Hearing Bill Stepp

Thanks to the Smithsonian Institution for this news:

On Sunday 10 February 2013 Stephen Wade appeared on NPR’s 'Weekend Edition' to discuss the induction of Bill Stepp’s 'Bonaparte’s retreat' into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. During the interview, Wade detailed the relationship between Stepp’s song and Aaron Copland’s musical theme for the ballet 'Rodeo'. Of the recording, Wade said: 'When you're hearing forty concert violins and a xylophone and a wood block all playing together, really [you're] hearing fiddler Bill Stepp.'

Stepp and other musicians were the inspiration for his most recent book, The beautiful music all around us: field recordings and the American experience (University of Illinois Press), and the GRAMMY-nominated album, Banjo diary: lessons from tradition (Smithsonian Folkways).