The Glory-Beaming Banjo

Give Me the Banjo , an 82-minute TV documentary resulting from The Banjo Project , will air at 9 p.m. eastern, Friday, Nov. 4 on PBS. The program is narrated by Steve Martin and features a musical score by three-finger player Tony Trischka. Culling its name from the very same Mark Twain passage that this blog takes its title,  Give Me the Banjo  details the history of America's quintessential musical instrument. The film includes commentary from such banjo luminaries as Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, Mike Seeger, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ralph Stanley, Abigail Washburn, and many more. Check out the trailer: The Banjo Project is producing a DVD that will include many scenes that were omitted from the PBS program. These extra scenes are also available at the project's website. Glory-Beaming Banjo will have its DVR set to record and report back with a review.  Square Dance Tonight in Euclid, Ohio In other news, Mark Olitsky will be playing for a square d...

Squeezed tightly into the G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula, Ohio, on a Thursday evening, a crowd of more than 140 people sang and swayed along to the music of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason , backed by their family band of Ruthy Ungar Merenda and Mike Merenda (formerly of the Mammals ). The sold out event  on Sept. 29 was billed as "Music of the Civil War and Beyond," and featured a variety of fiddle tunes, stringband music, ballads, marches, folk songs and original music. The quartet kickstarted the evening with a rendition of "Fly Around My Little Miss," with Jay and Ruthy on fiddle, Molly and guitar, and Mike on banjo. The rollicking dance tune got the audience grooving in their seats. If it weren't for all the chairs, an impromptu square dance would have broken out for sure. Jay Ungar and Molly Mason (center), with Mike and Ruthy Merenda at the G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula, Ohio, Sept. 29. After the crowd broke out into song during Stephen Fosters "Hard Time...

The 45th annual Kent State Folk Festival kicks off tonight with a performance by the Carolina Chocolate Drops and will wrap up Sunday with a concert by Peter Yarrow, of the legendary folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. The real fun will be Friday's Folk Alley 'Round Town , with free performances by a variety of musical acts around downtown Kent, Ohio, and the free community workshops Saturday at the KSU Student Center. The 'Round Town and workshops will provide a number of opportunities for enthusiasts of old-time music and the banjo to watch, listen, and play. On Friday, you can participate in the Kent Shindig old-time jam from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Europe Gyro. This is the group your host regularly jams with every first Sunday of the month. They're a welcoming group, so don't be shy. From 7 to 9 p.m., you can swing over to Woodsy's Music to catch Brady's Run, a local string band that includes Lynn Frederick and Sue Goehring. Also of interest are the Mayfie...

It's been more than three weeks since the last post here at Glory-Beaming Banjo. Clearly, we're in need of some updates. Here's what we've been up to: As for some local news, the GBB team attended the Raccoon County Music Festival , in Burton, Ohio, for the first time. Master banjo-smith Doug Unger presented a workshop and performance, which was a real treat, as these hands finally got a chance to hold one of his amazing instruments, sealing the desire to one day own one. Earlier this month, an article about Riley Baugus , written by yours truly, was sent off to Dan Levenson for an upcoming edition of The Old-Time Way in the Banjo Newsletter . We mentioned Craig "Frailin" Evans' documentary project , Conversations With North American Banjo Builders, back in June. Volume 1, a three-disc set that features builders from east of the Mississippi River (plus one in Texas), is now available for purchase at the project's website . You can also view a ...

Playing old-time banjo, a lot of the repertoire is fiddle tunes. There's a discussion going on now on the Banjo Hangout about just what's so great about fiddle tunes anyhow? Here is the winning response: What exactly is a fiddle tune? A fiddle tune is a melody that once you hear it, you can't seem to get it out of your head until you can grab your banjo and learn it yourself. A fiddle tune is a living cord connecting us back to long ago generations, to feel deep in ourselves just a fragment of feeling transmitted from across the ages by some plain common folk, our ancestors otherwise long forgotten. A fiddle tune is a kind of tune that has a lot of music concentrated in just a little bit of space, and in that respect it is to notes what poetry is to words. A good fiddle tune you can play for a very long time and not get tired of it. A good fiddle tune is a tune that you can never quite play the same way twice, even when you want to. A good fiddle tune will bring two or m...