The Glory-Beaming Banjo

More banjo duets have arrived. Mark Olitsky and Cary Moskovitz have released  Pretty Little Cats: Duets Two , available now to download via Bandcamp with CDs expected to ship by Feb. 20. As foreshadowed in November , the duo has returned with the follow-up to their much-loved 2017 album, Duets .  Like its predecessor, Pretty Little Cats features 17 tracks highlighting the interweaving harmonies of Olitsky's bassy clawhammer and Moskovitz's sparkling plectrum banjo playing. Once again, Olitsky is armed with his 13-inch homemade grain-measure five-string banjo, while Moskovitz plays rotating arsenal of 1920s four-string banjos.  Some of my favorite moments on the new album are when Olitsky and Moskovitz seem to leap out of the gates matching each other note for note on the melody, and then suddenly their playing veers off and dances around one another, weaving in and out as they each take turns leading, always driving forward. The interplay between their seemingly dispar...

Another album of banjo duets is coming from Mark Olitsky and Cary Moskovitz. You may remember in 2017 that I  reviewed their first album , aptly titled  Duets . Moskovitz was in Northeast Ohio last week to record another batch of tunes with Olitsky, and while he was in town the duo performed at a couple of house concerts. One of which just happened to be less than a mile from my home.  It was a pleasure to see (and obviously, hear ) Olitsky and Moskovitz play live. Olitsky played a 13-inch grain measure-style banjo that he built, and which Moskovitz said was the impetus for the first album. Having heard Olitsky play his as-then-unfinished banjo at Clifftop, Moskovitz joined him with his four-string plectrum banjo. The rest is history.  While Olitsky's banjo provided the bottom end of duo's sound, Moskovitz played the bright melodies on a pair of plectrum banjos, a Bacon (I believe the 1922 Orchestra A that he played on the first album) and what I believe was a vintag...

Greetings, glorious readers! It's time for a quick update of my February five-string flings. Since my last update, I had two wonderful opportunities to play old-time music with friends.  First was a house jam to celebrate the birthday of Stephen Rapp , a regular player in Paul Kirk's Old-Time Tune of the Week videos. The festivities included a great gathering of Northeast Ohio musicians. I mostly played banjo. The group played a couple Ward Jarvis tunes for which I pulled out my fiddle, but I was too rusty to play along, so I went back the five-string.  Next was the 7th annual Lake Erie Folk Festival in Euclid, Ohio. I sat in on two organized community jams with an impromptu jam in the hallway in between the orchestra-sized sessions. I played banjo for the first couple hours and then switched to fiddle.  In addition, I finished work on "Hawks & Eagles" from Michael Ismerio's All-Access Online Fiddle Course and moved on to "Sally Ann." Because of s...

If you're a subscriber to The Old-Time Herald -- and if you read this blog, you should be -- you may have been wondering where your magazine has been these last nine months. The quarterly magazine published it's last issue in January 2020. The next issue would have been the annual Festival & Camp Guide in March, but then the COVID-19 pandemic dashed those plans.  Ad revenue dried up. Production came to a halt. In the meantime, however, the publication team redirected funds and efforts to revamp the OTH website. Unveiled this month, the new oldtimeherald.org has undergone a major makeover, replete with a new digital edition of the magazine, robust content and access to PDF downloads of past issues.  Editor Sarah Bryan sent a message to current subscribers on Dec. 7 explaining the delay in printing and unveiling the revamped website. But most of all, she wanted to let readers know that the magazine is still in business.  "When the pandemic struck early this year, we had...

Thirty-seven years ago, before the pandemic, the September 2018 issue of The Old-Time Herald (Vol. 14, No. 10) featured an illustrated story about Dick Justice by Taylor W. Rushing . That led me to follow him and his illustration company Not Bad Illustration on Instagram.  Rushing shares his various art projects, such as wood carvings and drawings, as well as items for sale, such as tote bags, T-shirts and stickers. As Rushing is also involved in the old-time music community, some of his art reflects this interest. He recently posted about a new fiddle-related sticker available through his online store .  I couldn't resist. For $4, including shipping and handling, I quickly received this awesome "Old-Time Fiddling" sticker. This is a perfect case sticker.  The quality is superb, as the sticker is thick and adheres well. If you're in the market for a new case sticker, I highly recommend Rushing's offerings. He has a number of other designs you might be interested...

This is not a new book, but I finally read it during this pandemic. Originally published in 2010 by the University of Illinois Press , Ray Allen's Gone to the Country: The New Lost City Ramblers & The Folk Music Revival is a biography that looks at the history of the band and its impact on the folk revival period and continuing legacy through an academic lens. Allen paints a portrait of a band that rode the wave of the commercial folk revival of the 1950s and '60s and weathered the storms of scant financial gains, public perception and personal conflicts to leave a lasting legacy that has influenced legions of old-time musicians since their inception in 1958. John Cohen, Tom Paley and Mike Seeger — the original lineup of the band — first played together on a radio show in Washington, D.C., in May 1958. After that performance, Cohen took the initiative and spoke to Folkways Records founder Moe Asch about making a recording and then to Izzy Young of the Folklore Center...

