Why?
One afternoon while living in the Napa Valley, recuperating from a life in New York City working as a commercial artist and playing loud electric music in beer soaked clubs and smoky dives, I heard Ralph Stanley pick the banjo on KPFA radio and thought,
"WOW! That dude ROCKS!"
I immediately sold all things electric and focused solely on acoustic instruments; in particular the preposterous five-stringed clattering drum on a stick known as the banjo.
At first, I looked to the masters: Scruggs, Stanley, Kieth, Reno, Garcia...but I could not grasp the rhythmic complexities and precision of the style. Even more discouraging was the constant request for "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" or worse, the theme from "Deliverance," which invariably left listeners disappointed, disapproving or disturbed. So I moved my obsession with the banjo into seclusion and publicly focused on guitar, on which it was much easier to satisfy requests for "Free bird" or "Smoke on the Water."
But in quiet moments of private reflection, I found myself aimlessly and quietly strumming my banjo almost as a meditative exercise. It spoke to me in ancient tones, conjured archetypal spirits, and whispered universal truths with a sweetness not often associated with the brash showmanship of the modern five-string. And indeed, the banjo as an instrument has ancient roots.
I listened intently to the commonalities in Seleshe Damessae, Tony Ellis, Dock Boggs, Ali Farka Toure, Buell Kazee, and was moved by the haunting tones and the storytelling these tones implied. I found that these sounds and stories were in me, not of me.
This site is dedicated to my personal obsession with those tones, their healing and meditative properties as well as any possible entertainment value, and as a vain repository of my musical interests and compositions (not to mention a diversion from my day job).
I hope you enjoy.
"WOW! That dude ROCKS!"
I immediately sold all things electric and focused solely on acoustic instruments; in particular the preposterous five-stringed clattering drum on a stick known as the banjo.
At first, I looked to the masters: Scruggs, Stanley, Kieth, Reno, Garcia...but I could not grasp the rhythmic complexities and precision of the style. Even more discouraging was the constant request for "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" or worse, the theme from "Deliverance," which invariably left listeners disappointed, disapproving or disturbed. So I moved my obsession with the banjo into seclusion and publicly focused on guitar, on which it was much easier to satisfy requests for "Free bird" or "Smoke on the Water."
But in quiet moments of private reflection, I found myself aimlessly and quietly strumming my banjo almost as a meditative exercise. It spoke to me in ancient tones, conjured archetypal spirits, and whispered universal truths with a sweetness not often associated with the brash showmanship of the modern five-string. And indeed, the banjo as an instrument has ancient roots.
I listened intently to the commonalities in Seleshe Damessae, Tony Ellis, Dock Boggs, Ali Farka Toure, Buell Kazee, and was moved by the haunting tones and the storytelling these tones implied. I found that these sounds and stories were in me, not of me.
This site is dedicated to my personal obsession with those tones, their healing and meditative properties as well as any possible entertainment value, and as a vain repository of my musical interests and compositions (not to mention a diversion from my day job).
I hope you enjoy.
