aspects of publication from within Crane’s SE Portland office (also the site of Jackpot! Recording Studio). In admiration of Marble’s talents, Crane helmed production for Marble and Brown classmate Erin McKeown’s 1999 seven inch split single Anticipation et Denouement.

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Answer 6

David Mansfield

David Mansfield (born September 13, 1956) is an American musician and composer.

Raised in Leonia, New Jersey, his first band was Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends, which also included two sons of Tony Bennett.

Bob Dylan asked Mansfield to tour with him on his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour; he remained in Dylan's band through their 1978 world tour.

After the Revue ended in 1976, Mansfield and two other members of Dylan's band, T-Bone Burnett and Steven Soles, formed The Alpha Band. The band released three albums, The Alpha Band in 1977, Spark in the Dark in 1977, and The Statue Makers of Hollywood in 1978.

In 1986 Mansfield was an initial member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range, including playing the title instrument on the hit "Mandolin Rain". However he left the Range before their first tour.

Since The Alpha Band broke up, Mansfield has continued to work as a musician in sessions for Dylan, Burnett, Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith, Roger McGuinn, Sam Phillips, Mark Heard, The Roches, Edie Brickell, Spinal Tap, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Victoria Williams, Loudon Wainwright III, Willie Nile, Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen and others.

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Answer 7

Steve Mann (guitarist)

Steven Mann (May 2, 1943 – September 9, 2009) was an American songwriter and guitarist.

Mann broke onto the West Coast music scene in the 1960s. As a student at Valley State College in Los Angeles, Mann began to perform folk music at hootenannies and Los Angeles clubs like The Ash Grove and The Troubadour. He made a number of friends on the folk music scene, including Hoyt Axton, Judy Henske, Gale Garnett, Jimmy Rubin, and Terry Wadsworth (who later joined The New Christy Minstrels). In 1962, Mann was introduced to a young singer named Janis Joplin at an open mic performance at The Troubadour. Mann began accompanying Joplin on guitar and they performed at open mics around the Los Angeles area. They stopped performing together when Mann temporarily relocated to San Francisco. A full account of Mann's association with Janis Joplin can be found at [1]. While in San Francisco, Mann also met singer/songwriter Ivan Ulz with whom he co-wrote two songs, one of which was recorded by Rod McKuen. Mann has also been linked to Margo St. James, Sonny Bono, Dr. John, Frank Zappa, and many more.

Around 1967 Mann suffered a mental breakdown and went into partial retirement. His few recordings became collector's items and his music became legendary among blues guitar aficionados. In 2003, Mann moved to Berkeley, California where he began to perform again with the help of friends Will Scarlett and Janet Smith of Bella Roma Music. In 2005, Mann released a new album on CD, "Steve Mann: Alive and Pickin'." It includes re-releases of previously recorded material, including performances with Janis Joplin, as well as a new song written and performed by Mann.

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Answer 8

Charlie Mars

Charlie Mars

Charlie Mars is a vocalist, guitarist and singer-songwriter from Mississippi. Mars has performed at Austin City Limits and South by Southwest. Mars was featured in Esquire Magazine's Songwriting Challenge which he says was his brainchild.

Mars was born in Laurel, Mississippi and grew up in Oxford and Jackson, Mississippi. Mars' parents are David and Sylvia. Mars has two brothers, Sam and Chad. Mars was transformed to a musician at age 15 or 16, when he heard "Thriller" and "Slippery When Wet". The first Violent Femmes record also figured significantly into his development as a musician. He bought everything that had a similar sound. Mars' family moved to Jackson, Mississippi when he was a senior in high school. He graduated from Jackson Preparatory School in 1992. He was lead singer and guitarist in a band called Adley Madidafus in high school. Mars attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Mars started playing for Jack Ingram in 1992 ("The Charlie Mars Band").

Mars has a floating, mellow croon combined with sensual soul-rock arrangements. Mars has been compared to Jason Mraz and Josh Rouse, and described as a tougher edged version of Jeff Buckley. Mars says that songs come to him spontaneously, and that he relies on the quality and memorability of the material to remember what he creates. Mars says "...the stuff that's any good I remember, and the crap I just forget. I'm a firm believer in the hypothesis that the good shit sticks."

In 2010 Mars said he would like to live in Austin, Texas if not for his then-girlfriend Mary-Louise Parker, actress on West Wing, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Weeds. As of 2012, he was living in Brooklyn, New York.

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Answer 9

Ed Masuga

Ed Masuga

Ed Masuga is an American singer, musician, and songwriter from Big Bear Lake, California.

Ed Masuga's music is characterized by acoustic guitar fingerpicking and a strong yet mellifluous vocal style. Although best known for his intricate guitar work, Masuga also accompanies himself on piano, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, and harmonica. He has released four independent albums; a self-titled debut album "Ed Masuga", "Lonely Dog", "Let Me Tune My Heartstrings", and "Old Moon."

Ed Masuga is the youngest of ten siblings. After bringing him home as a newborn with the birth tag "Boy Masuga" on his wrist, his parents ended up calling him "Boy" for the first few years of his life. When they started calling him "Danny," a shortened version of his given name, he refused, preferring to go by his middle name. So struck was he by a popular country star of the time, young Ed Masuga would reply to those calling him "Danny" by saying, "I'm not Danny. I'm Eddie. Eddie Rabbit."

His drifting family was never satisfied in any one place for too long, and he grew up bouncing between shacks, motels, casinos, trailers, forests, and barroom kitchens. At the age of two years he saw his dad compete on the game show "Name That Tune," and though the appearance netted just a jukebox and a trip to Puerto Rico, Ed's future as a traveling musician had been fully inspired. Masuga moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend college at UC Berkeley, and initially became known in the folk music community while performing at student co-op houses.

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Answer 10

Michael McArthur

Michael McArthur

Michael Anthony McArthur is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His musical style encompasses pop, rock, soul, and folk.

Michael Anthony McArthur was born and raised in Lakeland, Florida, and is one of 4 children. His father, Robert McArthur, is a retired retail store manager, and his mother, Yvonne Robinson, is a registered nurse. He began singing in elementary school, and, at age 15, his grandfather gave him his first guitar. McArthur began writing songs and making home demo recordings shortly after. In 2004, at age 19, he co-founded a company with his brother, Chris McArthur, and in 2006, the company opened Black and Brew Coffee House and Bistro in Lakeland’s downtown. In late 2008, McArthur decided to sell his ownership in the family business and pursue a career in music. He began performing around central Florida, with his debut public performance at the restaurant he co-founded.

In August 2012, McArthur independently released his first album, The Year of You and Me, a 5-track EP he recorded at The Vanguard Room in Lakeland, Florida.

In April 2013, McArthur was named the Florida GRAMMY Showcase Award Winner by The Recording Academy’s Florida chapter.

In October 2013, McArthur independently released his second album, The Home Recordings, a 5-track EP composed of acoustic versions of the songs from his first EP. McArthur recorded, produced, engineered, and mixed the album at his home studio in Lakeland, Florida.

In March 2014, McArthur participated in Guitar Center's Singer-Songwriter III contest and was a top 10 finalist.

In April 2015, McArthur independently released his third album, Magnolia, a 6-track EP. The album was produced by McArthur, along with Conrad Johnson and David Bianco, a 1996 winner of the "Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical." Magnolia received numerous positive reviews. The album was officially released at an album release party at "Polk Theatre" on April 10, 2015.

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