Early American Idol

Comment by Carl Anderton on July 14, 2009 at 5:29pm

I think he's using nylgut on this performance.

Comment by Steven Hedgpeth on July 16, 2009 at 11:41am

I am reminded--for several reasons--of a passage that struck me in Ray Alden's article, "Trends in Old-Time Five-String Banjo Playing, Part I" in the current edition of The Old-Time Herald (11.11 June-July 2009, 10-18):
"Along with the banjo came the main style in which it was played, the so-called down-stroke style In fact, one trend in old-time banjo is to play this style using replicas of minstrel banjos, by musicians who learned from books such as Brigg's [sic] Banjo Instructor, Frank Converse's Banjo Instructor and Buckley's Complete New Banjo Method. Current banjo players who use the [so-called?] down-stroke style such as Joe Ayers, Clarke Buehling, Greg Adams, Bill Gay, Bob Winans, Bob Flesher, Carl Anderton and Timothy Twiss have either issued recordings or can be heard at events such as the Early Banjo Gathering in Sharpsburg, Maryland. If you were to hear this style, it would certainly be apparent that the Southern mountain clawhammer style developed from the [so-called?] down-stroke style, most likely from a combination of musicians who heard the banjo at minstrel shows and those having direct contact with the [so-called?] music of [so-called?] African-Americans."

Is that Elvis Presley, by the way?

Comment by Tim Twiss on July 16, 2009 at 12:14pm

That's Cool Cremona

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