Paul Roberts - Posted - 08/25/2010:  12:40:08

It's hard to imagine a musician who has taken a more studious approach to early American banjo styles than Rob MacKillop the brilliant musician (and BHO member) from Scotland. Rob has devoted most of his life to Early Music, performing and recording extensively on lute and guitar. But he's also a dynamite blues guitarist. And, in recent years, a staunch devotee of the banjo!

As you'll find out by reading my recent interview with Rob, he's had a fascinating life. His level of creative output is incredible and he's an amazing inspiration whom we're extremely fortunate to have as a member of BHO. I'm sure you'll enjoy this interview with Rob that I just uploaded.
banjocrazy.com/articles/rob_mac1.1.shtml

Cheers,
PauL
banjocrazy.com/

Edited by - Paul Roberts on 09/06/2010 09:35:59

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 08/25/2010:  14:07:00

A fine and very interesting interview. Quite a cool fellow, I'd say!

trapdoor2 - Posted - 08/25/2010:  14:38:32

Excellent interview, Paul. Rob's exploration of the banjo has provided a lot of "food for thought" as well as "food for the fingers". Very unusual for a highly developed musician to adopt the early banjo...watching (and listening) to him explore the banjo has been and will continue to be a great experience.

frailin - Posted - 08/25/2010:  14:42:19

Wow! What a treasure of music (his youtube channel).

Craig

harvey - Posted - 08/25/2010:  14:59:12

Wonderful. Thank you, Paul. And thanks Rob!

ScottK - Posted - 08/25/2010:  15:02:37

Thanks Rob and Paul! I really enjoyed that interview as well!

Scott

Adam Kiesling - Posted - 08/25/2010:  16:18:18

Great stuff!! I'm looking forward to your books, Rob.

Thanks for posting and being the interviewer, Paul.

Adam

rendesvous1840 - Posted - 08/25/2010:  19:21:47

Thanks for another fine job, Paul. I especially enjoyed the video clip of some of Rob's playing. From time to time he posts a video and they are always good. I have to think he was a breath of fresh air to some of his students, if not to the administrators of the universities. I can't imagine not improvising.
Paul

brokenstrings - Posted - 08/25/2010:  19:40:31

I've been following him on YouTube. Classical guitar, lute, blues guitar, banjo makes perfect sense to me. Though I wouldn't drop one for the others.

richla - Posted - 08/26/2010:  08:38:04

Fascinating interview.

Paul Roberts - Posted - 08/26/2010:  11:40:57

Rob being such a rich repository of musical knowledge, I'm already planning a follow-up interview with him. If anyone has questions they'd like me to consider for the next round, please email me.

Thanks,
PauL
banjocrazy.com/

Rob MacKillop - Posted - 08/27/2010:  10:24:59

Thanks everyone, and thanks again to Paul. I appreciate all the support. More to come.

Paul Roberts - Posted - 08/31/2010:  16:45:02

Rob has posted 17 short demonstrations of Emile Grimshaw (1880-1943) studies for the classic banjo here:

classicbanjorm.com/studies

Really nice material.

PauL
banjocrazy.com/

cookge - Posted - 09/02/2010:  00:40:27

I enjoyed reading that very much. Very inspiring!! Will look out for the follow up.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/02/2010:  08:14:04

Paul, a really interesting article, a great interview. I found the reference to Rob's upcoming work, Early Irish American Banjo intriguing. Is this going to be finger-style five string banjo? I was always fascinated by an engraving from Frances O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians, published in 1913. The banjo player's name is John Dunne, and the banjo appears to be a five string. O'Neill gives little information about him. I wonder if there was much use of the five-string for traditional Celtic music in Ireland and Scotland in the 19th Century, before the advent of the tenor banjo. Bob Carlin documented in his book that there was certainly exposure to five-string from the earliest days, through performances by traveling minstrel shows.