req : info about Dave Evans? (fingerstyle player/composer)
nicolas
hello,
need help.
Dave Evans : do you know this great fingerstyle guitar player/composer ?
he appeared with 5 tracks on a cd called *fingerpicking guitar
delights*.
i can't find info about him on the web.
nobody seems to know him in guitar or sheet music shops here, north of
france.
any help VERY, VERY welcome (with just 5 tracks, he's already my
favourite guitar composer).
thanks.
please, e-mail me : nic...@cathy.iemn.univ-lille1.fr
John Boston
In article <32AC1E...@cathy.iemn.univ-lille1.fr>,
nic...@cathy.iemn.univ-lille1.fr says...
At last! Someone has asked a question I actually know something
about!
I agree with your opinion of Dave Evans and have tracked down every
bit of his music I could find. This is his complete discography insofar as
I have been able to find out about it. One of the Shanachie CD booklets
states that he stopped playing professionally a long time ago, presumably
because of lack of commercial success. His day job was as a merchant
seaman. He also apparently made his own guitars.
SAD PIG DANCE: LP, Kicking Mule KM 120, 1974: all instrumental. Tracks:
Stagefright
Captain
Braziliana
Knuckles and Buster
Morocco John
Mole's Moan (and the gentle man trap)
The Train and the River
Sneaky
Sun and Moon
Veronica
Raining Cats and Dogs
Chaplinesque
Steppenwolf
As noted below, some of these tracks have shown up on a more recent
Shanachie CD.
TAB BOOK FOR SAD PIG DANCE: 1976. Includes tab for Stagefright, Braziliana,
Morocco John, Chaplinesque, Sad Pig Dance.
TAKE A BITE OUT OF LIFE: LP, Kicking Mule 134, 1976: mostly vocals, a few
instrumentals. Unfortunately, his voice is awful and his songs are awful.
Tracks:
Keep Me From the Cold
Whistling Milkman (instr)
Illustrated Man
You and Me
Insanity Rag
Every Bad Dog
Take a Bite Out of Life
Willie Me (instr)
You're Wrong
Sunday is Beautiful
Tear Away
Lucky Me
I'm All Right
The two I have marked as instrumentals are on the CD you mention. I think
there are a couple more instrumentals on this LP but I don't remember which
ones (and it's too late at night to put it on).
CONTEMPORARY GUITAR WORKSHOP: LP, Kicking Mule SNKF 143 (this is a UK serial
number), 1977. This is an anthology record. The Evans tracks are:
Jessica
Cold Feet
Grey Hills
Ugly Duckling
Jolymont
All five of these are on the CD FINGERPICKING GUITAR DELIGHTS. Other
guitarists on this LP include Duck Baker, Leo Wijnkamp, Jr., and Jim
McLennan.
TAB BOOK FOR CONTEMPORARY GUITAR WORKSHOP: 1978. Includes tab for all five
Evans tunes.
THE ART OF FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: CD, Shanachie 98009/10, 1991. This anthology
CD, like FINGERPICKING GUITAR DELIGHTS, pulls together selections from a lot
of the old Kicking Mule LPs, and to my taste is even better than F.G.D. The
Evans tracks include:
from SAD PIG DANCE:
Stagefright
Sad Pig Dance
Sun and Moon
Steppenwolf
Braziliana
from TAKE A BITE OUT OF LIFE:
Whistlin' Milkman
Willie Me
TAB PAMPHLET: My copy of THE ART OF FINGERSTYLE GUITAR contained a pamphlet
with tab for a number of the tunes including several of the Evans tracks.
Unfortunately I can't find it at the moment so I'm not sure which ones,
except that they were selected from the ones tabbed in the SAD PIG DANCE
book. If you didn't get one with your CD, it should be available from
Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, P.O. Box 802, Sparta, N.J. 07871.
FINGERPICKING GUITAR DELIGHTS: CD, Shanachie 98013/14, 1992. You know about
this but I'm including it in case anybody else is interested. This has the
five Evans tracks from CONTEMPORARY GUITAR WORKSHOP listed above.
TAB PAMPHLET: My copy of FINGERPICKING GUITAR DELIGHTS contained a pamphlet
that contained, I believe, tab for all five of the Evans selections. (I
can't find it either.) I have learned to play "Jessica" and "Jolymont" and
have gotten as much enjoyment from them as anything I've ever played.
IRISH REELS, JIGS, AIRS AND HORNPIPES: CD, Shanachie 97011, 1990. This
anthology CD includes the following Evans tracks:
Hewlett
The Galtee Hunt
Sheebeg an Sheemore
Morgan Magan
The Donegal Pilgrim
I find these tracks to be less distinctive and interesting than Evans'
original material (though equally well played).
TAB: FINGERSTYLE GUITAR SOLOS IN OPEN TUNINGS by Stefan Grossman. Mel Bay
Publications MR94025, 1992, $9.95. Includes tab for all of the Evans tunes
on IRISH REELS etc. except for The Donegal Pilgrim. This is available from
Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, address above; also, Mel Bay has a web
site these days.
FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: NEW DIMENSIONS AND EXPLORATIONS vol. 2: videotape,
Vestapol (related to Shanachie) 13007, 1994. Contains a clip of Evans
playing "Stagefright" on what I think must have been a British TV show. His
stage manner is, er, a little peculiar. Other tracks on this video by John
Renbourn, Stefan Grossman, John Knowles, Pat Donohue and other luminaries.
Available from Grossman's Guitar Workshop.
I strongly recommend that you get the other Shanachie compilation, THE ART
OF FINGERSTYLE GUITAR, and try to track down the LP SAD PIG DANCE. Even if
you get the other CD, there is enough fine material on the LP that isn't on
either CD that it's worth the effort. Where? Beats me. I have had good
luck getting old guitar records from Guitar Records, P.O. Box 422, New
Ellenton, S.C. 29809 USA,though SAD PIG DANCE is not listed in the catalog I
got from them a week or so ago.
John Boston
fbre...@aol.com
re: Dave Evans
I got an album by him in the 70's called "Sad Pig Dance".
I was really into ragtime fingerpicking at the time. He's pretty hot. So
were Dave Laibman and Eric Schoenberg if its ragtime you want.
Contact Stefan Grossman's outfit. If they can't get it for it's probably
un-gettable.
Myself, I'm a Dave Van Ronk / Roy Book Binder fan.
Ton Maas
In article <58is68$5...@news2.delphi.com>,
jbo...@delphi.com (John Boston) wrote:
> I agree with your opinion of Dave Evans and have tracked down every
>bit of his music I could find. This is his complete discography insofar as
>I have been able to find out about it. One of the Shanachie CD booklets
>states that he stopped playing professionally a long time ago, presumably
>because of lack of commercial success. His day job was as a merchant
>seaman. He also apparently made his own guitars.
I met Dave many years ago as he was touring with Canton Trig. He did indeed
build his own guitars and also gave up his career in music because of lack
of success. A mutual friend informed me that he is now living in Brussels,
working as a luthier/repair man at an outlet for musical instruments.
Ton Maas, Amsterdam NL