Fingerpicking with Manitoba Hal!

Hal Brolund, AKA Manitoba Hal is another one of my favourite players. Fantastic bluesman, a golden voice and a unique way with a ukulele. If you've never seen and heard him play live, you are really missing something! He has just recorded this great tutorial on fingerpicking... so I thought I would share it here. I'm a huge fan of this man! Watch and learn, watch and learn!



Brilliant, eh?

Thanks for dropping in. This was a very short post - I wanted to catch the publish time...

Manitoba Hal - Ukulele Blues book! I've got mine.....

Manitoba Hal - what a lovely fella, what a great blues man... it was Ken Middleton who introduced me to Hal's music a couple of years ago, and when Jo and John Stevenson of Ukulele Crazy arranged for Hal to come and do a concert and workshop for us locally, last October (2013) I couldn't wait. I posted about it here. Both the workshop and the concert were superb, unforgettable.... I have Hal's CD's on my ipod, playing in the car - Hal makes blues on the uke sound the most natural thing in the world.

Then a week or so ago, I was reminded that Hal has now produced a book on his blues method - so I ordered one. The good folk at the Great Northern Ukulele Festival are assisting Hal in getting this book "out there", and the magnificent Mary Agnes Krell posted my book out to me with a sticker for this years GNUF... and a very classy sticker it is, too -

As for Hal's Ukulele Blues book, there's plenty in there to keep me busy for quite some time - the strums, progressions, shuffle chords, turn arounds, pentatonic scales, a few songs and more... I've read high praise of it, and here I'm adding mine! Get stuck in there!

Get your copy from the Great Northern Ukulele Festival on this link

There's also a link the GNUF shop with other goodies on their webpage, here....

Phil Doleman - Spring and Summer dates!

A few days ago I posted one of Phil Doleman's excellent videos. If you can get to one of his gigs or workshops, don't miss the chance - I saw Phil at the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham last year, and have my ticket for this year's festival, where I shall be highly delighted to see him him perform again... if you haven't got yours, the bad news is you're too late, it's already sold out! But the good news is, see this poster for lots of other dates and venues coming up in the UK! And he's doing a couple of them with the wonderful Manitoba Hal, Hal Brolund....

I know a lot of you see this blog on your all-singing, all-dancing smart phones - and perhaps you can't see the dates on the poster because they're too small. In any case check it out here - you may need to be a club member or to buy advance tickets. Good luck!

Thanks for dropping in - it's always nice to see you!

Manitoba Hal Brolund in Alrewas, UK

"Manitoba Hal" Brolund had just done a weekend, top of the bill of all the artistes at the Great Northern Ukulele Festival in Pontefract, Yorkshire - and then, Lordy Lordy, he came down to Alrewas for our uke group Go Ukulele Crazy and gave us a workshop and the most fabulous concert of blues. It was magnificent. A grand Ukafrolic!

First the workshop - how to play 12 bar blues backing on ukulele, with a Robert Johnson turnaround.

Yummy pork rolls and cake, then the concert.

A whole concert, just Hal, with his dual-neck RadioSonic ukulele.

We were privileged to have Hal, one of Western Canada’s top acoustic blues players, sing and play his heart out for us that night... and believe me, Hal's singing is every bit as good as his playing - what a performer! First up was a real favourite, "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me"... then a whole raft of songs from his various albums....

Among them We had .44, Atlanta Moan, Gopherville, High Fever Blues, All Around The World, I Hear Music, The Thrill is Gone, and we all joined in playing 12 bar blues with Sweet Home Chicago.

Accomplished player, lovely singer, great stage presence and rapport with the audience - Hal left Alrewas with lots of new fans that night - and lots of new fans of the blues, too...

Thanks to Joanna Stevenson of Go Ukulele Crazy (above with Hal) for organising! Fabulous!

And thanks for dropping in!

HE WAS A FRIEND OF MINE - Manitoba Hal, Ken Middleton & Gerald Ross

For the curious mind, of any age, life should be full of new experiences. A new experience for me over the last year or two has been watching Youtube videos... and I have recently discovered the "subscribe" button. So I now subscribe to Ken Middleton's channel. As many of you will know, Ken is a big ukulele man - there's wonderful playing by Ken on there, and he can sing - lucky devil.

This morning I noticed a video of Ken playing with friends, just a couple of weeks ago in Cheltenham, and one of them was Manitoba Hal Brolund. Having listened to Hal's latest album, Flirting with Mermaids, several times, I had to watch - and watch again - and then I just had to share it with you, it is superb.

Ken sings and plays an Ohana TK-35G, Hal is playing an Ohana TK-50G, and Gerald Ross is playing a Fender lap steel guitar. Wow. A fabulous blend of sounds, and Hal's inspired percussive additions to his strum lift the effect to another level. Must try to do that.....

If you want more where that came from, and to hear Manitoba Hal sing this time, watch Hal, Ken and ukulelezaza do Atlanta Moan - "wonderfully unrehearsed!" Go on, click it - I promise you, you'll be glad you did!

Manitoba Hal goes Flirting with Mermaids - Review

Knowing that I like folky styles and have a bit of a leaning towards blues, a kind soul pointed me in the direction of Manitoba Hal, Hal Brolund. Boy, am I glad he did!

Of the ukulele, Hal says “People often think of the ukulele as a happy instrument and they're not wrong, but it is also capable of delivering the mojo that makes the blues so interesting”.

I've been listening to Hal's latest album, "Flirting with Mermaids" - and listening to it again - and again. This man, an accomplished guitarist, songwriter and ukulele player, has talent to be reckoned with. The album combines original songs with traditional blues songs and creates a musical journey of unexpected twists and turns of mood and style that just has to be repeated.

Hal says of this album "Imagine the blues meeting the Acadian shore in a seaside carnival of snake oil salesmen, tattooed women and mermaids! Carney's stealing the gate receipts share space with fast food vendors and various hucksters. There are all types here. The bluesmen, the lovers and the hungry.

Before you ask, yes this record was recorded with the ukulele in the main performance roles of every song save two. Every solo that you might think is an electric guitar is a ukulele, most of the organ sounds on this record are a ukulele. Heck even some of the percussion is performed on a ukulele. My goal was to create a record that was fun to listen to, that told a story and didn't require you to be a fan of ukulele to enjoy."

I had never heard Hal's music before, and the first track was a real delight, a whimsical and droll conjuring up of mermaids, with a folky fingerstyle ukulele.

The mood moves to folk-rock, with the ukulele played clawhammer style if I'm not much mistaken, then shifts to a very bluesy number. Another musical shift to cajun-style, and then to real heart-rending blues pleading in "Turn Out the Lights".

The blues standards are not neglected, and are given a first-class treatment - "Baby Please Don't Go" and later on, "16 Tons".

Right through to the end of the album, the dance rhythms of - Louisiana? - I'm guessing - are interspersed with Gospel sounds and then deep, deep blues - to end the album with "The Thrill is Gone", a no-holds-barred blues to wrench the soul and think yes, the thrill of this album is over - better play it again.

If you like folky styles, finger-picking, jumpin' cajun-style music and the bluesiest blues you ever heard - Manitoba Hal's your man.

Go Flirting with Mermaids!


PS 2nd July...

One of my fave ukulele blogs Got A Ukulele has just reviewed Flirting With Mermaids; each song in detail! If you like what you've read so far, read it here!