Copper Creek Records, (CCCD-0214).

For those familiar with the work of Walter Hensley, 'the Banjo Baron of Baltimore' needs no introduction. But in case you're not familiar with his banjo playing ...

If there was a roster of influential and innovative banjo players, Walter Hensley would be on it, but his name is unfamiliar to many bluegrass musicians and fans. He is a stylistic pioneer, but, as bluegrass writer Jon Weisberger writes, Walt has been "criminally under-appreciated." Bill Monroe biographer Richard D. Smith says that, "Walter remains one of the terribly underrated greats of the 5-string." And Alan Lomax said, "There is true folk magic in every note Walt plays."

Walter's driving banjo and inventive licks earned him the first solo banjo LP ever to be recorded on a major label (Capitol) and has elevated his name to the status of cult legend among banjo players and aficionados of that high-wire style of banjo playing. Walter Hensley was the first banjo player to play NYC¹s Carnegie Hall and the first banjo player with a featured song on Rebel Records. He played banjo in the bands of some of the pioneers of bluegrass music, including Hobo Jack Adkins, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Earl Taylor & the Stoney Mountain Boys, The Country Gentlemen and the Dukes of Bluegrass (his own band) from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Walter influenced a generation of banjo players and other bluegrass musicians; his name consistently comes up in conversations and interviews with prominent bluegrass musicians. Indeed, Grammy-nominee and mandolin-great David Grisman remembers first hearing bluegrass music via a recording of Walt on an LP: "It was the fastest thing I'd ever heard. I was just floored," he said.

The punch, drive and inventiveness of Walt's banjo playing is joined on this new album by the hard-charging rhythm guitar and soulful singing of James Reams, whose vocals were described by Banjo Newsletter's Donald Nitchie as sounding "as smoky as his heroes: Lester, Carter and Red". Nitchie later wrote, "I found this to be a terrific old-style bluegrass record, with James Reams' soulful vocals meshing perfectly with Hensley's bluesy and inventive banjo backup." Along with the Barons of Bluegrass ­ Carl Hayano, Mark Farrell, Bob Mastro and Barry Mitterhoff ­ they have created an album that captures the raw excitement of the early days of bluegrass.

James Reams, Walter Hensley & The Barons of Bluegrass (CCCD-0214) is available from Copper Creek Records

1 May 2003