Tony Ellis & Matt Inboden in NW England
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Photos Copyright © 2000 NWBN Helsby, Cheshire, Ex-Servicemen's Club, May 2000. THAT VETERAN BANJO supremo from North Carolina, Tony Ellis, returned to these shores in May with his protégé, Matt Inboden, a 42 year old banjo player from Hocking Hills in south-eastern Ohio.
At their Helsby gig, Tony switched to fiddle and the two were accompanied on stage by Stuart (acoustic guitar) and Russell (stand-up bass) from resident band Johnny Plank and the Planktones. When another local musician, Lyn Crowley, took over on the bass, allowing Russell to switch to mandolin, we were treated to the full bluegrass band sound. During two short sets, Matt displayed an excellent Scruggs-style banjo technique and Tony showed what an accomplished fiddle player he is. Starting with the old-time fiddle tune The Old Grey Mare, the ensemble mixed well-known bluegrass songs (such as Blue Ridge Cabin Home and the slow Same Old Day) with traditional melodies including Sally Goodin and Reuben's Friend with its train imagery. The lead vocals were shared, Stuart taking the honours on I'm Sitting On Top of the World and Two Dollar Bill with Matt taking over on All the Good Times are Gone and the evergreen Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms. Russ took a turn on Wild Bill Jones.
However, this will no doubt be remedied at the Conwy, North Wales, bluegrass festival in July when Tony and Matt return with the other members of their US-based band: Dudley Connell, Tom Gray and Lester Woodie. That really is a treat in store! Chris Haggett, Warrington.
APART FROM THE above formal gig the duo completed a series of no less than 16(!) school workshop presentations and other gigs, including a less formal set at the Horse & Jockey, also in Helsby, which this writer attended. A big disadvantage of the H&J is that, over a hearth in the middle of the room, there is an enormous, conical, copper chimney which restricts visibility more than somewhat (though allowing one not to see what one don't want to see)... and the bar is in the room, too. At this session the two concert sets were surrounded by the usual informal jam sessions -an ideal way to get and maintain peoples interest.
Matt, a top-notch, real Scruggs picker, gets terrific volume and tone out of his pre-war hybrid Gibson. All the more amazing when an examination of his axe showed a very high action up the neck (too high to hold a pencil..) which is necessary to give any clearance at the lower frets because the neck is warped backwards significantly. Matt explained that other people have a hard time playing his banjo - the first string slips off the frets because the neck is also warped sideways... but he has developed somehow a technique that lets him play loudly, accurately and in tune! He's having a new neck made... Though playing forcefully, Matt always played tastefully and only when necessary - it was good to see him step up to the mic to provide great-sounding Scruggs-style fill-ins at the end of vocal lines. The line up was the same as above and it was very pleasing to see Lyn solidly underpinning the whole show on bass. She hasn't been playing bass long and has made great progress!
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The
downside of the full band sound was the need to restrict the repertoire to
numbers that all the musicians knew, which left us with some fairly familiar
material. It was perhaps a pity that Matt did not have the opportunity to
play some of his own numbers (he is a prolific writer of bluegrass melodies)
or demonstrate the full range of his virtuosity.
