Tag: banjo

Sky Sparrow Snow

I’m thrilled to announce my latest solo recording, Sky Sparrow Snow. This release is a return to song forms for banjo, voice and electronics. Sky Sparrow Snow is a collection of seven original songs merging old-time Appalachian banjo with ambient electronics. The tunes touch on folk (“Laurel Cove“) and gospel (“Over Yonder’s Ocean“) with adventures into hybrid genres like raga blues (“Alap Catfish Impala“) or Steve Reich-meets-Dock Boggs (“No Mule“).

The record is available at Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify and other streaming services.

Though these recordings may sound like studio creations, they’re largely documents of live performances, with only minimal edits and overdubs. All of the electronic treatments happen in real-time; I play the banjo and sing while custom Max patches respond to the audio signals and data from my sensor-equipped instruments.

field recordings of mind in morning Videos Playlist

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All of the videos from the field recordings of mind in morning project with poet Hank Lazer have been assembled into a playlist at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfbjRdn65YhoGXZk98dnAPyBylDeuATCF

Don’t forget that Hank’s book is available at BlazeVox and our audio recordings are available at Bandcamp.

because the bell is ringing

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Here’s the final video from the field recordings of mind in morning project with poet Hank Lazer. I’m pretty sure I randomly tuned the banjo just before this improvisation–there are some lovely, dissonant open string combinations that aren’t typical. Lots of chiming harmonics, too.

My favorite line from the poem: “I am nothing more than a location for change”

it happens it is happening

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Here’s the penultimate video from the field recordings of mind in morning project with poet Hank Lazer. The banjo on this one is in standard Sawmill tuning (gDGCD) and played in clawhammer style.

My favorite line from the poem: “please show me what you are calling ‘now'”