ORANGE BLOSSOM SOUND

Andy Townend (Mandolin)
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Andy Townend (second from left) in a Tonbridge band with his brother Rick, far right.

 Andy  played for a time with Orange Blossom Sound and recorded two LP's with them, Keep On Pushing (1974) and on the 'Jehosophat and Jones'  album by the Two Ronnies   
  Andy Townend tragically died at the age of 46, after a short illness, the news shocked the British bluegrass community in the summer of 1998. There respect in which Andy was held nationally was recognised by an obituary in The Guardian (National Newspaper), written by Alan Ward. Since then we have been trying to come to terms with the fact that Andy, the country's foremost bluegrass musician, is no longer with us.

Andy Townend was a musical prodigy. He took up the mandolin shortly before his 11th birthday, and within five years he was a veteran who had already played on stage with such artists as Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and the
Country Gentlemen, on a summer visit to the States in 1967. Bill Monroe always remembered Andy and spoke highly of his musicianship. Andy’s visit also included two weeks spent as a Clinch Mountain Boy, in Ralph Stanley's band. The experience of being 'on the road' was one that he never forgot. The opportunity to play with Ralph Stanley was more than adequate compensation for the long (often all-day) car journeys in cramped and uncomfortable conditions. On his return to England, Andy could have been forgiven for thinking that he had now done it all. What actually happened indicates the breadth of his musical perception. "I suddenly thought," he once related to BBN, "I come from the wrong country, the wrong background, to play mountain music.
When I got back I listened to a lot of jazz, among other things, and played quite a lot of jazz guitar. I heard a record of Django Reinhardt and thought, 'Wow, I didn't know the guitar could do that!'" So Andy proceeded to become a first-class jazz guitarist, and his mandolin playing absorbed a lot of jazz influences. At the funeral we heard a recording of Andy playing his own beautiful arrangement for mandolin of the jazz tune 'You Don't Know What Love Is' a fitting reminder of his wonderful talent. 

As the review in Bluegrass Unlimited stated, “His mandolin playing evokes everything from American bluegrass masters to jazz tunes.....Playing a 1950s Gibson mandolin ‘improved by John Duffey’, he
plays with clear authority.” 

Andy Townend's mandolin style was unique. While he borrowed from a widerange of sources - his motto was "If it's good, nick it!" - there was an input and a cohesion that was pure Townend. He had a taste for the melodic, and was a
great admirer of Bobby Osborne; Sure-Fire was one of Andy’s favourite bluegrass instrumentals. However, there was also rhythmic power and cutting edge to his playing associated more with Bill Monroe and John Duffey. Add to that his cross picking, inspired by Jesse McReynolds but with Andy’s distinctive roll patterns, and you have an idea of the breadth of Andy's vision. Outside the bluegrass framework, Andy would move freely into jazz and explore a range of minor and modal sounds, all the time extending the edge of his musical envelope. There are sadly too few recorded examples of this area of Andy's music, though some of us have treasured amateur recordings made at concert appearances by Andy and Rick.

Andy's main band (The Echo Mountain Boys) was formed at school with his brother Rick (with a little help from Bill Clifton who lived nearby at the time). Andy also played for a time with Orange Blossom Sound and recorded Two albums with them, Keep On Pushing (1974) and 'Jehosophat and Jones' with the Two Ronnies. 


Extracts from an article by John Baldry ....

http://www.btinternet.com/~john.baldry/mando/townend.html

 


Andy appeared on The Two Ronnies Album with the Orange Blossom Sound