earlsgranada - Posted - 05/22/2012:  20:06:49

Hello all,

If some of y'all have subscribed to my group, "Country Banjo Players and Fans", please do so, but you don't necessarily have to.

What I like to do as a banjo player, is quite different. I play bluegrass, but I do like to play country songs as well, and in today's country music, it is getting a long awaited comeback. 

Some country artists are deciding to put the banjo into their music, including artists such as:

~ Dierks Bentley (Country artist who is turning country fans into bluegrassers overnight)

~ Miranda Lambert ( One of my musical heroes, and she is putting a lot of banjo into her music)

~ Blake Shelton (Miranda Lambert's husband, another one of my musical heroes, and is doing the exact same as Miranda)

~ Rascal Flatts ( If you don't believe me, just listen to their awesome song, "Banjo")

~ Brad Paisley ( His "This Is Country Music" record has some good banjo work on it, which you can hear on his songs  "Camouflage", "This Is Country Music", and many others)

And more!

~Craig

DeanT - Posted - 05/23/2012:  00:26:21

I play bluegrass too, but more country than anything. The old classics sound great with banjo. Other artists using banjo today include The Band Perry, Ashley Campbell, Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown. I’ve become a huge fan of Dierks Bentley, as the banjo is becoming a very defined and prominent part of his sound.

banjogra - Posted - 05/23/2012:  03:03:44

my music buddy and me  play and sing the songs of  waylon,willie, kris, darrin, tom t. reeves, wisemann  and so on, all on banjo

it would be nice to see a girl singer this side of the pond  up to the mic  singing and pickin banjo,

Fathand - Posted - 05/23/2012:  05:03:36

A fair bit of country gets played at the jam sessions I go to but it is mote like Hank and Merle

wuzapicker - Posted - 05/23/2012:  06:24:57

I think a lot of C&W stuff in 2/4 and 3/4 time can be easily adapted to Bluegrass. We used to do it all the time. When I was operating my minor league Bluegrass band in the early 1980's the fiddler and guitarist also played in C&W bands and knew a lot those songs too.

I also noticed then that the minor league C&W bands in our area got more work than we did. But that is another observation.

I just hope the new C&W interest in 5-string isn't simply to get an backward hillbilly sound. Both 4 and 5 string banjos tend to be typecast in popular media.

earlsgranada - Posted - 05/23/2012:  08:26:44

quote:

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Originally posted by DeanT

I play bluegrass too, but more country than anything. The old classics sound great with banjo. Other artists using banjo today include The Band Perry, Ashley Campbell, Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown. I’ve become a huge fan of Dierks Bentley, as the banjo is becoming a very defined and prominent part of his sound.

---

 Yes, the older country sounds great with banjo, too. My personal favorite to do is Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried", "Daddy Frank", and I take kind of a Don Reno approach to "Silver Wings".

~Craig

earlsgranada - Posted - 05/23/2012:  08:34:58

quote:

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Originally posted by banjogra

my music buddy and me  play and sing the songs of  waylon,willie, kris, darrin, tom t. reeves, wiseman  and so on, all on banjo

it would be nice to see a girl singer this side of the pond  up to the mic  singing and pickin banjo,

---

 Yes, I know what you mean. Cia Cherryholmes of the retired Cherryholmes Family is a great singer and banjo picker, but by far my favorite was Wendy Holcombe. She played on the program "Nashville On The Road" with Jim Ed Brown and Jerry Clower. 

She sadly passed away of an enlarged heart on Valentine's Day, 1987. She was 23.

~Craig 

pick1936 - Posted - 05/23/2012:  09:40:04

Dierks  Bentley  has  what  seems  to  be  a  pretty  good  five  string  picker,  BUT  They  do  not  have  Him  turned  up  enough,  can  hardly   be  heard.

Nechville.  In Higginsville.

Lee  Kelso

banjogra - Posted - 05/23/2012:  11:23:53

yes ,this is all good to hear, If I fancy a bit of fun, I go on the tube and just pick along with them,  at the mo, I have shania twain and willie singing blue eyes crying in the rain, merle singing listening to the wind, and  if I could only fly,  and lots more really, all good country.

the hardest one to keep time to ? is willie, he of course does it his way lol,  bless him

gottasmilealot - Posted - 05/23/2012:  18:26:42

It's nice they make banjo a greater part of their music, but it could sound so much better with a five string rather than a guitar banjo.

DeanT - Posted - 05/23/2012:  19:07:04

Luke Bryan has some really tasteful banjo in his song “Drunk on You”.

earlsgranada - Posted - 05/27/2012:  18:46:49

quote:

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Originally posted by DeanT

Luke Bryan has some really tasteful banjo in his song “Drunk on You”.

---

He sure does, Dean! Thanks for pointing this out, though. I had never heard this tune before, and it's really cool. Craig Morgan's stuff, like "International Harvester", "Redneck Yacht Club", and " Little Bit Of Life", which features Ben Clark (BanjoBen1) in the music video. 

His Mitch Key Phantom banjo is kind of easy to spot. 

Jason Aldean but banjo on his version of Brantley Gilbert's tune, "Dirt Road Anthem", and Kenny Alphin and John Rich (Big & Rich) have some great banjo work by Jonathan Yudkin on their tunes, "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)", and "Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)".

On Dierks Bentley's song, "Am I The Only One?", Bryan Sutton picks a six-string banjo, and he also picked some tasty stuff on Eric Church's "How 'Bout You?".

One of Josh Turner's rarer tunes also features Bryan on banjo, entitled "What It Ain't", and also on "Would You Go With Me?", and "Long Black Train".

~Craig

DeanT - Posted - 05/27/2012:  19:25:32

I have to admit that several times I’ve wanted to put a note pad in my car and start writing down all the country artists using banjo. It’s simply getting to many to try to remember. I like Long Black Train! Dierk’s song 5150 is getting pretty popular lately, with some good country banjo! I also have to admit that when driving, I used to surf the radio stations from classic country to classic rock, but the modern country music is getting so good, that it’s been several months since I’ve listened to anything else.

DeanT - Posted - 06/15/2012:  17:19:57

Love the banjo in Craig Morgan's Little Bit of Life. Never blasting or over done. Tastefully in the mix, sometimes almost gone, but with some nice up front moments too.

Fid - Posted - 06/16/2012:  13:05:31

YIKES!!!  I'll bite my tongue on this "New Country" for now, except to say that that's not even a real banjo, it's one of those horrid Banjitar things.  For me, if you're gonna play a banjo, play a g*d**mn banjo.