Bayla Davis with her new custom Gold Tone open back banjo
Gold Tone Music Group has announced their newest endorser, and perhaps their youngest, in the person of Bayla Davis, a 17-year-old old time player from western North Carolina. In just a few years time, this talented young lady has turned heads all across the music world for her skillful playing, and her full-on embrace of traditional mountain music.
Last spring she was chosen to be featured on From The Top, a television show and podcast that highlights exceptionally talented teen musicians. For years the show focused on classical artists, but has only recently begun to showcase traditional music players like Davis and Wyatt Ellis.
Bayla says that she is delighted with her new banjo, one that was custom built for her unique stylistic preferences as a clawhammer picker who also plays bluegrass, and by having one made just for her.
“I am really excited to be endorsed by a banjo company! I actually thought only really famous instrumentalists could be endorsed, but I was really excited when some of my friends recently got endorsed, and then I got asked a couple weeks following! It really seems like the music world is beginning to take the younger generation seriously and professionally, and I am really thankful.
I’ve only ever played Gold Tone banjos, but the ones I currently have are only banjos that I have won or never picked out personally. I was invited to Titusville, Florida during my Christmas break from school to check out a custom banjo they had begun to work on for me, and to show me around the factory. I visited Mr. Justin and Mr. Wayne, who I’ve known for years at various festivals, but it was amazing to see them in their working environment, and to meet the luthiers
When I was asked what type of banjo I would be interested in, they were very surprised that I wanted something exactly like a resonator banjo (I play clawhammer, so that isn’t very common); however, I wanted an open back to promote my style and the culture of old time music.
They put together an open back Tubaphone banjo, with three rings, and very low action for a loud and bright sound. They put on an Ome armrest, and they used a gorgeous Gold Tone neck with all the frets and no scoop (usually something only resonators have). I played it for the first time with my siblings in Mr. Justin’s office, and the only thing that was changed was the string gauge sizes: I like to have different weird sizes for the strings specifically so nothing buzzes. I’ve found that clawhammer is a rougher style that can hit the strings in a certain way that promotes annoying pick noise and a ring – and the luthier was able to adjust them in minutes.
I have officially named my new baby banjo “Frankenstein,” because it is a banjo made up of many other parts of different banjos. I feel like average open back banjos are muffled and softer, but because I play more bluegrass and contemporary on clawhammer than I do old time, I wanted to be able to be heard just as loud and clear as other players, but with my own style.”
Well done Gold Tone!
Young Ms. Davis is currently absorbed in applying to music colleges, looking for the best fit for her particular interests.
Hey music schools… time to reach out to this talented artist!
We posted several times about young North Carolina banjo player Bayla Davis, particularly about her being featured on From The Top, a program that typically highlights teen classical musicians on the rise. Her recent segment was only the second time they had focused on a traditional music artist, and we thought that was worthy of notice.
Bayla performs with her two younger siblings as a member of Newfound Gap, a bluegrass/old time band who performed just recently at MerleFest.
This week, Davis shared this statement on social media, encouraging other young traditional music artists to consider applying to be part of From The Top.
“Last winter, I was chosen as a From the Top fellow. This was an amazing opportunity that allowed me to complete an online curriculum spanning 12 hours over four weeks and record a solo performance at Echo Mountain Studio and interview for From the Top’s national radio program and podcast which released this week.
I applied during the application period that allowed applicants to apply for FREE. However, if the application fee is a barrier to youth musicians applying, they can also apply for a need-based scholarship, the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.
We are learning to recognize that not all opportunities are what they seem. My siblings and I, with our parents’ support, have withdrawn from programs and showcases that say they promote youth musicians when, actually, they require significant investments of time and money, creating economic hardships to many families and inequities, with little to no benefit to the youth performer, while also interfering with our public-school education and our parents’ teaching schedules.
We have written about this before. Too often, young musicians are given the impression that if we participate in this program or this performance, it’s going to be our only opportunity. I am only sixteen, but I can tell you that I have never paid for any opportunity that actually benefited me as a musician, aside from lessons and camps, and I am so grateful for those opportunities like The Fine-Tuned Project and From the Top. We receive scholarships for the summer camps that we are able to attend. We receive scholarships for our lessons. We don’t invest in merchandise because we are young musicians having fun, we don’t pay to play, and we choose, instead, to invest in learning opportunities. Last summer, I enrolled in four free classes at Berklee. We are very privileged to have these opportunities.
I encourage any youth musician to apply. I am the second traditional musician to be accepted, but they do accept traditional musicians not only classical students.”
Good advice!
Here is her segment on From The Top, where she plays with two of her instructors, Jerry Sutton (Bryan’s dad) and Josh Goforth, and chats with the show’s hosts about her music.