Jake Blount's Spider Tales has come at the perfect time. Exploring historical black string band music and its antecedents and performed by mostly queer musicians, Blount's latest full-length album on Free Dirt Records is an expression of the zeitgeist amid the mass protests in response to George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police, systemic racism and aggression toward the LGBTQ+ community, and the continued fight for equal rights in the United States. As a gay black man playing traditional banjo and fiddle music, Blount uses his music and voice to bring recognition to the role of people of color, queer people and other marginalized communities in American roots music. In the liner notes to Spider Tales , Blount explains that the album title stems from "Anansesem," the stories of Anansi the Spider, a figure in the folklore and religion of the Akan people of West Africa, who was known for "his wit and wisdom — and his aptitude for weaponizing them a...

While I haven't been inside a record store in I don't know how long now, I haven't let the coronavirus pandemic stop me from getting new records. On May 29, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released a new album of previously unreleased live recordings of Doc Watson and his father-in-law Gaither Carlton ( SFW40235 ). The track list was compiled from two of Watson's earliest concerts in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1962. The album is available in LP, CD and digital formats. I had pre-ordered the vinyl in April, and it arrived on June 1. This is the second time I've pre-ordered something from Smithsonian Folkways, and I've been pleased with how quickly the item arrives. The audio quality on the album is excellent. Watson was in his prime, and Carlton adds understated and exquisite accompaniment. On this album, we get a taste of Watson's banjo playing and autoharp, in addition to his legendary guitar picking and singing. Carlton also plays ba...

Local old-time sessions have been canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and I suspect festivals will start feeling the effects soon as we move toward summer. For instance, organizers have recently announced that the John Hartford Memorial Festival  has been postponed until September. My local festivals don't start rolling along until July, so hopefully they'll still be able to continue. Chances are I won't be hauling my banjo anywhere soon. However, I did get chance the last two months to test my new Boulder Alpine gig bag . I lugged my banjo to the Lake Erie Folk Festival in February and to a local jam at the beginning of March before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine closed local businesses and issued a stay-at-home order. Now, the only place I take my banjo is to my front porch. And I don't need a gig bag for that. In my two experiences using it, however, I was very pleased with the results. The Boulder Alpine gig bag is lightweight and comfortable to carry. There are a se...

There are moments when watching Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves perform that you'll be grooving to the music, and then all of a sudden you stop. No warning. Your foot stops tapping. Your head stops bobbing. Your mouth stops ... being closed. These are the moments when the duo leaves you slackjawed by their brilliance and mastery of the five-string fiddle and five-string banjo. I experienced several of these moments last night at the historic G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula, Ohio, nestled within the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Northeast Ohio, where de Groot and Hargreaves put on a mesmerizing two-hour concert on a frosty, winter evening. De Groot and Hargreaves played two hour-long sets, with a brief intermission and an encore, playing through a good chunk of their 2019 debut album , as well as a number of tunes they had recently composed and arranged during a creative residency program sponsored by the Peninsula Foundation , which organized the concert as part of its V...

Prior to his death in August 2009, Mike Seeger had been working on a documentary project, recording banjo players throughout North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee. He became ill before he could finish the project. Ten years later, Seeger's final work is at last seeing the light of day. Released in September by Smithsonian Folkways, Just Around the Bend: Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds — Mike Seeger's Last Documentary includes a 110-minute DVD, two CDs and an 80-page booklet. The documentary was directed by Yasha Aginsky, who accompanied Seeger on the project. The CDs were compiled by Bob Carlin and include 19 banjo players that Seeger interviewed and recorded during the summer of 2009. Seeger sought to document different banjo styles, including variations of clawhammer and up-picking. He also chose players with a wide range of experience and age. Seeger also aimed to represent women and African American banjo players, th...

This review has been a long time coming. Lew Stern contacted me in March regarding his latest book, Tommy Thompson: New-Timey String Band Musician . Some of you may recall Stern's biography of Dwight Diller , which we wrote about in 2016. His latest book brings a similar approach to Thompson's life and banjo playing. Published in March by McFarland, the 247-page biography provides an in-depth look at Thompson's life, his roll in establishing the old-time music scene in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the evolution of his banjo playing from starting on a Pete Seeger-style long-neck banjo to playing with the Hollow Rock String Band, Red Clay Ramblers and beyond. Stern conducted detailed research and consulted with a host of musicians who knew Thompson and played music with him, providing a thorough profile of Thompson and his peers from his school years until his untimely death in 2003. There is also a companion book of banjo tabs, titled "He Could Surely Make a...

When I pre-ordered my copy of the Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves self-titled debut album from Free Dirt Records, I also ordered the seven-inch single from Anna & Elizabeth featuring their take on the traditional songs “Hop High” and “Here in the Vineyard.”  The two tracks were released in 2017 and serve as a kind of proving ground for the experimental approach to traditional music the duo would present on the their 2018 full-length, The Invisible Comes to Us , released on Smithsonian Folkways. GBB reviewed that album in May last year .  With the help of producers Alec Spiegelman and Benjamin Lazar Davis (who are members of avant-pop outfit Cuddle Magic), Anna & Elizabeth re-imagine “Hop High” and “Here in the Vineyard” employing their ethereal aesthetics, with haunting and delicate harmonies surrounded by unexpected instruments like pump organ, woodwinds, strings and electronics, as well as banjo tunings that were reportedly inspired by the Indones...

