Eric Weissberg, 16 Aug. 1939-22 Mar. 2020

The BIB learns with regret of the death of Eric Weissberg, multi-instrumentalist, performing and recording artist, prolific session musician, and one of the major figures in the immense contribution to bluegrass music made by New Yorkers.

He is most widely known for playing 'Dueling banjos' with Steve Mandell for the soundtrack of the film Deliverance, but he had also played (in his teens) on the first bluegrass LP ever released, and the 1963 album New dimensions in banjo and bluegrass (cover image, above) with Marshall Brickman was the first full LP of 'melodic' banjo, developed earlier by Bill Keith.

An obituary by Richard Thompson appears on Bluegrass Today. Eric Weissberg played in Ireland in 1991 at the first Athy bluegrass festival, as a member of the New Blue Velvet Band, with Bill Keith, Jim Rooney, and Kenny Kosek.