Sandy Bull was a composer and accomplished player of many stringed instrume… Read Full Bio ↴Sandy Bull was a composer and accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar, pedal-steel, banjo and the middle-eastern oud. Sandy Bull's music and recordings are characterized by his blending of non-western instrumentation and improvisational traditions with the 1960's folk revival. His albums for Vanguard records often combined extended modal improvisations on oud with an eclectic repertoire of instrumental cover material. Bull is well known for his arrangement of Carl Orff's composition Carmina Burana for 5 string banjo on his first album, which was included on an album of R.E.M.'s favourite songs. Other such musical fusions include his adaptation of Luiz Bonfá's "Manha de Carnaval," and compositions derived from J.S. Bach themes.
Sandy Bull's approach to performance, composition and recording is notable for his extensive use of overdubbing and multi-track tape recording before such techniques became commonplace in music production. However, unlike the sophisticated, glossy aesthetic commonly associated with these techniques, Bull simply used overdubbing as a way to accompany himself and plays all the instruments on many of his recordings. As documented in the "Still Valentine's Day 1969" concert recording, Sandy Bull's use of tape accompinament was part of his live, solo performances as well.
Bull also played the oud on Sam Phillips 1991 album, Cruel Inventions. Bull primary played a fingerpicking style of guitar and banjo, and his style has been compared to that of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, of the early Takoma label in the 1960's.
He was the only child of Harry A. Bull, an editor in chief of Town and Country magazine, and Daphne van Beuren Bayne (1916-2002), a New Jersey banking heiress who became known as a jazz harpist under the name Daphne Hellman. His parents were divorced in 1941, shortly after his birth.
By his mother's second marriage to the New Yorker writer Geoffrey Hellman, Bull had one half-sister, the sitar player Daisy Paradis, and a half-brother, Digger St. John.
In the 1970s, Sandy Bull became involved with drugs. He died of lung cancer on April 11, 2001.
Sandy Bull's approach to performance, composition and recording is notable for his extensive use of overdubbing and multi-track tape recording before such techniques became commonplace in music production. However, unlike the sophisticated, glossy aesthetic commonly associated with these techniques, Bull simply used overdubbing as a way to accompany himself and plays all the instruments on many of his recordings. As documented in the "Still Valentine's Day 1969" concert recording, Sandy Bull's use of tape accompinament was part of his live, solo performances as well.
Bull also played the oud on Sam Phillips 1991 album, Cruel Inventions. Bull primary played a fingerpicking style of guitar and banjo, and his style has been compared to that of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, of the early Takoma label in the 1960's.
He was the only child of Harry A. Bull, an editor in chief of Town and Country magazine, and Daphne van Beuren Bayne (1916-2002), a New Jersey banking heiress who became known as a jazz harpist under the name Daphne Hellman. His parents were divorced in 1941, shortly after his birth.
By his mother's second marriage to the New Yorker writer Geoffrey Hellman, Bull had one half-sister, the sitar player Daisy Paradis, and a half-brother, Digger St. John.
In the 1970s, Sandy Bull became involved with drugs. He died of lung cancer on April 11, 2001.
Gospel Tune
Sandy Bull Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Sandy Bull:
Memphis Tennessee Long distance information Give me Memphis Tennessee Help m…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
@pmmccluskey4256
This played in my house all through my youth. Along with Mason Williams, this inspired me to a profession in music and it has served me well. Thank you Sandy.
@killercara
inherited a record collection and discovered this genius #winning
@TheOyeoye000
This song made me say "I love the lord and the lord loves me." Now that's music!
@peteaplin8324
A one-man good vibrations show, a very tough life affected by addiction yet did not stifle his talent!
@kevincrossley
I played with Sandy and Davis Mansfield at McCabes and another venue on Lincoln during the months after Rolling Thunder.
@bobaldo2339
Sandy Bull does Pops Staples - nice. Nobody does it better.
@DaveJCosta
Roebuck Staples is the BIG influence here.
@AnthonyMonaghan
Absolutely.
@torvilasulvstle362
Listen to him playing Carmina Burana---on banjo!
@AnthonyMonaghan
In all seriousness...I do love this. Wonderful guitarist who I am only now discovering. Interesting in that he barely bends a string throughout. Lots of double stops filling the sound out. He has the tremolo set to exactly the right tempo so it doesn't sound too cluttered. He makes this sound easy, but he's doing some pretty complex stuff....all on a Fender vi, essentially a six string bass. Had to have pretty heavy gauge strings on there also. Athletic playing.