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Friday, October 21, 2022

Noted Guitarist and Folk Singer Mary McCaslin has died aged 75

Credit...Glen Gorseclose, via FLi Artists

 Mary McCaslin, Folk Singer Who Lamented The Lost Old West Dies at 75

From Wiki : McCaslin met singer-songwriter Jim Ringer in 1972, and began performing with him. They married in 1978, and as a duo released the album The Bramble & the Rose. They moved to San Bernardino, California. McCaslin separated from him in 1989. Ringer died in 1992 after a long illness, and McCaslin provided the liner notes for a retrospective album of his songs: The Best of Jim Ringer.


McCaslin was busy with family matters for most of the 1980s, finally releasing a new album, Broken Promises, in 1994. She died from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurological condition a form of Parkinson's that can cause problems with balance, movement, vision, speech and swallowing.

McCaslin, who also played banjo and ukulele, was self-taught, and her open guitar tuning — tuning the strings to sound like a specific chord, as Joni Mitchell did — distinguished her guitar playing.

“While Joni’s tunings were more jazz-inflected,” said Mitch Greenhill, president of Folklore Productions/Fli Artists, who managed Ms. McCaslin and her first husband, the folk singer Jim Ringer, starting in the mid-70s, “Mary’s went the opposite way. They were more angular, more Celtic sounding. And she always put the tunings on her albums, which aspiring musicians always appreciated.”

Tunings are a never-ending hole of possibility. especially if you don’t limit it to western 12-tone standards. 

Now we have mentioned guitar tunings before and I am a fan of trying different tunings so this came as a revelation, Mary has the most haunting voice and her guitar playing is exceptional and of great interest to folk like me!

Check this out . . . 

Way Out West - Mary McCaslin


Mary McCaslin - photo Shmuel Thaler - Santa Cruz Sentinel

I am indebted to mudwerks for the heads up that she had passed away . . . . . . .great blog and singer songwriter guitarist himself

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