One-man band

A one-man band busking in Calgary, Alberta

A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of musical instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical contraptions. The simplest type of "one-man band" — a singer accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar and harmonica mounted in a metal "harp rack" below the mouth— is often used by buskers (musicians who perform in public for coins). More complicated setups may include wind instruments strapped around the neck, a large bass drum mounted on the musician's back with a beater which is connected to a footpedal, cymbals strapped between the knees or triggered by a pedal mechanism, Tambourines and maracas tied to the limbs, and a stringed instrument strapped over the shoulders (e.g., a banjo, ukulele or guitar).

"The one-man band exists, in all its uniqueness and independence, as a most elusive yet persistent musical tradition. As a category of musicianship it transcends cultural and geographic boundaries, spans stylistic limits, and defies conventional notions of technique and instrumentation. Defined simply as a single musician playing more than one instrument at the same time, it is an ensemble limited only by the mechanical capabilities and imaginative inventiveness of its creator, and despite its generally accepted status as an isolated novelty, it is a phenomenon with some identifiable historical continuity."

History and meanings

Pipe and taborers, from the 13th Century illuminated manuscript, Cantigas de Santa Maria

The earliest known records of multiple musical instruments being played at the same time date from the 13th century, and were the pipe and tabor. The pipe was a simple three-holed flute that could be played with one hand; the tabor is more commonly known today as a snare drum. This type of playing can still be heard in parts of rural France, in Englandand among the Basques and Catalans. An Elizabethan-era woodcut shows a clown playing the pipe and tabor. An 1820s watercolour painting shows a one-man band with a rhythm-making stick, panpipes around his neck and a bass drum and tambourine beside him. Henry Mayhew's history of London street life in the 1840s and 1850s described a blind street performer bells on a rail, hammers violin accordions

Guitarist Jim Garner played guitar with his hands and triangle with his feet, and Will Blankenship of the Blankenship Family of North Carolina played harmonica, autoharp and triangle shows in the 1930s. In the 1940s, entertainer and clown Benny Dougal used a crude "stump fiddle" (a single string stretched on a stick) with a footpedal-operated pair of cymbals. Blues singers such as "Daddy Stovepipe" (Johnny Watson) would sing, play guitar, and stomp their feet for rhythm, or used a foot pedal to play bass drum or cymbal. One of the most famous early-modern exponents of multiple instruments was Jesse Fuller, who invented the foot-operated bass guitar called the "fotdella". Fuller developed a foot-operated bass which he called the 'footdella', which had six bass strings which were struck by hammers. In "one-man-band" shows, Fuller would use his "footdella", a footpedal-operated sock, a homemade neck harness (for a harmonica, kazoo and microphone), and a 12-string guitar. Fate Norris, of the Skillet Lickers, a hillbilly string band of the 1920s and early 1930s developed a geared mechanical contraption with footpedals that enabled him to play guitar, bells, bass fiddle, fiddle, autoharp, and mouth harp.

Joe Barrick, who was born in Oklahoma in 1922, wanted a way of accompanying himself on fiddle, so he built a contraption with a guitar neck on a board with footpedals to operate the notes. Subsequent versions of this 'piatar' also had bass guitar and banjo necks and a snare drum which are played by foot-operated hammers. To change notes on the guitar-family instruments, a foot treadle operates a mechanical fretting device. Two notable one-man blues bands active in Memphis in the 1950s were Doctor Ross and Joe Hill Louis, playing guitar, harmonica and bass drum/high-hat.

A musician in Liverpool performs on electric guitar and a small drum kit

The simple guitar and harmonica combination (as used by such musicians as Tex Williams, Jimmy Reed, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry) is so common now that it is rarely considered to be a one-man band. British-born Don Partridge made the classic one man band outfit (bass drum on the back, guitar and harmonica) famous in the streets of Europe, and was probably the first ever busker to enter the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart, with his hit singles "Rosie" and "Blue Eyes" in 1968. Modern one-man bands include such performers as Hasil Adkins and Sterling Magee, better known as "Mister Satan," from Satan and Adam.

Vic Ellis of Sussex

One-man bands are also used in extreme metal, especially black metal, where a number of bands consist of only one member, including Burzum, Nargaroth, Arckanum, Nortt and others. While most of these bands do not play live, some such as Nargaroth hire additional musicians for live performances.

The term "one-man band" is also colloquially used to describe a performer who plays every instrument on a recorded song one at a time, and then mixes them together in a multitrack studio. While this approach to recording is more common in electronica genres such as techno and acid house than traditional rock music, some rock performers such as Prince, Paul McCartney, Roy Wood, and Les Fradkin have made records in which they play every instrument. Other examples of a one-man band in the recording studio are Dave Grohl for the first studio album by the Foo Fighters and Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails.

Developments

Since the development of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) in the 1980s, musicians have also incorporated chest-mounted MIDI drum pads, foot-mounted electronic drum triggers. Some "one man bands" use organ-style pedal keyboards to perform basslines. A small number of MIDI enthusiasts use custom-made MIDI controllers connected to different parts of their bodies to trigger music on synthesizers. Custom-made MIDI controllers range from wind-operated controllers to small triggers mounted on the arms or feet. At a certain point, the use of body MIDI controllers may come to resemble performance art, because the musical sounds are triggered by the performer assuming certain poses or dancing.

With the use of 2000s-era digital loop pedals, which can record and then repeat a short musical phrase, performers can play a riff or groove and then solo over the repeated loop. An example of this technique is Canadian musician Jay Robinson who creates full band arrangements live. ie. http://www.youtube.com/jasonr123guitar

Non-musical meanings

The term is also used in a general sense to refer to a person who runs a business alone, particularly if the operation requires that person to assume multiple different roles, in a manner akin to the way a musical "one man band" performer plays different instruments at the same time.

External links

• Jay Robinson Video examples of one man band looping
• Joe Barrick's One-Man Band The story of Joe Barrick, a one-man band, and the history of the one-man band in general.
• Bernard M. Snyder Website of Bernard M. Snyder, world traveling, street performing one-man band.