A real treat for fans of fiddle/banjo duets

Just as Bill Monroe revolutionised country mandolin playing and, with his Blue Grass Boys, reinvented the string band tradition, so Earl Scruggs and Paul Warren between them reinvented the fiddle-and-banjo duet. This duet style has now been recreated by Paul Warren's son Johnny Warren and banjo-player Charlie Cushman on the CD A tribute to Fiddlin' Paul Warren, available from Cushman's website. Other musicians include Earl Scruggs himself (on one track), Marty Stuart, and Curly Seckler.

A foretaste of the Warren-Cushman combination can be heard in six videos on YouTube; and they're a real tonic, not least for the gorgeous tone of the banjo, which is played throughout in the style Scruggs devised to complement the fiddle with rhythmic support and counterpoint, rather than doubling the melody. You may recognise the tune 'Pretty girl going to milk a cow' as a version of 'Rakes of Mallow'!

Thanks again to Richard Thompson and the Bluegrass Blog for the news.