Video Review: Echoes Of America
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THIS VIDEO TRACES THE HISTORY of America's love/hate relationship with the banjo. It touches on its introduction to America when slaves were brought here from Africa; its minstrel show days; its use in classical music; its tremendous popularity as a ragtime instrument; its jazz-fusion use by such artists as Bela Fleck. However, most of the program focuses on the banjo as an old-timey and bluegrass instrument. The 52-minute film, originally produced for Channel Four Television in Great Britain in 1991, is narrated by Joe Williams from the National Council For The Performing Arts, with historical input from Dan Sinclair, Neil Rosenberg and Pete Seeger. It demonstrates the many uses of the banjo including (among others) a classical performance by Mary Koons, a 1910 ragtime performance by Vern Osman, a clip of Uncle Dave Macon at the Grand Ole Opry, a festival performance by Snuffy Jenkins & Pappy Sherrill, and Earl Scruggs performing Foggy Mountain Banjo on a television show. One of the highlights for me was watching a barefoot Leroy Troy showing off for a stone-faced neighbor while sitting on a porch swing frailing Grandfather's Clock. Another was John Hartford alone on the stage of an empty theater, wearing his trademark bowler hat, suspenders and spats, singing and dancing to Gumtree Canoe. Yet another was seeing The Skirtlifters (dressed in tuxedos) performing old-timey music at the Station Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. Other highlights of the film include Pete Seeger talking about folk music and Eric Weissberg discussing that "oddity of pop music, " Dueling Banjos (made famous by he and Marshall Brickman in the movie Deliverance). Anyone interested in the history of the banjo as it relates to bluegrass and old-timey music will surely enjoy this video, which also includes performances by Don Reno, Bill Keith, Tony Ellis, Eddie Adcock and others.
Gerald Cohail, Beaumont, CA, USA. BGNews@netzon.net
Information about ordering Echoes Of America can be obtained from: Grasshopper Films 5b North Street, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 3BH. [Write to | web site ]
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