I thought tonight I would feature Joe Newberry here on 27th Street. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Newberry at the Midwest Banjo Camp. I took one of his classes, all about a maneuver called the Galax Lick, along with its applications.

Joe Newberry is a fine teacher. There were perhaps 15-18 people in the class and in the first 5 minutes he learned everyone’s name. “I hate teaching from a name tag”, he said. He teaches by ear. He demonstrates it, talks about it, demonstrates it, talks and demonstrates some more and then he plays it and you play it and he plays it and you play it and again, and he walks the class and if anyone isn’t getting it, he plays it close up and you play it. In less than an hours and a half I had learned a technique and it’s application in a tune, which I also learned. Great teaching. “Watch mother”, he’d say, “watch mother”. It was impressive.

Mr. Newberry is a fine player too, on banjo and on guitar. Here’s one of his performances I found on the YouTube machine – Rocky Island.