Mandolin Orange, North Carolina folk duo-turned-full-band, returns to Weinberg Center for the Arts on Friday, March 24, at 8 p.m.
The band, which blends folk, country and bluegrass into a sound that is an amalgam of American roots genres, has not performed in Frederick in over a year. Their last appearance in Frederick was February 2016, when they played at The Weinberg Center as part of their Thursday night pay-what-you-can Emerging Artist series.
The turnout for Mandolin Orange’s show last year was great, according to John Healey, Executive Theater Manager at Weinberg Center for the Arts, who began the Emerging Artist series in 2008.
“The goal [of the series] is not to make money, but to introduce Frederick to new artists and encourage people to take chances,” Healey said.
Frederick took a chance on Mandolin Orange.
In their last appearance, they drew in 720 people, which Healey described as “for a discovery artist, very good.” As of right now, over 800 tickets have sold, according to Healy. The show is close to soldout, he added, indicating the band has increased in popularity in Frederick just the last year.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the band is gaining local interest, as Mandolin Orange has been busy earning increasingly large-scale national notoriety. Since its inception in 2009, Mandolin Orange has won the hearts and ears of all of the music publications that matter, which help to spread the word to those who might otherwise remain unfamiliar. No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music, described the band as “one of the most talented acts making music today.” NPR called Mandolin Orange’s 2013 release, This Side of Jordan, “effortless and beautiful.” Such Jubilee, its subsequent album, was included in Rolling Stone’s 2015 “30 Great Country Albums of 2015 You Probably Didn’t Hear.”
Critically acclaimed Blindfaller, Mandolin Orange’s most recent record, dropped in Sept. of 2016 on YepRoc, the small independent label that has released the last three of its five total albums. Blindfaller debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album Chart, and has accrued over six million album streams so far, according to YepRoc’s website.
Since its release, Mandolin Orange has toured extensively throughout the United States in support of Blindfaller, including dates at Merlefest, Red Rocks, Bonnaroo, Forecastle, and Pickathon, YepRoc noted via their website.
The original duo began as the collaboration between songwriter Andrew Marlin and fellow multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz back in 2009. Marlin takes turns between various stringed instruments including mandolin, guitar, and banjo. Frantz plays the guitar and the fiddle. They both sing.
However, Blindfaller marks a departure for the band, in that Marlin and Frantz have evolved into a 5-piece for this project.
“In the beginning, we did a lot more traditional bluegrass material, but eventually started focusing on Andrew’s songs,” Frantz said. “We started playing with the 5-piece when we recorded Blindfaller in 2016.”
Frantz continued: “We knew we wanted to record that album live in the studio, with a band. “The songs felt like they were right for that. They had simple enough structures to lend themselves to a freer playing setting. We’re still able to improvise and play off each other a lot with the band. We knew it would have to be that natural for us to feel comfortable with a band after playing as a duo for so long.”
The new additions to the lineup include Clint Mullican on the upright bass, Kyle Keegan on the drums, Allyn Love on pedal steel, and Josh Oliver, with whom the duo has collaborated in the past, on electric guitar, keys, and harmony vocals.
Mandolin Orange will perform with the full band as a quintet at The Weinberg Center, focusing mainly on the material from Blindfaller, according to Frantz.
“I’m really excited for this show,” Frantz said. “We played The Weinberg Center last year and I think it was our first gig of the year, in early February. That was our first time branching out and performing with the quartet [the full band from Blindfaller, sans drums] and it was Clint Mullican’s (bass) first show with us. Something about that night was special: We had a great rapport with the audience and it really felt like we were all sharing an experience in that room. I hope year two can top it.”
Likewise, Frederick is excited for Mandolin Orange’s return.
Local resident Abby Cassarella, General Manager of Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm, is a Mandolin Orange fan. Cassarella, who said she first saw Mandolin Orange at Delfest, is no stranger to the genre, since she books Americana and folk acts at festivals at the brewery where she works.
Cassarella said she often discovers emerging bands by checking out who is playing on the side stages at larger festivals. In fact, that was how she first saw Mandolin Orange, who did exactly that at Delfest in 2015, she added. She has since seen them perform at Red Wing Roots in Mount Solon, Va., and Weinberg Center of the Arts in Downtown Frederick last year.
Longtime local Joseph Morrissette anticipates Mandolin Orange’s return to Frederick as well. Morrissette became acquainted with the band when he started noticing their name on regional festival lineup announcements, he stated, though he first saw the band live at The Hamilton in D.C.
“The music is poignant,” Morrissette said. “Nothing about Mandolin Orange’s sound seems contrived. It’s not often I feel there’s a good balance between songwriter-ly lyrical content and interesting rhythms and arrangements.”
Morrissette said he plans to attend the Weinberg show at the end of the month.
Opening for Mandolin Orange will be The Dead Tongues, project of Ryan Gustafson. Based in Durham, N.C., Gustafson is singer-songwriter, musician, and producer.
Here’s how you can find out more about Mandolin Orange and opener, The Dead Tongues:
How to get tickets:
Note: Tickets cost $20 in advance, $25 day of show. Students receive reduced ticket price at Weinberg Center for the Arts. Ask for your $5 discount at the box office.
