Here’s some better news from the 2015 Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax. It’s a video produced from a banjo seminar held during the festival week this year at the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts in Galax.
Moderated by Jeremy Stephens, and including contributions from Ivy Sheppard, Bobby Lundy, Kirk Sutphin, and Stevie Barr, the presentation covers the contributions of a number of historically notable banjo pickers in both old time and bluegrass music in the Appalachian region. Clawhammer, two-finger, and three-finger playing is demonstrated in turn.
Among the stylists who are analyzed are Ted Lundy, Fred Cockeram, Bill Birchfield, Clarence Marshall, Reed Rakes, Earl Scruggs, and others.
The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities provided funding for both the original presentation, and for this one hour documentary which also includes brief interviews with each of the presenters. It provides an excellent overview on the styles of banjo that have been prominent in the Virginia/Carolina area over the past 100 years.
The video was produced by Rebecca Jones of Cedar Springs Productions.
