Bluegrass SuperStar, Lou Reid, joins Dennis Jones in the Noon hour of “Goin’ Across The Mountain” Saturday April 21st, 2012.
An original of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, a member of Ricky Skaggs Country mega-hits band, working with Vince Gill, Vern Gosdin, two tours of duty with The Seldom Scene, Longview and his own fantastic group Carolina there will be much to talk about including their latest release on his own record label “Callin’ Me Back Home”.
In this episode, a bluegrass legend meets an up and coming regional act, a punk rocker of days gone by finally gets his solo debut, roots music stars mingle with Americana expatriates, and DJ For A Day returns, this time talking with Molly Kummerle of the band Paper Tiger about being a DJ -- not on the radio, but at a party, a “Molly Parti” to be exact. There’s also the Segue of The Week, which matches a lady Australian rocker with a post-punk classic.
The roots of the banjo trace directly to West Africa. White Southerners learned to play early gourd banjos, probably built from the African slaves’ memories. The banjo was popularized in the 19th century by minstrel shows. Though it seemed close to disappearing in the late 20th century, the African-American banjo tradition has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, led by such young artists as Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons, Jerron Paxton, and Amythyst Kiah.