Well done Miss Davis!
Next week’s episode of From The Top will include a segment on Wyatt Ellis.More on that Monday.
Back in February we reported that 16-year-old North Carolina banjo phenom, Bayla Davis, who plays with her siblings in Newfound Gap, had been chosen as a a 2023-’24 Learning and Media Lab Fellowship by From The Top, an organization that seeks to further and foster the careers of outstanding young musical artists.
What was unique about her fellowship is that From The Top typically focuses their efforts on classical musicians, but this spring, they have dedicated a special episode of their broadcast/podcast to young players in rural areas, which will include Bayla and her banjo.
The fellowship also includes a four week/12 hour online curriculum designed to prepare young artists for the life of a professional musician, like developing familiarity with the recording process, the live concert experience, and how to work with media.
A film crew came down from Boston in February to Asheville, NC, not far from her home in Leicester, to interview her for this episode, which is billed as Musicians from Rural America. Also set to be featured are violinist Benjamin Rosenthal, 16, from Damariscotta, Maine; guitarist Laurel Harned, 18, from Redlands, California; violinist Samuel Garcia, 18, from Monroe, Louisiana; and pianist/composer Adam Brachman, 17, from Fargo, North Dakota.
You can learn more about all these stellar young artists at the From The Top web site. Video profiles of Bayla and the other artists from this episode will likewise be available on the site when the episode airs.
The Musicians from Rural America episode is set to release on April 29, at which time it will be available to affiliated NPR radio stations, and as a podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many other podcast aggregators online. As it is each week, the show is co-hosted by Peter Dugan and Tessa Lark.
Bayla has also been highlighted by Woodsongs Kids, and by Béla Fleck at his annual Blue Ridge Banjo Camp.
Here’s a video of her from last year playing Fisher’s Hornpipe.
Bayla Davis, the 16 year old banjo player with North Carolina’s Newfound Gap, has been awarded a 2023-’24 Learning and Media Lab Fellowship by From The Top, an association dedicated to fostering and promoting talented young musical artists. From The Top typically focuses on classical musicians, so it’s a special treat to see them highlighting a teen traditional artist like Bayla.
A film crew visited Bayla from Boston this past weekend to film a segment for the From The Top radio program on NPR, and for videos and podcasts they distribute online. She sat for an interview and played some music which should be broadcast and available in April. The film crew also captured her out and about in Asheville, showing off some of her favorite spots in town.
Bayla has already received recognition for her primarily clawhammer banjo playing, being a two-time recipient of the IBMA Fletcher Bright Memorial Scholarship to Béla Fleck’s Blue Ridge Banjo Camp, where she was also selected to perform before the entire assemblage.
Her Fellowship will include a four week/12 hour online curriculum designed to prepare young artists for the life of a professional musician like developing familiarity with the recording process, the live concert experience, and how to work with media.
Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville was chosen for Bayla’s studio session and interview, where she recorded with two of her instructors, Jerry Sutton (Bryan’s dad) and Josh Goforth.
For those unfamiliar with her playing, here’s Bayla from a few months ago in a front porch video playing a medley of Snowflake Reel and Bonaparte’s Retreat.
And here she is with siblings Sylvie and Judah in Newfound Gap at the Balsam Range Art of Music Festival back in December.
Keep an eye on your local NPR affiliate station’s schedule in April to catch Bayla Davis on From The Top.
If you read our recent coverage of the second annual Abingdon Fiddlers’ Convention last month, you will have seen the name Davis pop up all over the youth category winners lists. In fact, Newfound Gap, an old time band made up of three of the seven Davis siblings, not only took first place in their divisions, we also featured them in our cover image.
We were in touch recently with the oldest of the Davis siblings, banjo player Bayla, who has attracted a good bit of attention for her music, which at only 15 years of age, is quite a distinction. Many other fiddlers’ conventions have awarded Bayla and her brother and sister top prizes. She has won youth banjo at Galax, and Newfound Gap has performed on the Kid’s Stage at IBMA World of Bluegrass, and at MerleFest, Folkmoot, Shindig on the Green, and on the Woodsongs Kids television/radio program.
Twice Bayla has received the IBMA Fletcher Bright Memorial Scholarship for Béla Fleck’s Blue Ridge Banjo Camp, and last year was invited to play a solo set for the assembled students and faculty. Demonstrating her facility on the five string and a confident singing voice, she showed herself to be a engaging performer as well.
Bayla Davis has also been involved this summer with the Fine Tuned Project, an initiative of the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina to mentor young traditional music artists in western North Carolina. Experienced veterans of the scene are paired with emerging artists to perform and record, and Bayla has been working with Appalachian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator, Cary Fridley.
