Fretless banjo master Adam Hurt has released a video this week for one of the tunes on his upcoming album, Back to the Earth.
The theme of the album is Adam’s celebration of the gourd banjo, played in a clawhammer style, and accompanied by some of the leading lights in contemporary old time music. The tunes selected include both classic numbers that have lasted for generations, alongside newer compositions, all selected for the beauty on these special banjos.
In the video, we see Hurt in the studio recording the track for the new project, with Brittany Haas on fiddle, Jordan Tice on guitar, and Paul Kowert on bass, all members of the instrumental string band, Hawktail. They are playing a tune called The Raven’s Rock, written by Cillian Vallely, piper with Celtic folk group, Lúnasa.
Tristan Scroggins shot the video at Sound Emporium in Nashville during tracking for Back to the Earth, with Dave Sinko at the board.
Adam also has a concert/discussion set for tomorrow, October 31. You can spend your Halloween afternoon enjoying an intimate banjo salon with Hurt where he will both play tunes from the upcoming record and his previous board banjo project, Earth Tones, from 2010. He will talk about the various tunes, and the idea of a gourd banjo, which is believed to bear a close relationship to the earliest banjo made in this country by enslaved Africans.
Tickets are only $20, and for $35 you get a ticket for the Gourd Banjo Salon, and an autographed copy of Back to the Earth. Tickets must be purchased in advance today for this online event, but you can watch it anytime if you aren’t free from 2:00-3:00 p.m. tomorrow.
Back to the Earth is scheduled for a November 13 release, with pre-orders for both CDs and downloads enabled online.
