Hours after Barack Obama took his oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, Carrboro, N.C., burrito joint Armadillo Grill hosted an old-time music jam. That night, Andrew Marlin, a self-taught guitarist, found a complement and foil in Emily Frantz, a well-studied fiddler. The collaboration that started then quickly adopted the name Mandolin Orange, and the duo’s debut, Quiet Little Room, arrived in 2010. Third album, the magnificent This Side Of Jordan (Yep Roc), Mandolin Orange surges with a full band’s depth without sacrificing any of the front-porch closeness or weary sincerity of previous efforts. Mandolin Orange will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on the duo.
Andrew: Doug Paisley is a songwriter from Toronto that Em and I first heard about a year ago. His songwriting made me never want to write again, unless it was in his voice, and his guitar playing sounds almost as though Clarence White wrote in a will somewhere “that Doug Paisley can have my hands in the case that I get hit by a drunk driver some night after a gig.” It’s rare to find songwriters who are equally accomplished on their instrument, and it’s what makes Doug Paisley one of my favorite contemporary artists.
Video after the jump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_qBCpRbnwg
