The Glory-Beaming Banjo

Here are a couple vinyl pickups from October that I forgot to post. While digging through the stacks at my local shop, where I've been surprisingly lucky to find decent old-time records over the years , I was shocked to find these two albums. It's not like old-time records are a big seller at this shop, but every so often I find one or two LPs to add to the collection. I couldn't pass these up. The first was a record I've been searching for for a long time, featuring one of my early old-time gateways . Lo and behold! The Iron Mountain String Band, Walkin' in the Parlor , released in 1975 on Folkways Records. Their version of "Sugar Hill," which I first heard on the wonderful compilation Classic Old-Time Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings , put a charge in me that helped put me on the musical path I'm on today. This album also features "Down in the Willow Garden," which I've been learning to play and sing on banjo. This i...

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...