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[Jamming]

Gender: Male
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Created 8/23/2008
Last Visit 9/14/2008

I actually don't play banjo but I'm searching for a banjo player to join our group here in the Hartford CT area (see below) The Portable Folk Festival, a fixture in the CT folk scene for over 30 years, needs a banjo player. Ethan Unger, our former banjo player, has permanently moved to New hampshire - and we need to replace him. Our group is an amateur collection of about a dozen musicians who met at the Sounding Board Coffeehouse many years ago. We play in the traditional and contemporary styles of acoustic coffeehouse type music, and currently we have a repertoire including thousands of songs (Liste to some recordings on this homepage). Everybody gathers on Thursday evenings in Glastonbury, Newington, or Cromwell and we perform about 4-8 times a year at events around New England. Ages of our members average in the high 50s, but we would welcome people of any age who are interested in this type of playing and singing. Our sound is primarily vocal in nature because a large group like this lends itself well to harmony group singing. Each set we perform generally includes one or two instrumentals, usually fiddle tunes, with interesting arrangements for presentation in a concert setting. Our instrumentalists play guitars, mandolin, hammered and mountain dulcimers, concertina and accordian, bass, whistles, cornet, tuba, keyboard, harmonica, hand drums ... etc. Although the group does get paid for gigs, the money gets banked and used on parties and sound equipment. OK ... I must say it's mostly parties at this point. We already have a great sound setup with plenty of mics, amps and a giant mixing board supervised by a great soundman. What are we looking for in a banjo player? Technical requirments would probably include the following ... Can you hold your own playing melody on a medium tempo fiddle tune and work out something simple as a backup while others take their turns on other instruments? Could you work out a simple backup after hearing the changes of a simple song about half a dozen times? Could you go home with a recording of that song and work up a simple instrumental break to play while you are accompanied for a verse and chorus? Are you interested in playing a wide variety of folk styles which probably require you to be able to play Bluegrass style 3 finger picking, Old Tmey frailing, and Pete seeger style song accompaniment. We are not exclusively a bluegrass band. Our interest is more traditional folk based and arrangements grow out of the needs of the somgs which we are doing. This is the perfect group for a person who doesn't want the responsibilities of a regularly gigging group but enjoys getting together with friends and making a wide variety of acoustic folk music. Perhaps you have played in the past but family or job obligations have kept you dormant for too long. Maybe you have been playing for a while alone and would like to work your playing into a group sound. We could be just what you are looking for. Please call Mike at 860.537-2441