The debut self-titled album by Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves is the most exciting new old-time album I’ve heard in years. The duo represents the modern generation of tradition bearers, but they don’t shy away from making the the music their own. In keeping with a modern outlook, they also overtly declare their aims to be more inclusive and recognize the contributions from minority populations to the old-time music community. In the liner notes, they include a mission statement of sorts: “As two musicians who have come from outside of the cultural and geographic communities this music originated in, we are so appreciative of those who have welcomed us and shared their musical and cultural knowledge. We would like to thank all of the musicians who came before us, especially those who never received the credit they deserved: the Indigenous, Black, Queer and female musicians who weren’t always visible but kept, and still keep the music moving forward.” As such, almost hal...

The Highwoods Stringband have been revived in a brilliant new documentary film produced by Larry Edelman. Featuring narration from Paul Brown, extensive interviews and plenty of archival footage of the Highwoods in action, Dance All Night — The Highwoods Stringband Story gives a straightforward account of the band's history and their influence on the old-time scene then and now. In addition to interviews with bandmembers Walt Koken, Bob Potts, Mac Benford, Jenny Cleland and Doug Dorchug, the film includes commentary from a number of other notable musicians, such as John Cohen, Richie Stearns, Sammy Lind and others. The film chronicles how the Highwoods got together, their extensive festival performances, their discography and diverts into amusing tales from the road, such as the time one member hitched a ride with the New Jersey State Highway Police after being left behind at a rest stop. Produced by Piggysnout Productions and Mudthumper Music , the idea for the documentary ...

The next issue of The Old-Time Herald will be on its way soon. As you may recall, I recently  started writing reviews for the magazine. My latest effort features the Paul Brown CD/DVD set released by The Old-Time Tiki Parlour earlier this year. The set features Brown on banjo and fiddle, presenting 16 songs and tunes that were culled from a wide variety of sources and influences. Brown learned at the foot of the most revered masters of old-time music and has become a master in his own right. This set is similar to the Dan Gellert set I wrote about a few years ago. The DVD provides video of the tunes that appear on the CD, allowing you to see how Brown is getting the notes. The booklet provides source and tuning information. To get my full opinion on this set, make sure you subscribe to The Old-Time Herald . You can also get updates from the magazine on Twitter by following @OldTimeHerald . Meanwhile, The Old-Time Tiki Parlour has released another album that features B...

Earlier this year, Archeophone Records released what may be the earliest known banjo recordings in existence. The archival specialty music label restored four songs by minstrel-era musician Charles A. Asbury, who was originally recorded in the 1890s on wax cylinders. The result is a 45-rpm, 7-inch vinyl record, titled 4 Banjo Songs, 1891-1897 . The songs presented are "Haul the Woodpile Down," "Never Done Anything Since," "New Coon in Town" and "Keep in de Middle ob de Road." Judging by those last two track titles, it may already be apparent that there are some racially offensive lyrics on this album. These were typical of blackface minstrelsy, which began in about the 1830s and rose to international fame. Asbury is an interesting case, as his race is somewhat disputed. The Archeophone release highlights this mystery in the 16-page color booklet included with the album. The packaging is especially handsome, worthy of the historical significan...

Two banjoists took center stage Friday night at the historic G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula, Ohio. They were angled toward each other, although this was no dueling banjos, but rather DUETING banjos. Mark Olitsky and Cary Moskovitz presented music from their 2017 album, Duets , to a packed crowd, seated at tables inside the 167-year-old building . Olitsky & Moskovitz paired their seemingly disparate styles with equally contrasting instruments through dazzling interplay of melody, rhythm and harmony. Their playing intertwined and darted off in magical ways throughout the night. Moments when the sound of the two banjos landed upon unison notes, before twisting off again, were especially exciting. A handful of standouts for the evening were their presentation of “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom,” “Falls of Richmond” and “Farewell Trion.” The G.A.R. Hall’s pristine acoustics were a perfect complement to the banjo duo.  Each appeared to be playing two banjos. Olitsky provided...

Warning: The music on this album may take you by surprise. Don’t panic. Anna & Elizabeth will guide you on the journey. The Invisible Comes to Us opens with the duo of Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle singing “Jeano” unaccompanied in an echo chamber. As the song moves on, their voices are joined by synthesizers and the sound of chirping birds on a loop. You might think, maybe this is an aberration, as the electronic aural environment falls away and it’s just the voice and guitar of “Black Eyed Susan.” But once again, the plunges into a strange ethereal soundscape. By the time you get to the end of “Irish Patriot,” you’ve been led into a sonic maze built on layers of keyboards, Moog bass, vocoder, mellotron, pump organ and added sound samples from field recordings. Anna & Elizabeth built  their reputation on haunting harmonies and illustrating their music and stories with “ crankies ,” an old storytelling art form where drawings on long scrolls and spools...