Banjo-oriented news (updates)

Last week (when the BIB editor was absent) Gina Furtado was the artist interviewed on Deering Live. The hour-long interview can now be seen on YouTube. Gina Furtado was here last two years ago, playing banjo with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, since when she has been performing and recording with her own band. Forthcoming episodes of the Deering Live interview series will be with Clinton Davis tonight (Thurs. 9 Sept.) and Jake Schepps (Thurs. 14 Oct.).

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The staff of the Bluegrass Situation announce that Béla Fleck is their Artist of the Month for September 2021 (as he was in 2017). The feature focuses on his new album, My bluegrass heart, which is scheduled for imminent release, and which, he stresses, 'is not a straight bluegrass album, but it’s written for a bluegrass band [...] I like taking that instrumentation, and seeing what I can do with it'. The feature includes a video of his composition 'Wheels up' and a 48-tune playlist. A two-part interview with him is promised for later this month.

See also Matt Ruppert's review of My bluegrass heart on No Depression, with two videos of numbers from the album.

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Thanks to Ken Perlman for reminders that the American Banjo Camp (of which he and Peter Langston are co-directors) will take place online by Zoom this coming weekend (11-12 Sept.). On each day four back-to-back classes in bluegrass banjo and four back-to-back classes in old-time banjo will be held, and the stellar set of instructors includes Greg Cahill and Jeff Scroggins on the bluegrass side. Each class will teach a different set of skills. The cost to attend the full two-day schedule is $180; you can also sign up for any one day (Saturday or Sunday) for $100. Full details are on the ABC website.

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Richard Thompson on Bluegrass Today reports that a memorial service for the late Bill Emerson will be held at 11.00 a.m. on Sat. 18 Sept. at Our Lady of Good Counsel catholic church in Vienna, VA.

© Richard Hawkins