According to Wikipedia.org, the origins of "a one man band" go back to the 13th century. Depending on your frame of reference, the phrase will conjure up different visions. For me, the stereotypical one man band is a guy with several instruments hanging off his body and somehow managing to produce some noise from multiple sources at once. Thanks to some cool technology, David Ford can pull off the one man band thing without having to try to play all his instruments at the same time.
Like K.T. Tunstall, Ford uses a "loop machine" that allows him to play an instrument, record it, then have that recording play back while he's playing a second instrument, and so on until he goes through all that he needs for a particular song. In today's Sun Studio Sessions webisode, he takes on "State of the Union." As he did with "Go To Hell," Ford ably utilizes his loop machine to stack and build a wall of sound that if you closed your eyes would make you guess is coming from at least three to four people.
It is quite impressive to see Ford pull this off live. You can see that something could easily go wrong and with nobody else up on stage Ford has to bail himself out if things do take a wrong turn. That would make many nervous. Not Ford. He relishes the adventure of playing with the loop machine and in some ways the uncertainty keeps him on his toes. Says Ford, "In many ways the danger of it all going wrong, the potential embarrassment and trying to dig yourself out of a whole every now and then is part of the enjoyment for me."
Beyond building these great sounds as he goes along, Ford amazingly is able to convey his passion for the lyrics (perhaps his most important "instrument") he's singing. It's easy to get caught up watching David create the song and miss the lyrics. However, his intensity of delivery at certain points absolutely makes you focus in to not only what he is doing, but also what he is saying. That is definitely the case with "State of the Union."
Check it out below:
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Phil Keaggy does this live as well, it's quite fun to watch. Here's "Savalation Army Band"
2 - Laurie
He IS just as brilliant live.