banjo

HarpSong

Original Music Release A Day #15

Here’s another original banjo piece, thought I’d just play another one live since that was fun the first time and y’all seemed to respond to it so well.  

This piece was written in the early 1990’s after encountering a group called Sileas at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. They had just released an album called “Beating Harps” and the sound of these two women singing and playing two harps together completely blew my mind. They were so tight in their picking and in their harmonies together and it made a huge impression on me.  I immediately bought their cassette (ahem..) and have been listening to them ever since (though I’m glad they’re on Spotify now). 

I took their inspiration to challenge myself to try and emulate the joy I heard in their music and this is what came of that.  This might very well have been the piece that sparked my mission to make the banjo not sound like a banjo, or at least to play it non-traditionally.  I loved working out the cascading lines and probably should have developed this more but I was so enchanted with the sound that I just kept playing what I had since it sounded like nothing else I had ever written at the time.

More about my COVID-19 we’re self isolating so might as well make the most of it with creative projects original music release a day:

https://www.ericgeoffrey.com/a-song-a-day/

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StirCrazyCabinFeverReliever

Music Release A Day #12

StirCrazyCabinFeverReliever ~ Original banjo & bass

Not much more to this tune than it’s now been two weeks we haven’t gone anywhere except the local woods and our backyard and it’s a rainy day and everyone is starting to get a little stir-crazy.  Thought I’d take on a little recording project, because why not.

A couple of hours with a banjo, bass, drums, and a synth and I got so wrapped up in the project I forgot to hit record on the video camera.  

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Equinox Greeting!

Release a Day #3 ~ Spring Equinox 2020

I moved into a room once when I was in my mid 20’s and found an old banjo in the closet.  It needed a lot of love, but of course I was intrigued.  I nursed it into playing shape, bought new strings for it, asked a friend carve me a new bridge for it, and it became playable.  I’ll never forget the first clear note that rang out from it, and that moment shaped my relationship with the banjo ever since.  It made me think of so many other things than a banjo, and I resolved then and there to discover how to coax new life from this wild creature, figuring that there were enough banjo players in the world already, I wanted to do something different.

I’ve spent years exploring that path, and rarely have I ventured into territory where my banjo sounds like a bluegrass instrument, and I really like it that way.  

This piece was born in the summer of 2019 in the backwoods of the Adirondacks of NY while on retreat with my family.  I instantly fell in love with the vibe as I feel it captures the essence of a peaceful summer day.  

On this first day of spring 2020 I thought I would offer something more in the spirit of the day as we welcome an uncertain spring with so much turmoil and challenge. I hope that this serves as a reminder of pleasant days both past and those to come.  Perhaps this is my prayer for healthier days down the road for all of us…

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