Terry McBride, Steve Bonta, and Tony Bonta play banjos and talk about banjo playing
Here’s what they play:
- Blackberry Blossom
- Come Together
- Salt River (with Steve playing clawhammer style)
- Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
- Foggy Mountain Breakdown
- Spiderman theme song
- Salty Dog
And here are a few links:
- Tony’s page on Banjo Hangout
- Terry’s page on Banjo Hangout
- Steve’s page on Banjo Hangout
- The Hillbilly Gypsies
- Hillbilly Gypsies on YouTube
- Mike Munford
Theme music: “Le grand sequoia,” by Innvivo (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike licence)
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I love your point that writers have a lot to learn from musicians — the way they collaborate, e.g. (I always think there ought to be more creative collaboration.) I’m listening to the podcast now, with Drew, who’s just finished a midafternoon snack, and we’re both digging it a lot.
Listening to this now, I’m struck by how much a group of banjos played in concert sounds like hammered dulcimer to me.
By the way, if you haven’t heard Throw Down Your Heart, Bela Fleck’s banjo album recorded with some of West Africa’s finest musicians, you really should.
Yeah, I need to see if the Penn State library has it. Tony was talking it up, too.
I think you have a point about the resemblance to a hammered dulcimer.
As always, really loving your photos (from the last few days). And thanks for posting this banjo jam. It turned me on to the Hillbilly Gypsies, which turned me on to the song Pretty Polly, which turned me on to Uncle Sinner, whose version of Pretty Polly is creepy as hell and When Jesus Comes is also great.
Glad you made those connections. “Pretty Polly” is a great ballad, no doubt about it. I’m kind of partial to the Dock Boggs version, but this kid who calls himself Uncle Sinner is a good find — thanks. I really like that style of playing and singing.