About Carole Mayedo
As a classically trained violinist, I have dedicated my life to the discipline of beautiful violin playing. As I have said many times “there is nothing worse than a squeaky, out of tune violin.” However, after graduating from the Conservatory, I wanted to become more than a classical violinist.
In 1972, I moved to San Francisco, California to pursue the exploration of Violin in pop music. I learned to improvise. By sitting in with many outstanding artists I was exposed to many different genres. By playing in bands, I had to figure out how to electrify my violin, something that had only been done by a few men including David Laflame, Richard Green, and Papa John Creach, who each shared some insight with me on both improvisation and electrification. I am the first woman electric violinist to front rock bands, including my own original Bay Area, CA bands Crystal Pistol, Starbaby and Silk and Steel.
In 1977, Neil Young heard me perform and asked me to play on his album, “American Stars and Bars” backed by Crazy Horse, with vocals by Linda Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson and me (we 3 were “The Bullets”) and Ben Keith on pedal steel; I received a gold record for my violin and vocal contributions.
In 1980, I was signed to a small label in L. A. and was backed by Kim Carnes’ band on my album “First Flight”. While in L. A., I wrote the music for Jack LaLanne’s exercise video “The Jack LaLanne Way”. In 2011, I received a Grammy nomination for my improvisational violin work on the children’s album “Are We There Yet?” by the Papa Hugs Band.
In 2O16, I retired from the Bay Area, CA music scene. I moved to Atlantic Beach, Florida where I now reside, and have my own rock band, The Carole Mayedo Band (CMB).
As Neil Young said to me years ago, “once a rocker, always a rocker, Carole”… he was right.
Alternative Styles
COUNTRY: Cathy & Carole - "To The Hills"
LATIN JAZZ: Bermudez Triangle - "Pantera"
ROCK: Starbaby - "I Sang My Heart Out"
FOLK: Cathy & Carole - Midnight Sun "The Pie"
FUSION: Starbaby - "Smiles"
