Alexander "Sandy" Bull (February 25, 1941 – April 11, 2001) was an American folk musician and composer. Bull was an accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar,

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

, banjo, and

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. His early work blends non-western instruments with 1960s folk revival, and has been cited as important in the development of

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis ...

Early life and education

Born February 25, 1941, in New York City, Alexander "Sandy" Bull was the only child of Harry A. Bull, an editor in chief of '' Town & Country'' magazine, and Daphne van Beuren Bayne (1916–2002), a New Jersey banking heiress who became known as a jazz harpist under the name Daphne Hellman. His parents were divorced in 1941, shortly after his birth. By his mother's second marriage to ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' writer Geoffrey T. Hellman, Bull had a half-sister, the

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form i ...

player Daisy Hellman Paradis, and an adopted half-brother, Digger St. John. In the 1950s he studied music at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

and performed at nightclubs both in Boston and Cambridge. By the early 1960s he was performing in folk clubs in Greenwich Village, New York City. He moved to San Francisco in 1963 and shared an apartment with musician, Hamza El Din.

Music

His albums often presented an eclectic repertoire including extended modal improvisations on oud. An arrangement of

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata '' Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Ca ...

's composition ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreveren ...

'' for 5-string banjo appears on his first album and other musical fusions include his adaptation of

Luiz Bonfá Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film ''Black Orpheus''. Biography Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922, in R ...

's "

Manhã de Carnaval "Manhã de Carnaval" ("Carnival Morning") is a song by Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá and lyricist Antônio Maria. "Manhã de Carnaval" appeared as a principal theme in the 1959 Portuguese-language film '' Orfeu Negro'' by French director Marcel ...

", a lengthy variation on "Memphis Tennessee" by

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined a ...

, and compositions derived from works of J. S. Bach and Roebuck Staples. Bull used overdubbing as a way to accompany himself. As documented in the '' Still Valentine's Day, 1969: Live At the Matrix, San Francisco'' recording, Sandy Bull's use of tape accompaniment was part of his solo performances in concert as well. Bull primarily played a finger-picking style of guitar and banjo and his style has been compared to that of John Fahey and

Robbie Basho Robbie Basho (born Daniel R. Robinson, Jr., August 31, 1940 – February 28, 1986) was an American acoustic guitarist, pianist and singer. Biography Basho was born in Baltimore, and was orphaned as an infant. Adopted by the Robinson family, ...

of the early Takoma label in the 1960s. Guitarist Guthrie Thomas credits Bull as being a major influence in his early playing career. By the 1970s he had relocated to San Francisco, where he shared living and rehearsal space with folk singer Billy Roberts, the composer of the Jimi Hendrix song, "

Hey Joe "Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooti ...

". On May 2, 1976 he opened a concert by

Leo Kottke Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including par ...

at the Berkeley Community Theater, where he performed using his 4-track recorder and a 'Rhythm Ace' as backup instruments. Bull later moved to Los Angeles, Florida and then Nashville, where he built a recording studio. He became close to many prominent Nashville musicians and in the 1990s recorded several records on the Timeless Recording Society label. He also played the

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis ...

' 1991 album, ''

Cruel Inventions ''Cruel Inventions'' is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Sam Phillips. Critical reception ''Cruel Inventions'' received mostly favorable reviews from critics. At ''Entertainment Weekly'', David Browne gave the album an A ...

''.

Personal life

Sandy Bull struggled with a drug problem between the late 1960s until 1974, which seriously affected his performing. After completing a rehabilitation program in 1974, he began performing again. He was married to Candy and they had three children. On April 11, 2001, Bull died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

at his home in Franklin near

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

. His daughter, KC Bull, created a film about her father, "No Deposit, No Return Blues" (2009).

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo'' (1963,

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) * ''

Inventions An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

'' (1965, Vanguard) * ''

E Pluribus Unum ''E pluribus unum'' ( , , ) – Latin for "Out of many, one" (also translated as "One out of many" or "One from many") – is a traditional motto of the United States, appearing on the Great Seal along with ''Annuit cœptis'' (Latin for "he ...

'' (1969, Vanguard) * ''

Demolition Derby Demolition derby is a non-racing motorsport usually presented at county fairs and festivals. While rules vary from event to event, the typical demolition derby event consists of five or more drivers competing by deliberately ramming their veh ...

'' (1972, Vanguard) * '' Jukebox School of Music'' (1988, ROM) * ''

Vehicles A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles ( trains, trams), ...

'' (Timeless Recording Society, 1991) * '' Steel Tears'' (Timeless Recording Society, 1996) ;Live albums * '' Still Valentine's Day 1969'' (2006, Water) * '' Sandy Bull & The Rhythm Ace Live 1976'' (2012, Drag City) ;Compilations * ''The Essential Sandy Bull'' (1974, Vanguard) * '' Re-Inventions: Best of the Vanguard Years'' (1999, Vanguard) * ''

Vanguard Visionaries The ''Vanguard Visionaries'' series is a collection of artist sampler albums released by Vanguard Records to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary. Vanguard Records had a high-profile during the 1960s folk revival for its catalogue of recording ...

'' (2007, Vanguard)

References

External links

* Sandy Bull at Allmusicbr>Web-copy of FolkRoots article
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Sandy 1941 births 2001 deaths American country singer-songwriters American folk musicians Deaths from lung cancer 20th-century American singers People from Franklin, Tennessee Boston University alumni Musicians from New York City Singer-songwriters from New York (state)