Bill Evans and The Banjo in America
"He is able to reach into the banjo’s past to make a sublime statement of its future...to create a sound firmly rooted in tradition but still fresh and vital."
Tim Bond, Bluegrass Now
Bill Evans is well-known within the bluegrass music community not only as a musician, but also as a teacher, writer and scholar. The Banjo in America concert brings together these interests in a unique presentation designed for the concert stage. Tracing the banjo from its West African roots to the New World, Evans performs musical examples from the 1700’s to the present day on a variety of vintage instruments, explaining how the banjo has been at the intersection of African- and Anglo-American musical and cultural exchange for over 250 years. From an 18th century African dance tune to the music of the Civil War, and from early 20th century ragtime to folk and bluegrass banjo styles, The Banjo in America informs while it entertains, exposing audiences to over 200 years of American music.
Evans has presented The Banjo In America at Kobe Shoin Women's University, Kobe, Japan; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Clarion Music Center, San Francisco, CA; Border Folk Festival, El Paso, TX; Columbia Gorge Mixed Bag Music Festival, Stevenson, WA; the Maryland Banjo Academy, Buckeystown, MD; South Plains College, Levelland, TX; the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, Gettysburg, PA; the Mid-Winter Bluegrass Festival, Denver, CO and Wintergrass, Tacoma, WA. He showcased at the 1997 International Bluegrass Music Trade Association Trade Show in Louisville, Kentucky and performed at the 1999 & 2000 IBMA Fan Fest. In February, 2001, Bill presented The Banjo in America as part of a two week national tour of Japan.
To contact Bill, email bevans@nativeandfine.com or phone 510-559-8879 (Pacific Time Zone).
Check out these .mp3s!!!
"Kansas Jig (.mp3-2036KB)" Tony Trischka: lead banjo (left channel); Bill Evans: second banjo (right channel). A parlor banjo song from the turn of the twentieth century, played in three finger style without picks. Bill uses a Bart Reiter banjo, Tony a Deering John Hartford model banjo. Both are strung with nylon strings.
"Whelpley's Jig and Buckley's Jig (.mp3-3018KB)" From "Buckley's New Banjo Method" by James Buckley, 1860. An example of minstrel style banjo, played on a Boucher reproduction banjo built by George Wunderlich. Minstrel is similar to clawhammer in its right hand technique, although, as you can hear, the sounds and rhythms are something different entirely.