Banjo- and old-time-related news

Building on the success of a year ago (see the BIB for 2 Feb. 2021), the International Bluegrass Music Association and Pisgah Banjos of Asheville, NC, announce that a second special banjo has been made to be raffled at $20.00 a ticket to raise funds for the IBMA's Arnold Shultz Fund (set up in 2020 to support activities increasing the participation in bluegrass music by people of colour) and for the Black Banjo Reclamation Project (BBRP), 'a vehicle to return instruments of African origin to the descendants of their original makers'.

Last year's raffle aimed at selling 1,000 tickets to raise $20,000, and in fact raised $26,740. This year's target is $40,000. The sale of tickets began on 1 Feb. and continues to 6 Mar. The banjo's value has been estimated at $2,500; for more details of it, see the Pisgah website or John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

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Ken Perlman (USA), master of 'melodic clawhammer' banjo, sends a reminder of the next two online live instructional banjo workshops in his 'Clawhammer Clinic' series, of which the first is next Monday (28 Feb.), and the second on Mon. 21 Mar. - see the BIB for 7 Feb. Ken also reminds us of the online Suwanee Banjo Camp on 10-13 Mar.

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Thanks to Hearth Music and the Fretboard Journal (FJ) for the news that the 'apocalyptic stringband duo' of Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves have brought out a six-minute video of a track from their forthcoming album Hurricane Clarice (cover image, left). The 'drone-heavy, doom-laden' video is premiered on the FJ website and can also be seen on YouTube or via the Hearth Music press release. The track combines the original composition 'Hurricane Clarice' with the traditional 'Brushy fork of John's Creek'. NB: this 'Brushy fork' is based on the playing of John Morgan Salyer, and is not the same as the Hiram Stamper/ Art Stamper tune, as played (for instance) by Erynn Marshall and Chris Coole.

© Richard Hawkins