Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Banjo versus TV week 110: Watching some banjo-related DVDs

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 4/4/2010 through 4/10/2010.
Banjo 652 hrs, TV 647 hours

The redhead and I watched a couple of banjo-related DVDs this week.

First up was Throw Down Your Heart, a DVD I'd picked up when I saw Béla Fleck - The Africa Project the other week. It's a terrific DVD and I highly recommend it.

I'm not sure why, but we began to obsess over the banjos that Béla brought with him to Africa. After snapping some screen shots...

...and zooming in we determined that he used a Gibson has his main banjo and a Deering as a backup banjo. Béla's Gibson is described on his site and in a Banjo Hangout discussion. The Deering banjo he took on his Africa tour is a Tenbrooks Saratoga Star.

Our second banjo-related DVD was Bluegrass Country Soul, a documentary about Carlton Haney's Labor Day Weekend Bluegrass Music Festival near Reidsville, North Carolina in 1971. Man, was there a great line-up at that festival, including:

  • Earl Scruggs
  • Ralph Stanley
  • Jimmy Martin
  • The Osborne Brothers
  • Roy Acuff
  • Chubby Wise
  • The Lilly Brothers
  • The Country Gentlemen
  • Del McCoury
  • Mac Wiseman
  • The Bluegrass Alliance

An amazing DVD.


Also in the last week:

  • Most of the recordings of Midwest Banjo Camp sessions I listened to this week were from Danny Barnes:
    • Good Tone and Rhythm
    • Bluegrass Without The Band
    • Taking the Banjo Into Other Idioms
  • I popped my DVD of Flatt & Scruggs TV Show - Vol. 6 into the player, picked up my banjo and played along. What fun!

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

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