Early Banjo Invades Charlie Poole Festival
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GCA
Jun 19, 2008, 9:32:24 AM6/19/08
to Minstrel Banjo, hsap...@hvc.rr.com
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Charlie Poole
Festival in Eden, North Carolina (http://charlie-poole.com/index.htm)
with my friend and mentor Bob Winans. Throughout our visit, we found
ourselves amongst some amazing people and spent the weekend sharing
tunes, competing in contests, and enjoying fellowship with a great
bunch of traditional musicians. For more information on Charlie
Poole’s music, consider getting the recordings found here (http://
charlie-poole.com/docs/store.htm) and in other places.
Anyhow, I’m writing to encourage those of you who are interested in
sharing your early banjo downstroke and fingerstyle playing skills
(and other skills), to consider attending next year. This was, I
believe, the third year in a row where they held a day long contest
with $5000.00 in cash prizes! I even brought my bones with me and got
to compete in the old time band category with my friend’s family band.
The competition was stiff, but I’m pleased to report that the Japanese
Grand March from Buckley’s 1860 tutor (page 28) and a finely-
constructed 1852 reproduction Ashborn won the Early Banjo Community a
4th place ribbon in the clawhammer/old-time banjo category. You can
read who all of the winners were here: http://charlie-poole.com/docs/festival.htm.
I don’t normally go to festivals (this was my third), so I don’t know
how objective my perspective really is, but I’d like to share a little
of what it meant to me. What made this event so great was that within
this smaller festival setting a high percentage of the attendees were
top-notch musicians with different approaches to traditional music.
Even more, this diversity made its way into the contest. I believe the
resulting contest allowed participants, judges, and audience members
alike to experience a greater aural tapestry beyond the standard old-
time and bluegrass genres—demonstrating the great variety of music and
techniques that truly exists in the history of the banjo and other
aspects of traditional music.
I believe that a number of the competition categories were open-ended
enough that people like us could comfortably enter and do their thing.
Here are the categories:
Flatpick Guitar
Fingerstyle Guitar
Bluegrass Fiddle
Old Time Fiddle
Clawhammer/Old-Time Banjo
Bluegrass Banjo
Duet Singing
Best Rendition of Poole Song
Bluegrass Band
Old-Time Band
Grand Prize – Old-Time 3-finger Banjo
Those categories that I believe would comfortably accommodate what we
do in the early banjo community include: Fingerstyle Guitar, Old Time
Fiddle, Clawhammer/Old-Time Banjo, Duet Singing, Old-Time Band, and
Old-Time 3-finger Banjo.
Ultimately, I wish to encourage all of us to pursue greater exposure
within the traditional music community by actively pariticipating in
exceptional festivals like the Charlie Poole Festival. Those of you
with a lot more festival experience than I have can probably speak
much more authoritatively about attending festivals, but I just think
it’s great to be able to showcase the early banjo and its musical
strengths and historical contributions to our friends in the wider
traditional music community!
I love this stuff! Have a great summer and see you in September.
Best regards,
Greg
Festival in Eden, North Carolina (http://charlie-poole.com/index.htm)
with my friend and mentor Bob Winans. Throughout our visit, we found
ourselves amongst some amazing people and spent the weekend sharing
tunes, competing in contests, and enjoying fellowship with a great
bunch of traditional musicians. For more information on Charlie
Poole’s music, consider getting the recordings found here (http://
charlie-poole.com/docs/store.htm) and in other places.
Anyhow, I’m writing to encourage those of you who are interested in
sharing your early banjo downstroke and fingerstyle playing skills
(and other skills), to consider attending next year. This was, I
believe, the third year in a row where they held a day long contest
with $5000.00 in cash prizes! I even brought my bones with me and got
to compete in the old time band category with my friend’s family band.
The competition was stiff, but I’m pleased to report that the Japanese
Grand March from Buckley’s 1860 tutor (page 28) and a finely-
constructed 1852 reproduction Ashborn won the Early Banjo Community a
4th place ribbon in the clawhammer/old-time banjo category. You can
read who all of the winners were here: http://charlie-poole.com/docs/festival.htm.
I don’t normally go to festivals (this was my third), so I don’t know
how objective my perspective really is, but I’d like to share a little
of what it meant to me. What made this event so great was that within
this smaller festival setting a high percentage of the attendees were
top-notch musicians with different approaches to traditional music.
Even more, this diversity made its way into the contest. I believe the
resulting contest allowed participants, judges, and audience members
alike to experience a greater aural tapestry beyond the standard old-
time and bluegrass genres—demonstrating the great variety of music and
techniques that truly exists in the history of the banjo and other
aspects of traditional music.
I believe that a number of the competition categories were open-ended
enough that people like us could comfortably enter and do their thing.
Here are the categories:
Flatpick Guitar
Fingerstyle Guitar
Bluegrass Fiddle
Old Time Fiddle
Clawhammer/Old-Time Banjo
Bluegrass Banjo
Duet Singing
Best Rendition of Poole Song
Bluegrass Band
Old-Time Band
Grand Prize – Old-Time 3-finger Banjo
Those categories that I believe would comfortably accommodate what we
do in the early banjo community include: Fingerstyle Guitar, Old Time
Fiddle, Clawhammer/Old-Time Banjo, Duet Singing, Old-Time Band, and
Old-Time 3-finger Banjo.
Ultimately, I wish to encourage all of us to pursue greater exposure
within the traditional music community by actively pariticipating in
exceptional festivals like the Charlie Poole Festival. Those of you
with a lot more festival experience than I have can probably speak
much more authoritatively about attending festivals, but I just think
it’s great to be able to showcase the early banjo and its musical
strengths and historical contributions to our friends in the wider
traditional music community!
I love this stuff! Have a great summer and see you in September.
Best regards,
Greg
Tim Twiss
Jun 19, 2008, 8:20:01 PM6/19/08
to Minstrel Banjo
Congratulations Greg! I'm certain you put on an amazing performance.
Yankee hat???
I would be curious to to hear how this style was percieved/recieved by
folks unfamiliar with it. I'm sure you were approached with numerous
questions.
Please share some of the comments.
Yankee hat???
I would be curious to to hear how this style was percieved/recieved by
folks unfamiliar with it. I'm sure you were approached with numerous
questions.
Please share some of the comments.
Carl Anderton
Jun 19, 2008, 11:53:35 PM6/19/08
to Minstrel Banjo
That's great, Greg. Congratulations on a successful competition.
I long ago quit the bluegrass scene that I came from, expecting that
they wouldn't understand or appreciate the old fashioned stroke-
style.
It sounds like you were able to fit in with everyone just fine. I
think I'd like to consider attending next year.
I long ago quit the bluegrass scene that I came from, expecting that
they wouldn't understand or appreciate the old fashioned stroke-
style.
It sounds like you were able to fit in with everyone just fine. I
think I'd like to consider attending next year.
trapdoor2
Jun 20, 2008, 11:38:51 AM6/20/08
to Minstrel Banjo
Awesome, Greg, glad you had a good time. I've found that most OT
people are very happy to have early banjos in the mix.
I hope to be attending "Uncle Dave Macon Days", Murfreesboro, TN in a
few weeks. I shall bring along my Ashborn and see how they like it
when I thump it.
===Marc
people are very happy to have early banjos in the mix.
I hope to be attending "Uncle Dave Macon Days", Murfreesboro, TN in a
few weeks. I shall bring along my Ashborn and see how they like it
when I thump it.
===Marc
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