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, though the documentary and CDs are still dominated by white males. It's impossible to tell if that ratio would have been different had Seeger lived longer.
Among the more notable inclusions are Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. It's interesting to see them from the vantage of a decade later. At the time of their interview, they were still up-and-comers. It would be another year and a half before they would win a Grammy for their 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig. Giddens has since become the closest thing that the banjo community has to a superstar, winning a MacArthur Fellowship and the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo (as if those two things are comparable), as well as a number of Grammy nominations for her work as a solo artist and other accolades.
Just Around the Bend includes a couple bonafide banjo legends, such as Riley Baugus, Frank George and George Gibson. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the documentary and field recordings is the attention Seeger gave to younger players. People like Tina Steffey, Marsha Bowman Todd, John Haywood, Clifton Hicks, Brett Ratliff and Jesse Wells represent the next generation of banjo luminaries. It's as if Seeger is showing that the torch is being passed on, allowing these various banjo styles to carry on into the future.
The overall package provides a wealth of information. The documentary footage may have started as Seeger's effort to record these myriad banjo players, but it became a loving portrait of a man who was a champion of the banjo and folk music in the United States. The CDs don't sound like field recordings. The audio quality is sharp and clean, seeming to indicate a much higher fidelity than you would find on other field recordings. The booklet provides plenty of biographical information on all those included in the project, as well as other notes on the project.
My only gripe is with the slip-in housing of the three disks. While the packaging is attractive, all three of my disks came with scratches from how they are held in the cardboard sleeve. The scratches, which I tried to show in the photo, don't affect play, but it could have been prevented.
You can purchase Just Around the Bend at the Smithsonian Folkways website for $35.98. The DVD/CD set is a worthy addition to any banjo and old-time music fan's collection.
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, though the documentary and CDs are still dominated by white males. It's impossible to tell if that ratio would have been different had Seeger lived longer.
Among the more notable inclusions are Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. It's interesting to see them from the vantage of a decade later. At the time of their interview, they were still up-and-comers. It would be another year and a half before they would win a Grammy for their 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig. Giddens has since become the closest thing that the banjo community has to a superstar, winning a MacArthur Fellowship and the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo (as if those two things are comparable), as well as a number of Grammy nominations for her work as a solo artist and other accolades.Just Around the Bend includes a couple bonafide banjo legends, such as Riley Baugus, Frank George and George Gibson. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the documentary and field recordings is the attention Seeger gave to younger players. People like Tina Steffey, Marsha Bowman Todd, John Haywood, Clifton Hicks, Brett Ratliff and Jesse Wells represent the next generation of banjo luminaries. It's as if Seeger is showing that the torch is being passed on, allowing these various banjo styles to carry on into the future.
The overall package provides a wealth of information. The documentary footage may have started as Seeger's effort to record these myriad banjo players, but it became a loving portrait of a man who was a champion of the banjo and folk music in the United States. The CDs don't sound like field recordings. The audio quality is sharp and clean, seeming to indicate a much higher fidelity than you would find on other field recordings. The booklet provides plenty of biographical information on all those included in the project, as well as other notes on the project.
You can purchase Just Around the Bend at the Smithsonian Folkways website for $35.98. The DVD/CD set is a worthy addition to any banjo and old-time music fan's collection.
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