The Glory-Beaming Banjo

This year's Lake Erie Folk Festival dedicated a whole track of its free daytime program to Ohio-centric folk music. Two workshops, presented by Columbus-based old-time musician Henry Barnes , focused exclusively on fiddle tunes from the Buckeye State.  Seeking out Ohio-based old-time tunes has been a subject near and dear to my heart, as I've attempted to identify a common fiddle tune repertoire , uncover uniquely Ohio tunes and seek out my state's most influential old-time musicians .  Barnes is much more accomplished in all of these areas, so it was exciting to meet and learn from him at the Lake Erie Folk Festival on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Thwing Center on the Case Western Reserve University campus in Cleveland.  Barnes presented three workshops during the festival:  Learn Ohio Fiddle Tunes Fiddle Bowing Exercises  Performing Ohio Fiddle Tunes (with Susie Goehring) I attended all three. However, I'll focus on the two presentations related to Ohio fiddle ...

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...