http://www.studiothreevt.com/event/the-modern-grass-qunitet/

Reviewed by Seven Days here:

http://www.7dvt.com/2012modern-grass-quintet-modern-grass-quintet

Check out more details here:

http://www.facebook.com/events/204251263001474/

A little late, I suppose, in getting this up. Eight days, in fact.  This is the MGQ performing one of my newgrassy instrumentals for Lake Champlain Access TV‘s Instant Coffeehouse show.  Some really nice breaks from all the instrumentalists on this one, although the astute listener will notice some arrangement fubars led by yours truly on the passed break section.

I wish there was a better story around October First- some epic event, tremendous fall foliage, or basically anything of note.  Ultimately, I’d been messing around with the melody on the mandolin for a week or so and sat down to devote an evening to ProTooling a version of it together.  First thing PT asked you to do… name this project.  I hadn’t even considered what that proto-tune might be named, so I just plunked in the date without even thinking.  In the end, naming instrumentals is generally a pain in the rear, so I guess this one has to be considered serendipity.

I started playing clawhammer banjo in earnest a little over a year ago.  For a while I fumbled around on a Gold Tone bluegrass style banjo with the back removed, but finally in January of 2011 I picked up this sweet beauty.  It’s a Chanterelle Vega Tubaphone reproduction, built by Mike Ramsey in Pittsboro NC (http://www.ramseybanjos.com/).  I originally thought I wanted a more minstrel style instrument but the banjo comparison on frailin.com was extremely helpful in pinpointing the sound I was looking for.

This is the first tune I learned from scratch on the new instrument.