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The banjo reviews database is here to help educate people before they purchase an instrument. Of course, this is not meant to be a substitute for playing the instrument yourself!
7237 reviews in the archive.
Where Purchased: Apple Music
Surprised that no one has used BHO’S review feature for Mean Mary, so let me be the first. “Mean Mary from Alabam“ calls herself that only because she named herself that as a munchkin when she was 5 or 6. Speaking of age 6, thats how old she was when she sang her first broadcasted country song:
Her latest album is Blazing (2017). While I don’t know her motivation for that title, it’s a damn good one when you listen to the title track, a banjo-guitar instrumental with her brother Frank:
Pegging Mean Mary to a genre is a creative exercise. Her banjo-rocking vocal talents have confused the editors of Apple Music so thoroughly that her many albums on that platform have been assigned to the following categories: Rock, Country, Contemporary Folk, Alternative Folk, Singer/Songwriter, and Pop. That said, her website openly declares a dislike of “the commercial country-music scene.”
As for the Blazing album, the title track is one of two instrumentals. The other is “Lights, Guns, Action” which also features some blazing banjo and guitar playing. Her banjo skills come alive alongside her vocals in “Sugar Creek Mountain Rush.” You won’t hear any in the more pop-sounding “I Face Somewhere,” but I’ve still replayed it a million times in my car.
If I haven’t persuaded you yet of her banjo skills, here’s her Cripple Creek:
Overall Rating: 8
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