Three Chords, the Truth, oh and also Forty Musicians

Three Chords, the Truth, oh and also Forty Musicians

Mickey O’Donnell on the extravagant pleasure of folk music with an orchestra

G’Day, reader. My name is Mickey. 

I'm a fiddler and singer, but these days I find myself spending a lot of my time arranging music for larger ensembles. 

Perhaps you've seen Mickey & Michelle's RESTRUNG at a few Aussie festivals, including the National Folk Festival, Dorrigo Folk Festival or even a sneaky one we ran at Woodford Folk Festival.

I adore large ensemble playing. There is something so special to me about a group of humans coming together with their collective decades of experience to elevate a song. 

When you think about the amount of work that goes into, say, the countless practice hours of forty musicians, the work of the songwriter, the arranger and the sound crew... it’s staggering.

Whoever is paying for this frankly decadent extravaganza really has to wonder if the price is worth it for a four minute song.

But it can be.

I'm aware that this is a folk newsletter, and that blue-collar folk songs and tailcoated orchestral arrangements might seem at odds with one another.

I can hear you beginning to type, “Bah, humbug to orchestras. Bob Dylan only needed three chords and the truth.” But take your cursor away from the unsubscribe button and hear me out:

When folk music celebrates community above all else, what could be more folk than inviting forty more musicians onstage?

Now the performer must share their song (and the limelight) with the ensemble in order to create something greater than themselves.

Large concert arrangements don't always achieve this transcendence. I used to get so excited when I saw upcoming events titled "X artist with X symphony orchestra", but upon listening I’d often find myself thinking that a lot of money was spent to get such a cheap sound.

But when it does work, there’s nothing else like it. 

So here are five arrangements of folk tunes that I think are worth every cent.

1. "We Added It Up" by My Brightest Diamond

Look, this one is certainly pushing the boundaries of "folk", but Shara Nova's third album All Things Will Unwind was where it all began for me. 

Seeing her perform at the Sydney Opera House in 2012 with string quartet, woodwind trio and drumkit literally changed my life. 

She has an ethereal voice and a biting instinct for poignant songwriting, but her arrangements were what really lifted me to the Undying Lands of Valinor. I went home giddy with excitement and bought an arranging textbook the next day. 

2. "The Eagle and the Hawk" by John Denver (Live at the Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles)

Strap yourself in because you've only got 120 seconds to withstand John Denver's belting vocals and a most gorgeous string section competing to out-soar him.

Bonus points for thrashing an Fmaj7#11 chord in the intro.

3. "Four Walls" Irish Mythen with RESTRUNG, arranged by Mickey O'Donnell

Listen at this secret, exclusive link here

Okay, perhaps it's a little self-indulgent to include one of my own arrangements on this list, but I can let you in on the process of writing a large-scale arrangement.

Irish Mythen was one of the artists joining us for RESTRUNG at the ’26 National Folk Festival, and “Four Walls” immediately felt like the perfect candidate for a fifty-person string arrangement.

Irish's voice is so big, iconic and colourful, so I wanted to be able to create a huge harmonic bed that was just as luscious.

I crossed my fingers and asked if Irish would be comfortable performing without their guitar, which allowed me to cram in so many more chords and so much more counterpoint. Irish responded, “Sure, why not?”

The original song has three chords (and the truth). This arrangement has twelve in the first thirty seconds. I’m really proud of how it turned out. Keep your ears peeled for Michelle’s gorgeous harp solo.

4. "Catherine Wheel" by Meg Washington, arranged by Paul Hankison

What can I even say about this arrangement?

First of all, arranger Paul Hankinson won the lottery when he was given a song by jazz prodigy Meg Washington, whose understanding of harmony and melodic contour is second to none.

After listening to this whole album almost exclusively for a year, I sent a gushing email to Paul. He replied with a long, humble response, which included:

“I had actual physical pain in my ribcage with the pressure of trying to find what the arrangement could be... Instead of bringing the orchestra forward into the now, and trying to make them ‘cool’, I just let them be cool exactly where they are. I imagined the orchestra had just played the first movement of an epic symphony and ‘Catherine Wheel’ was somehow the slow second movement.”

5. "Emily" by Joanna Newsom, arranged by Van Dyke Parks

To death, I will defend Joanna Newsom as the greatest songwriter who ever lived. She's worth twenty Paul Simons, balancing on a further twenty Leonard Cohens’ shoulders. All of her albums are perfect, she's never written a bad song, and she has probably never put the wrong thing in the recycling bin. 

If you find yourself caught off guard by her unconventional vocal delivery, just remember that you found a way to love the voices of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Nick Cave. 

Joanna's songs always take you on such a lengthy journey while exploring heady, philosophical themes that are best listened to within arms reach of multiple encyclopaedias of wild flowers, Egyptian gods, quantum physics and classic literature. 

Or you can experience her the way I do and just let all the rich imagery and Van Dyke Parks’ orchestral colours wash over you, with your imagination filling in the rest.

I'm sure there are so many more brilliant examples, so please tell me which orchestral collaborations I've missed in the comments below. I'll be sure to listen to them while I am on tour with my harp & fiddle duo Mickey & Michelle this October/Nov! 

We’re heading from Geelong to Brisbane this October and November, playing almost everywhere in between. Check out our tour poster, and let us know where you’d like to see us next time.

If this orchestral talk has tickled your fancy, there are a few chances to hear some of these ideas in the wild:

We’ll be running RESTRUNG at River Folk Festival in October, with a string orchestra made up of participants from Mt Donna Buang Music Camp (AKA Stringmania). 

Then, on 9 November, Parvyn will perform my arrangement with The Australian String Quartet at Melbourne Recital Centre.

Finally, we can’t reveal the details yet, but there’s a very special arrangement performance coming around Easter 2027. If you want to hear more about that one, you could sign up to Mickey & Michelle’s mailing list. Be warned: we have been known to send emails as often as once or even twice a year!

Thanks for making it to the end dear reader, and lots of gratitude to Bespoke Folk for helping to keep the precious light of Australian folk music aflame.

See you on the road,

🎻Mickey & Michelle🪉