Me playing Neil Young songs at Charlie's Coffee Shop, Belfast

The whole story:

Jamie Artt told me about an upcoming Neil Young night in a coffee shop in Belfast. I logged onto the appropriate forum (fastfude.org) and here's what I found:

"gerry norman
Sat 25th Oct 2008, 1:04 pm

After the success of our Bob Dylan night we decided we must put on a tribute night every few weeks and I was told by the crowd that the next must be Neil Young. Anyone interested in playing on 19th Nov to pay tribute to their hero drop me a pm. Doesn't have to be a solo thing either, we found out we could accomidate 5 piece bands in the shape of Sparks Fly.

I'm now booking acts for gigs from now until Xmas with (fingers crossed) a couple of special guests thrown in. I'm looking for some established acts as well as first time giggers. One thing I can guarantee is that everyone will listen to every word you say. If you don't believe me ask anyone who has played

Oh, and il give you a caramel machiato."

I thought "Sign me up!", and sent Jerry a PM. The quick reply was positive, and I had myself a gig! I recruited Andy to accompany me, and we practiced for a couple of weeks. We got 3 songs ready, arranged with banjo & guitar.

Fast forward to tonight, and there's me in Charlie's at 6 while Gerry is still setting everything up. We had a great wee chat. Turns out he's a fellow southerner. He's from Sligo, and went to the same school that currently has my CV and won't reply to me!

People started flowing in gradually, and the whole thing got started by half 6. I was in my element listening to the guys who were on before me - the quality of Neil's songs is superb, no matter who sings them.

And then it was my turn.

As soon as I came back from the toilet Andy was on "stage" setting up, so I got my banjo out and tuned it during the interval. I then asked one of the other singers to video my set. I could sense that people thought this was a bit weird, so I covered myself by explaining that I have at least 96 CDs of Neil bootlegs, including video of entire concerts. "I'm all about the bootlegs" I said, as I gave him my phone. Everyone seemed amazed by my devotion to Neil, so I had the full attention of the room. We were ready to go.

What is on video here misses just the first line of "for the turnstiles", but then contains the rest of the set. Here's the setlist:

For The Turnstiles
Don't Let It Bring You Down
Too Far Gone
(and a lot of me talking absolute dung in between songs)

After my spot you can see Gerry coming up to pat me on the back. He looked me in the eye and said I was amazing, and a lot of other people said the same. I was overwhelmed, I hadn't expected this at all. People commented on how like Neil I sound, how much they like my voice, the funkyness of "for the turnstiles" - you name it. The encouragement was so surprising, I just kept saying thank you, trying to take it all in.

Later I thanked Gerry hugely for giving me my first gig, and he said to contact him any time I want another one!

All in all, an amazing night. I've learned a lot about myself, and there's a lot to think about for the future. Praise God alone for any success I've had!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• neil
• young
• music
• banjo
• guitar
• charlie's
• coffee
• shop
• thanael
• belfast
• folk
• too
• far
• gone
• for
• the
• turnstiles
• don't
• let
• it
• bring
• you
• down
• slide
• gig
• thanny
• mack

[trumad]

Thanks for all the positive comments :)

Banjo tuning is GDAE, like a mandolin but an octave lower. It's a tenor banjo, so it's got 4 strings. You're supposed to tune the bottom string to C, but I tuned it to G instead. That's a bit low for a tenor banjo to be honest, and the strings end up being too loose. My friend Andy played slide acoustic guitar for that song.

I'm almost certain that Neil uses a guitjo throughout his career for any banjo songs. So don't go by how I play it!

[rshea62]

What tuning for the banjo?

[TheWendyHour]

Exquisite, ....thanks !!

[danhardatwork]

great performance man! good luck to you -from canada

[revelinabandon]

That sounds really nice, especially the vocals/harmonies. The banjo with the guitar gives it something unique that alot of duos don't offer with just two guitars.

[grabbitphonya]

Great covers!! i missed the Neil Young trib at Charlies so i'm pleased to see this!