Terry Blankenship plays traditional Irish, Scottish, English, Breton, and Renaissance music. He sings and plays cittern, bouzouki, octave mandola, mandola, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, and bodhran.
Before playing traditional music Terry Blankenship was the lead guitarist and vocalist in the rock band Daemon. After Daemon Terry played guitar with Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists, and did two CD's and a video with him on E.G. Records and Virgin Records. Terry also played on the CD "The Lady or the Tiger" wih Robert Fripp and Toyah Wilcox. Terry has toured the USA and Europe, doing a one hour MTV special with Robert Fripp and sold out show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England. See Terry's discography for a list of recordings he has played on.
Terry played bouzouki with The Gabriel Hounds, performed as a solo artist, and also played in a duo with Rick Evans. Rick plays the bodhran, bones, dumbek, tablas, and other assorted percussion instruments. Terry Blankenship and Rick Evans released one CD as a duo with Terry singing and playing bouzouki, mandola, mandolin, Rick playing the bodhran, and Deborah Colon as a guest artist on fiddle.
Terry Blankenship and Rick Evans were the rhythm section and driving force behind the original "Silver Arm", who were Cincinnati's premiere Celtic band with Terry playing bass and octave mandolin and Rick on the bodhran. Terry and Rick have performed at:
Ohio Renaissance Festival Cincinnati Celtic Music and Cultural Festival Ohio State fair Tall Stacks Weekend General Butler Kentucky Scottish Games Master Musicians Festival Florence, Kentucky Natural park Kenwood Country Club Irish Festival at Thomas Moore College Lexington Irish Festival Concert with The House Band Foley's Irish Pub Arnold's Bar Kaldi's Coffeehouse Weddings and Private Parties Pioneer Village Old Time Traditional Music Festival
Terry also played bouzouki and sang in a trio with Rick Evans on bodhran, and vocalist Margaret Gravitt. They released one group CD titled, Terry Blankenship, Rick Evans, and Margaret Gravitt. Deborah Colon appeared as a guest artist playing fiddle on a few of the tracks.
Margaret, Rick & Terry have performed together in concert and at many Scottish games including:
Stone Mountain Scottish Games in Atlanta, Georgia The Arlington, Texas Scottish Games The Gatlingburg, Tennessee Scottish Games The Old English Festival in Atlanta, Georgia The Woodland Jubilee in Lexington, Kentucky The University of Kentucky A live radio show in Atlanta, Georgia 1998 Saint Patrick's Day T.V. special
Terry and Rick have performed at the Master Musician's Festival, which was filmed and broadcast nationally for PBS. They have also done television specials in 1997 and 1998 for the "Culture of Diversity" show.
Terry played bouzouki, mandola, and mandolin with The Gabriel Hounds from Columbus, Ohio and toured extensively with them during 1999 performing at:
A Ceili with the Irish Dancers of Indianapolis The Irish Festival on Flagler, West Palm Beach, Florida The Brazenhead, Columbus, Ohio Memorial Hall, Columbus, Ohio Byrne's Pub, Columbus, Ohio City Folk's Dayton Community Dance, Dayton, Ohio The Guiness Fleadh in Chicago, Illinois The Shamrock Club Festival, Columbus, Ohio The Dublin Irish Festival, Columbus, Ohio The Milwaukee Irish Festival, Milwaukee, Wisconsin The Peoria Irish Festival, Peoria, Illinois Fox Valley Irish Festival, Chicago, Illinois Chicago Celtic Festival, Chicago, Illinois McGing Irish Dancers show in Louisville, Kentucky Cincinnati Celtic Festival Tallstacks
I use a Sobell
large bodied octave mandolin with a 58 cm or 22.83inch scale
tuned GDAD. I consider it a short scale bouzouki.
A Sobell large bodied mandola with a 51.5 cm or 20.27 inch
scale, tuned CGDG
because of the key most of our songs are in with The Gabriel Hounds.
I capo
this at the 2nd fret for tunes to bring it up to DAEA.
I also had Sobell make me a 18 and 3/4 inch scale mandola with
a body the
size of his big mandolin, that I tune to DAEA. He liked it so
much that he
said he is considering adding it to his line of instruments.
A Sobell Big mandolin with a 31.5 cm scale tuned GDAE sometimes
and GDAD
sometimes.
I use LR Baggs pickups in all of my instruments. Stefan has
these made
specially for his instruments, and I use an LR Baggs pre-amp /
parametric
eq/ DI box as well.