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Friday, September 15, 2023

It's Time to Rethink the Banjo (feat. Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn)

The banjo was, at one time, the most popular instrument in America, with tens of thousands manufactured and sold between 1910 and 1930. Nahre talks to Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn to discover the origins of the banjo as an African and Middle Eastern instrument. 

Nahre travels to Nashville to learn how to play the banjo from some of the greatest banjo players in the world. Béla and Abigail show us what makes their banjo playing unique, and they also let Nahre play one of the world's largest banjos.

VIDEO HERE  (15:07 minutes)
-Steve

13 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2023 at 8:17 PM

    "The best way to win a fight is to hit them with a banjo"..Bob Pinciotti

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2023 at 8:45 PM

    Bela Fleck is a legend. Always loved his supergroup Strength in Numbers
    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWY4joomlm-o-CpFobtCCI-sax7mQW471&si=L29ZAUT-RdWBVeLr

    ReplyDelete
  3. MikeySeptember 15, 2023 at 9:52 PM

    Hard to bring up banjo without mentioning Ellen Haygood (formerly Petersen) of The Petersens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GQYtBaI7bU&t=119s. I know these folks and they are something else.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2023 at 12:25 AM

    I like Steve Martin playing.....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bobo the HoboSeptember 16, 2023 at 4:07 AM

    You ain’t heard the Star Spangled Banner until you hear Bella’s rendition. I love his music! https://youtu.be/R7O8meqcXa0?si=auRHbJw07eaJp7of

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2023 at 7:37 AM

    I'm more of a Dobro kinda guy I enjoy hearing a good banjo occasionally
    JD

    ReplyDelete
  7. scramgravyaintwavySeptember 16, 2023 at 10:00 AM

    Great video. David Bromberg play a mean banjo and John Hartford, RIP, would put a sound pickup under a sheet of plywood, sprinkle a lot of salt on top of the plywood then he would shuffle and tap dance while he sang and played banjo. He was a genius.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2023 at 5:54 PM

    It's hard to top Bela Fleck and Chick Corea's "Enchantment" album. It was top notch. Check out the "Throw down your heart" documentary about Bela and the banjo roots. Never seen anyone play like that guy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bob W.September 16, 2023 at 10:39 PM

    Listen to Bela Fleck and the Flectones Live at the Quick. Amazing group of musicians.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2023 at 8:33 AM

    Unfortunately, the movie "deliverance" kinda gave banjo players some negative publicity...
    CC

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2023 at 8:46 AM

    A boy, who played banjo did the chords while Redden picked.
    What gave banjos a bad name was, "I bet you can squeal like a pig."
    Starker was here.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ABESeptember 18, 2023 at 5:25 PM

    I was really in to Bela Fleck 20+ years ago. I kinda moved away from him since.

    ReplyDelete

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