Peghead Nation Irish Mandolin instructor Marla Fibish is deeply involved in Irish music of all kinds, which of course includes compositions by Turlough O’Carolan. Marla’s duo Noctambule, with her husband, Bruce Victor, performs several O’Carolan tunes, including a version of “Blind Mary,” which is included on the 2017 album A Sweetish Tune. My own duo with San Francisco Bay Area fingerstyle guitarist Doug Young has shared some bills with Noctambule, and last year, we joined forces by turning ourselves into a quartet for a video of the Beatles classic “Here Comes the Sun.” We were all delighted when Marla and Bruce suggested a medley of “Blind Mary” and Bruce’s original “Cecily” for a follow-up video from the quartet.
Since Marla and Bruce already had a functional arrangement of the tunes, the challenge for Doug and I was to come up with parts that didn’t detract from the existing music. Bruce plays his guitar part in CGDGCD tuning with a capo at the second fret on his Fylde Caliban, so Doug came up with a sparse part in DADGAD (played on a 1926 Martin 000-18), and I played a slide guitar part on my National Style 1 Tricone (tuned to CGCGCD, capo 2). With Marla providing the high end of the frequency spectrum on her 1922 Gibson A mandolin, we managed to create interlocking parts of distinctly different sonorities.
Due to COVID-19, the parts were recorded at our individual homes and studios.
Check out Marla’s Irish Mandolin course and Teja’s Advanced Fingerstyle Workshop on Peghead Nation!
tejaanddougguitar.com, noctambulemusic.com
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