Monday, August 2, 2010

Banjo versus TV week 119: Getting Sirius

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 6/6/2010 through 6/12/2010.
Banjo 689 hrs, TV 677 hours

After letting it sit on a shelf for some time I've gotten back to listening to my Sirius radio.

I've got an older model Sportster Replay (with car kit) and a Sirius Replay Boombox.



The Replay can pause during playback, which is a great feature for playing along.

My favorite channels:

I'm finding myself listening mostly to B.B. King's Bluesville. There's not much banjo there but I did hear a gem from Catherine Russell. She covered Howlin’ Wolf’s Spoonful, arranging it for banjo, drums and tuba. It's got a jazzy sort of sound but, to my ear, the banjo player is finger picking a la bluegrass rather than strumming like a 4-string jazz banjo player.

This song is on Catherine Russell's album Inside This Heart of Mine...

Catherine Russell - Inside This Heart of Mine

...which is reviewed here and which is now going on my Amazon wish list.




 


Also in the last week:

Check out this handy pencil holder that Deniece uses on her music stand.



Wish I knew where she got it.

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