I rolled into the drive at home last night at about 8:30 after a 6 hour drive back from the Midwest Banjo Camp in Olivet Michigan. Banjo camp is so much fun and such a great learning experience. It’s also a chance to meet loads… Read More
Thursday morning, I’m off to Olivet Michigan to attend the Midwest Banjo Camp. Olivet is just short of a 6 hour drive from Toronto (maybe a bit longer for slow-pokes like me who stop and stretch at just about every rest area). The camp is… Read More
I first heard Black Mountain Rag as played by Doc Watson, so I think of it as a flat-picking guitar showpiece kind of tune. Doc really moves on this one. Before that it was known primarily as a fiddle tune. Here’s Patti Kusturok’s take… Read More
Check out Patti Kusturok’s 365 days of fiddle tunes on YouTube. She’s from Manitoba and she’s one of the best fiddle players anywhere. This is an incredibly generous resource for fiddle lovers. I’ll share some samples from her 365 days here, but go visit her… Read More
My brother the trout was telling me that there are people who crawl around the woods looking for enough wild ginseng to sell commercially. Apparently there is quite a market for the stuff. Who knew? Not me. Here’s Meredith Axelrod performing Ginseng Blues…this one’s going… Read More
Here’s some wonderful Ramona Jones fiddling for a Sunday morning. It’s called Chinquapin on Crooked Stovepipe. Is chinquapin a word in your vocabulary? I only know it from old time music. I think a chinquapin is another word for a chestnut. Is that how you… Read More
In a rare Toronto appearance, Bob Carlin played a great show at the Dakota Tavern tonight with our own Lonesome Ace Stringband. Bob is a master clawhammer banjo player. I’ve previously met him and taken some of his workshops at Midwest Banjo Camp. He learned… Read More
Ever get one of those nagging earworms, tunes that stick in your head and never want to leave? I’ve been playing Big John McNeil quite a bit on the banjo and it’s been rolling around my little brain since yesterday afternoon. Big John McNeil is… Read More
Rock Salt & Nails was written by the late great U. Utah Phillips, the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest. It’s a seriously haunting song. Here are a few different versions…. Let’s start with The Local Honeys. Joe Ely… John Martyn…
Here are Joe Newberry and Brad Leftwich performing Backstep Cindy. I was at this concert. This performance was at one of the two faculty concerts at the 2016 Midwest Banjo Camp. MBC is quite an event. Banjo freaks abound, along with various fiddle players, guitar… Read More
27th Street 