Their recordings, along with those of five other mentor/mentee groupings, will be included on a new album, Fine Tuned, Volume One, set for release this summer.
We asked Bayla a few questions about her music.
How were you first attracted to the banjo?
I was first attracted to the banjo when I was six years old. I had a goal to participate in every hobby that started with the letter B, because my name started with a B. I remember asking my mom about sports I could join, or instruments I could play, and she told me the only instrument she could think of was the banjo. I didn’t pay much attention to my goal for awhile, but later my mom found an ad for the local JAM program and remembered how I mentioned wanting to play the banjo. She took me to the JAM program at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, and that was where I had my first lesson with Ben Nelson.
Do you play roll style as well as clawhammer?
I do play the three finger style, but not very well…. I started this past fall after my siblings and I started traveling around the Southeast attending fiddlers conventions and festivals. I noticed that most of my banjo playing friends knew only Scruggs or rolling style, and I wanted to learn so I could jam with them more easily. My current teacher, Josh Goforth, has taught me the basics and a couple of songs, but I look forward to learning more at the Béla Fleck Blue Ridge Banjo Camp again later this summer. I especially enjoyed learning and jamming with Kristen Scott Benson and Mark Schatz. After the JAM program, I continued learning clawhammer style with Jerry Sutton and Bryan McDowell.
Tell us about your siblings who also play.
I am the oldest out of seven kids in my family. The six oldest play (since the youngest is 3, he is too young). The three oldest, Bayla Davis (Me), Sylvie Davis, and Judah Davis are in a youth old-time band called the Newfound Gap Band. Sylvie is 13 and has been playing almost as long as I have. She is an incredible old-time fiddler, and has won multiple youth conventions such as the Surry County Convention and Yadkin Valley Convention, and has placed fourth for the last two years at Galax; she’s placed higher at many other conventions throughout the Southeast. She greatly admires fiddlers Bobby Taylor and Roger Howell, who has always supported Sylvie. She likes playing with him very much.
Judah has been playing guitar and is a natural. His teacher is Jerry Sutton, who Judah calls “the greatest guitar player of all time.” He attended the Bryan Sutton Blue Ridge Banjo Camp for the last two years, and working with its instructors has greatly influenced his playing and impacted his life. The youngest three are Emme, Everly, and Asa, who have each been playing around a year or two. Emme plays mandolin and upright bass. Everly plays banjo, and soon dobro, and Asa plays fiddle. Ollie noodles on Judah’s guitar.
The Newfound Gap Band travels around the Southeast playing gigs, attending events and festivals, and competing in conventions, but hopefully we can participate in shows and concerts together as we get older. We’ve been honored to place first in many fiddlers conventions such as the SC Fiddlers Convention, Abington Fiddlers Convention, Alleghany Fiddlers Convention, and others. We travel most in the summer when public school is out, and my parents are on break from their teaching positions. There are events during the school year that our schools have supported us in attending such as the IBMA, Woodsongs, and MerleFest. And when I recorded for the Fine Tuned Project, they supported me while I recorded and participated in a press day.
How did you like recording in the studio?
I LOVED recording in the studio. I told Brandon Johnson that I would do it every day if I could. We recorded both songs in one day, and I remember walking into my little studio room being super nervous. There were so many tools and equipment that I was worried I was going to be overwhelmed, but the producer (my personal teacher Josh Goforth!) was so kind and helpful and made it so much fun to record. I got to record with one of my best friends Marlee Merritt, who is a multi-instrumentalist (at 16!) and an amazing performer. I also got to perform and record with my mentor, Cary Fridley, who is an amazing vocalist and a master storyteller.
We all had so much fun recording and we each learned so much. I really hope I can be able to do it again in the future. Laura Boosinger was super supportive as was David Holt. I was fortunate to have Mr. Holt’s SS Stewart fretless banjo, which is around 150 years old. I played that for Rueben’s Train on the album.
What do your friends at school think about your banjo playing?
Most of them don’t know how seriously I take it. I love sharing with my peers that I play bluegrass and old time music, but I don’t think they are aware of how the bluegrass and old time communities are a different world. Sometimes I wish I could go to an arts-based high school, but most arts schools revolve around classical music, and I know that it couldn’t work. However, all of my friends are super supportive and love hearing me play. There was even one time in my science class in eighth grade that my friends played Newfound Gap on YouTube in front of the whole class, and that was super funny. When I am older, and if touring doesn’t work out or I can’t make a living off of it, I have considered starting or working at an arts based school that focuses on teaching Appalachian, bluegrass and old time music.
Keep an eye and an ear out for Bayla Davis, and all of her talented siblings, as they mature into top level artists. Well done all!
