Hi all!
I’m pretty sure there are some banjo players here, so I was wondering if you could give me any recommendations for a good banjo CD? I don’t want vocals–just instrumental. My husband loves banjo music and I want this for a Father’s Day present for him. So far the best one to me (of the clips I’ve listened to online) seems to be “Foggy Mountain Banjo” by Flatt and Scruggs.
Thanks in advance for any help!
For old-time solo banjo, I don’t see how you can go wrong with Walt Koken’s recordings. (He was the fiddler for the Highwoods String Band, but concentrates on banjo now.) He did a couple on the Rounder label, but I don’t know if they are still in print, and he’s released at least one, “Finger Lakes Ramble” on his own label: http://www.mudthumper.com.
He may sing on a song or two, but it’s mostly instrumental, and very nice indeed.
If bluegrass banjo is more the ticket, you might want to search for the County Sales website and check out their extensive review sections for some leads.
One of my favorites is “Fiddle Tunes for Banjo” with Tony Trischka, Bill Keith, and Bela Fleck. It’s one of Fleck’s earliest albums, and it excellent. If you want more Scruggs-style stuff, any of Earl Scruggs’ albums are great (go figure) If you are more interested in tenor or clawhammer banjo, I can’t help you, sorry.
Joel Mabus plays good clawhammer. Grandpa Jones put out an album of clawhammer instrumentals but it’s probably out of print. He was actually very good. Dwight Diller is a clawhammer player.
Go to http://www.elderly.com and you can search through their CD’s by instrument.
There’s some banjo music in the film “Deliverance.” You could get him that.
I just happen to be listening to some very tasteful banjo playing on the
Kruger Brothers CD ‘UP 18 North’. A pair of Swiss brothers (Jens and
Uwe Kruger) and boy, do they have a feel for the music.
The banjo playing is a mixture of straight bluegrass, melodic (fiddle style)
and clawhammer. There are some vocals but I would recommend the
CD for the banjo picking alone.
Cheers,
Colin
I haven’t heard him myself, but my parents recently saw Raymond Fairchild (http://www.nativeground.com/raymondfairchild.asp) in Maggie Valley, NC, and they said he’s absolutely phenomenal.
Edited to add that Amazon.com has a bunch of his albums:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/74479/ref%3Dpd_ap_gut/104-9155352-9599139
umm, . . .
Bela Fleck?
The man is amazing. It’s jazz/fusion/trad/stew though, so maybe not what yer looking for.
I’ll put in a plug for a Canadian recording. It features Irish tenor banjo, bluegrass and old time banjo. All of the players are excellent. Brian Taheny is one of the best tenor banjo players anywhere. Arnie Naiman and Chris Coole have recieved high praise for their old time playing. The CD is called The Banjo special.
http://www.merriweather.ca/recordings.aspx?style=Banjo
Steve
there’s a couple of compilations called The Banjos That Destroyed The World that sound like what you might be after.
http://www.cmhrecords.com/web/page.asp?pgs=product&catid=4&id=77
http://www.cmhrecords.com/web/page.asp?pgs=product&catid=2&id=803
otherwise any of Bela Fleck’s earlier stuff, or the Scruggs cd you mentioned should do. i’m kind of assuming he likes Bluegrass banjo rather than Irish or Old Timey.
(for Irish stuff you might look for Gerry O’Connor, Kevin Griffin, Kieran Hanrahan; for Old Timey, Dwight Diller, Ken Perlman, Bob Carlin… there’s a lot of great players besides those of course)
Wow, thanks for the replies, everyone! I really appreciate your time, insight, and recommendations.
I got worried that I’d run out of time and couldn’t order anything, so I went to Borders and looked at their Bluegrass section. They didn’t have any of those handy listening things where you can scan the CD and listen to any of the tracks, unfortunately! I was stumped at what to pick until I spotted one that was “25 banjo favorites” and wasn’t too expensive. I’m crossing my fingers it’s okay and he likes it. If he does, maybe we can check out/order some of the ones you’ve all suggested. Humiliatingly, I don’t know the difference between clawhammer, bluegrass, and tenor banjo…no idea. All I know if that the banjo my husband has is a 5-string and that he likes the really fast finger-picking stuff, whatever that is.
Frankly, I think you should get him the Kevin Griffin Irish banjo record and to heck with the cornpone… It’s a great disc!
http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Griffin_Kevin_Doolin.html
Well, you know us. Even though you’ve gotten the problem solved we’ll keep giving you answers. I’d like to recommend Ken Perlman who plays clawhammer banjo in melodic style. He plays quite a bit of “Celtic” music. I’ve heard him and he is great.
http://www.kenperlman.com/
that would likely be bluegrass, and what you got for him would likely be just fine.
Yep. That’s exactly what I was thinking. But if he’s not familiar with clawhammer style, you really should introduce him. You can’t go wrong with Uncle Dave Macon’s stuff from the 20s-
Sourwood Mountain(which I use to haul mail over, and my brother has the fiddle belonging to the guy who wrote it) and Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy are my personal favorites.
I’m goin’ up on Sourwood Mountain, hi ho, deedle um day…
So many perty girls you can’t count 'em, hi ho deedle um day…
Wow… hadn’t thought of that one in ages! Thanks!
My best advice about the b**jo…
forget it…
this is where it’s at! 
put some scrolls and f-holes on those things, and they might make decent mandolins… 
No way foo!!!
Trad mando!
Bouzouki baby!
Hey Cees, here are some six pages of good ideas for his next Father’s Day:
http://www.elderly.com/recordings/cat_or_pgc_page?step=20&cat_or_pgc=61&special_links=links_instrumentalists&sort_on=cat_or_pgc,artist,title&page=1&query_start=1