Mandy Strobel

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--------------------Biography: Mandy Strobel
The Country singer Mandy strobel was born on 12 June 1949 in Ulm/Danube in the southwestern part of Germany.
At the age of eight years old Mandy was inspired by the music that he heard from U.S. Soldiers stationed near his home in Ulm Germany. With the help of his Step-father, Richard G. Merritt, he learned to sing and play the guitar. (picture on left)
Mandy’s first performance was at the age of nine years old when heplayed in an Officers Club from the U.S. Army. He fascinated his audience with songs from Elvis and Pat Boone. Mandy spent a lot of time playing with hobby Bands established by young American Soldiers. Between the ages of 8 and 12, Mandy lived again and again with his parents in the United States, ( Killeen, Texas and Clarksville, Tennessee). It wasn’t easy growing up with two languages, but for Mandy, it sure was a step in the right direction toward the country scene.
With the rhythm of the times, he tried different types of music. Rock and Roll, followed by the beat music.
In the 70’s, Mandy worked on the Pop side of the musical branch. He toured with his band “POINT” throughout Germany and under other groups with Joy Fleming, Rainbows, Lords, etc…
At the age of fifteen, Mandy totally changed his style and developed
a great love for American Country Music. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, were Mandy’s biggest idols.
His first big break came with the forming of his band, Mandy’s EAST-Place- Company in 1985, which he played in many of the clubs of the Armed Forces.
1992: He established the Country-Café SANTE FE, which he not only ran, but also performed and on occasion he appeared as a duet with various partners. As a singer with over 40 years of stage expierence, he can look back at his success.
1994 he recorded his CD “SANTE FE” as publicity for his café. This CD made it known that Mandy had other ambitions and it promoted the demand for performances in areas further away.
Also in the 90’s, Mandy performed as a duet with different partners such as: Country Manne under the name of “49er’s” (Country Manne passed away in 2004) and with
Claudy Ciresa under the name of “Broken Spoke”
and Fiddling Christin.
For a long time Mandy was busy with the job as a songwriter, unknown songs gave him his own particular musical style. Mandy didn’t just look for material converted from songs that were already hits, but rather with song that in the original form was not so popular for the original artist, but when rearranged to his expectations would fit into his style of music.
In 2003 Mandy produced another CD, “On The Other Side” with more of his idea how country music should by played. In Nashville, Tennessee he met with singer/songwriter Brent Moyer and was enthused about the new project. With the help of Brent Moyer, Joe Sun, Becky Hobbs and Joel Sonnier and well as other fine musicians his CD “On The Other Side” became a great success.
Zu diesem Album gehört Mut – aber auch Vertrauen in sich selbst und auf die Fans. Denn von kommerziellen Gedanken war die Produktion sicher nicht überschattet. Der Titel sagt es schon, dies ist Musik von einem Künstler, der das spielt und singt was und wie er sich fühlt. Mandy Strobel ist nicht nur ein Charakterkopf sondern auch einer mit dem richtigen „Charakter“. Er lebt seine Musik und steht mit jeder Faser dahinter. Und er hat Mut. Nicht von ungefähr nennt man ihn auch den „deutschen Johnny Cash“. Stimmlich sind es mehr als Ähnlichkeiten mit dem „Man in black“, vom Repertoire her passt das Album nahtlos in die American Recordings von Cash. Allein dazu gehört schon Mut. Noch dazu, wenn eine Reihe Songs religiösen Inhalts sind – in Deutschland nicht unbedingt an der Tagesordnung. Schließlich ist das Album auch entsprechend spärlich aber ungemein wirkungsvoll instrumentiert.
Mandy Strobel meistert ein solch schwieriges Projekt. Denn er macht jeden Song zu seinem eigenen, er interpretiert sie ungemein einfühlsam und damit überzeugend. Die Aufmerksamkeit des Hörers wird geradezu magisch erzeugt – da tut es nichts zur Sache, dass es dem Album an Abwechslung fehlt. Man möchte gar nicht aus dieser Stimmung gerissen werden. Überaus geschickt die Auswahl der Songs. Von Autoren wie Steve Earle (genau der eigenwillige Texaner) über Billy Joe Shaver, Becky Hobbs bis hin zu Mark Stuart. Aber auch – und das ist besonders hervorzuheben, vom in Bayern lebenden Ron Davis und Mandy Strobel selbst. Beide arbeiten seit gut einem Jahr zusammen und beide darf man zu den besten Autoren authentischer amerikanischer Country Music rechnen, die es in Deutschland gibt.
Aufgenommen wurden die meisten Songs an musikalisch historischer, ja kultiger Stätte, im legendären Studio von Sun Records in Memphis.
Ein Album, das mich voll überzeugt. Wer besinnliche, von Text und Gesang lebende, authentische Country Music liebt, der kommt an dieser CD nicht vorbei.
Voraussichtlicher Veröffentlichungstermin: Juli 2006
Mandy Strobel, “The way I feel“
It all started out as a vacation for relaxation or maybe we should say it was a holiday to familiarize ourselves with the southern states of the USA. Organized by the Country & Western Friends Kötz we visited Atlanta, Dollywood, Memphis, and Nashville. Maybe it should be called an activity vacation since it gave us a chance to see most all of everything that a true country fan would want to see, including the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where in the 1950’s the first recordings of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley were made by the founder of Sun Studios, Sam Phillips. Since this time country and pop music have been greatly influenced by these two performers. You can still make tours through the studio building and you will be reminded of the musical history. Recordings are still made there.
One that did this was naturally Mandy Strobel. After he and his wife Elsy sent the other 18 members of the tour back home they returned to Tennessee for a few weeks and went back to Memphis to return to the Sun Studios.
In his luggage were several songs from Ron Davis, whom he met at the country music fair in Berlin in 2005 and since then they are very good friends. Mandy Strobel said at the beginning that Ron’s songs were just down his alley.
With James Lott as technician Mandy recorded 11 songs with the feeling that he was able to do his kind of music there, where the great music legends started the “Big train from Memphis”. Mandy sang in the same famous Sun Records microphone where he could relive the sound of the 50’s. only one man, one voice and his acoustic guitar. The results may be defined as the last Sun sessions from Johnny Cash or as the last American Recordings in sense of the production from Rick Rubin. It was songs inhaled from the ghost of the “Man in Black” but presented by the singer Mandy as a direct representation such as has never been done before.
Friedrich Hog, Radio free FM
Vice president of Country & Western Friends, Kötz
english Roald Davis