The Glory-Beaming Banjo

Like last year, I am finishing 2023 on a high note. However, my playing time will fall well short of my goals this year with even fewer hours than 2022. And yet, I've been on a role since November, logging my longest streak within the year, which was only surpassed by the streak that had begun in 2022 and carried over until the end of January.  Other than not playing enough, I managed to do OK with some of my other goals this year. I'm happy to say I made it to some jams and local festivals this year, but I'd like to get into a more consistent routine of playing with others in 2024. It was a sad year for the old-time community. We lost some great people who left an indelible mark on the music and the people who knew them. Their memory will continue to live on in those whose lives they touched. Rest in peace, Kerry Blech, Robert Anderson and Bob Miller.   Got Back to Jams (A Couple, Anyway) Thinking back on 2023, I thought I went to more than just two jams. I attended a b...

Five years ago, I began a quest to study old-time musicians from Ohio and the tunes they played. I was trying to determine if there was a specific repertoire of the Buckeye State.  In a post from May 2018, I reported on a survey I conducted to find what might be considered the most  common tunes of Ohio fiddlers . I always meant to come back to this topic to discuss some of the more unique pieces that these musicians played, which could be called "Ohio tunes."  Sure, there are tunes like "Banks of the Ohio," "Camp Chase" and "Big Scioty" that specifically reference the state and its landmarks, but these compositions are often attributed to sources outside of Ohio. There also are a number of wartime songs , minstrel tunes , broadside ballads and canal songs that have their origin in the state. However, I wanted to find the more unique tunes played by the fiddlers I surveyed, with special attention paid to those pieces that specifically mention Oh...

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...

Banjos hit the silver screen last week when Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon opened in U.S. theaters. The filmmaker's latest opus features two banjos provided by the Oklahoma City-based American Banjo Museum , one of which appears in a scene with fiddler Rayna Gellert , who also put together a band to play a Hoyt Ming tune for the film.  Based on the 2017 nonfiction book by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon  stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone. The film is set in Oklahoma during the 1920s and portrays the murders of members of the Osage Nation over oil rights.  Gellert wrote about her experience working on the film in the  latest KKRG newsletter , which I recommend subscribing to for updates on performances, workshops and other fiddle-ish news (also check out Gellert's The Squealemite ).  Through a mutual connection, Gellert was contacted by the film's music supervisor Randall Poster to provide stringband music for...

The old-time music community lost one of its biggest champions this week. Kerry Blech died on Monday, Sept. 18, in Gainesville, Florida, and left behind an incredible legacy of musicianship, scholarship and fellowship. Kerry left a lasting impact on those who knew him. Upon learning of his passing, I started to see remembrances of him on Facebook from the likes of Alice Gerrard, Chuck Levy, and many others. I never never met Kerry in person, but even still he had a huge impact on my journey into old-time music.  On the advice of Old-Time Herald editor Sarah Bryan, I began emailing Kerry in January 2018 in my quest to learn more about Ohio's old-time music history  and the Kent State Folk Festival . Not only did he respond, but he provided me with a wealth of information and photos to help me in my research. He also connected with me others to reach out to learn more.  He was an encyclopedia of old-time music knowledge, and he was so generous with his time and willing to ...