Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman have released a music video of one of the tracks from their new album of old time duets, Lady of the Lake, which features Brown on banjo and Coleman on fiddle.
Interestingly, both of these masters of Appalachian folk music are urban raised, and came by their knowledge and skill living in New York City. Despite the near generation between the veteran Coleman and 18 year old Brown, the two play together like the title of the tune in this video, Twin Sisters.
Stephanie shared that they had never planned to record the tune, until it popped up one day when they were rehearsing.
“We learned this tune from the playing of the great Sidna Myers, a banjo player from Five Forks, Virginia. There’s a great recording of him playing that tune on a record called High Atmosphere – a collection of a number of different field recordings of solo banjo tunes and ballads made by the great John Cohen.
One day we got together to work on another tune, and Nora casually noodled Twin Sisters on the banjo as I tuned up my fiddle. Without thinking, I started playing along, and we spent the rest of the night playing Twin Sisters. Needless to say, our original plan was totally derailed. I tune the fiddle down a whole step to match the mellow setting of the banjo; it always feels like a meditation to play this one together.”
Check it out…
Lady of the Lake is available on Jalopy Records from popular download and streaming services online, or directly from the artists on bandcamp. You can also pre-order it there on 10” 45 RPM vinyl, for delivery next year.
