A new arrangement of a song that was largely written while I was living and working in Arusha, Tanzania. Some of the characters and bits and pieces of this narrative are based on real people and events, but the overarching story comes from my twisted imagination. This was recorded as the opening song of the evening at Montreal's Yellow Door Coffeehouse Friday Night "Hootenanny" Open Stage, which I host, on 17 June 2016.
Played clawhammer style on my J. Romero Banjo, tuned a tone and a half lower than standard tuning, to eBEG#B..
(I was tempted to edit out the spot where I knocked my banjo out of tune, near the end of this, but since it only took me a few seconds to recover, I decided to leave it in.)
Well, let me say, I missed this the first time around because of been absent from BHO largely due to work, but I am thrilled for the opportunity to hear this mini-opera. Your stage presentation as you ramp up to the song is fantastic, and half the notes I take from you regard how to "be" on stage. As always, I love the banjo playing and the sound of your banjo. As before, I still want a CD of your work and play.
The story is certainly original; while the story arch came from your imagination, I believe it was rooted in reality because you can't make some of that stuff up! To me, it sounds like a big dollop of Nerenberg with a dash of Paul Simon in the poetry and a hint of Bob Dylan in the performance. I probably shouldn't say that since I have no idea how you feel about Simon or Dylan, but I mean only wonderful things by it.
