• Interviews RSS Feed

    by Published on Jul-08-2020 8:00am  Views: 15225 
    Danny Barnes


    Danny Barnes has pivoted. Or maybe he's made a career of pivoting. The banjo master, one of the great musicians of our time, has been unusually malleable in navigating a career in music: early on founding a ground breaking punk rock/bluegrass band (the Bad Livers), later on touring and recording with artists at the very pinnacle of jazz, bluegrass, and pop music (including Bill Frisell, Tim O’Brien, David Grisman and Dave Matthews), and all the while releasing a wildly diverse collection of solo records, ranging from straight bluegrass to rock to ambient electronica (a personal favorite of mine). Not to mention his essays, which are legendary, or his cartoons, which are as well. Or his deeply inspiring music lessons at Peghead Nation.

    And now that touring is off the table for the time being, taken away just as he was in the middle of a run of gigs celebrating the release of his latest record, Man on Fire (which is great!), Danny has shifted his focus a bit: he's at home on the Olympic Peninsula, balancing his daily practices with a recently ramped up and always well received cartoon/art business.
    ...
    by Published on Oct-04-2016 1:00pm  Views: 22140 
    Evie Ladin

    Interview by Paul Kotapish.


    Photo credit: Mike Melnyk
    Evie Ladin is a triple — make that quintuple — threat: She's a killer clawhammer banjo player, a breathtaking percussive dancer and body-rhythm machine, a crowd-moving dance caller, an inspiring songwriter, and a lovely singer. She's also a fine guitarist, and, increasingly, an in-demand teacher of all the above.

    Whether she's performing solo, with her musical partner and husband, (percussionist, dancer, composer) Keith Terry, or with the Evie Ladin Band (Keith Terry on bass and percussion and Erik Pearson on guitar), she's an engaging entertainer with a keen sense of how to deliver her thoughtful songs and sparkling music in the context of well-crafted show.
    ...
    by Published on Aug-18-2016 3:10pm  Views: 25384 
    Barry Waldrep and family


    Interstate I-20 between Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia is two hours of snarled traffic, commuters competing to see how fast they can get to work, and too many large trucks to slow the process.

    Madness.

    Exit I-20 at the midway point and head south a few miles and you arrive in Wedowee, Alabama, population 800+, the new home of Banjo.com, the world's largest banjo retailer.

    Stress gone. There, that's better.

    The town, the building, the owner, and the experience of a visit is as far from I-20 as the country road leading to the store.

    Founded in 2003 by John Drummond, Banjo.com has been under the ownership of his ...
    by Published on May-22-2016 5:15pm  Views: 37303 
    Cynthia Sayer

    Photo credit: Gary Spector

    About the author: Roots scholar and multi-instrumentalist Michael Eck is a respected songwriter; a nationally exhibited painter; and an award-winning cultural critic and freelance writer. He is also a member of Ramblin Jug Stompers, Lost Radio Rounders, Berkshire Ramblers and the Frank Jaklitsch Trio.
    ...
    by Published on May-08-2016 3:30pm  Views: 30362 
    Adam Hurt - photo by Tim Brown

    Photo credit: Tim Brown

    About the author: Seven-time National Fiddle Champion, Megan Lynch Chowning — who doubles as an exceptional writer and operator and director of some of the finest acoustic music camps in the U.S. — delivered an enthusiastic response when we asked her to sit down with Adam Hurt for this interview. A recent musical collaborator of Adam's, earlier this year they released a widely acclaimed duet album titled "Inside Out."
    ...
    by Published on Apr-26-2016 2:45pm  Views: 18959 
    Article Preview


    When it comes to all things banjo, Bill Evans is the consummate triple threat. The guy plays, teaches, and is a historian of the banjo. He continues to maintain a busy touring schedule these days with the likes of such luminaries as flatpicking legend Dan Crary and banjo master Alan Munde. And in addition to his frequent workshop teaching gigs across the country as well as giving private lessons (not to mention being the bluegrass banjo instructor for Peghead Nation), Bill literally wrote the book for budding new banjo players wondering how to unsort it all: his immensely popular Banjo for Dummies, followed by the equally well-acclaimed Bluegrass Banjo for Dummies. As an ambassador of the banjo, few people are equal to Bill Evans.
    ...
    by Published on Apr-19-2016 1:00pm  Views: 38986 
    Article Preview

    It wasn't hard to locate banjo players among the singer/songwriters roaming the crowded halls of the most recent Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City. Just about everywhere you looked, you'd see aspiring young musicians, often women, with an open-back banjo flung over their shoulder. But if you were hoping to hear skilled players amidst the banjo-toting crowd, that required a bit more effort to find.
    ...
    by Published on Mar-31-2016 10:30am  Views: 24727 
    Article Preview


    We Banjo 3 (left to right): Fergal Scahill, Martin Howley, David Howley, Enda Scahill

    A band with a name like We Banjo 3 was bound to catch our eye, right? But it turns out that this group based in Galway, Ireland is grabbing the attention of a lot more people than just banjo players.

    At the Irish festivals in America where they frequently headline, ask just about anyone who their favorite act is, and odds are the answer will be We Banjo 3. Whether they're playing at a festival to crowds of thousands or ...