Sandy Bull

Alexander "Sandy" Bull (February 25, 1941 – April 11, 2001) was an American folk musician and composer. Bull was an accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and oud. His early work blends non-western instruments with 1960s folk revival, and has been cited as important in the development of psychedelic music.

Early life and education Born February 25, 1941, in New York City, Alexander "Sandy" Bull was the only child of Harry A. Bull, an editor in chief of Town & Country magazine, and Daphne van Beuren Bayne (1916–2002), a New Jersey banking heiress who became known as a jazz harpist under the name Daphne Hellman. His parents were divorced in 1941, shortly after his birth. By his mother's second marriage to The New Yorker writer Geoffrey T. Hellman, Bull had a half-sister, the sitar player Daisy Hellman Paradis, and an adopted half-brother, Digger St. John.

Bull later moved to Los Angeles, Florida and then Nashville, where he built a recording studio. He became close to many prominent Nashville musicians and in the 1990s recorded several records on the Timeless Recording Society label. He also played the oud on Sam Phillips' 1991 album, Cruel Inventions.

Personal life Sandy Bull struggled with a drug problem between the late 1960s until 1974, which seriously affected his performing.

Discography Studio albums Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo (1963, Vanguard) Inventions (1965, Vanguard) E Pluribus Unum (1969, Vanguard) Demolition Derby (1972, Vanguard) Jukebox School of Music (1988, ROM) Vehicles (Timeless Recording Society, 1991) Steel Tears (Timeless Recording Society, 1996)

Live albums Still Valentine's Day 1969 (2006, Water) Sandy Bull & The Rhythm Ace Live 1976 (2012, Drag City)

Compilations The Essential Sandy Bull (1974, Vanguard) Re-Inventions: Best of the Vanguard Years (1999, Vanguard) Vanguard Visionaries (2007, Vanguard)