Friday, December 21, 2012

“The Dream”

Welcome to the all-time latest edition of Banjo Friday ever—"latest" in every sense of the word. Really, I’m a bit sheepish to post this when Friday is almost become Saturday back east. But it will remain the top post on the blog all day tomorrow. I’m also confident we won’t encounter another snafu with this piece as we did with Thursday’s ill-fated Guitarists We Like post; that video, featuring John Fahey’s singular version of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” was blocked by UMG & wouldn’t play on the blog, despite the fact it had played on YouTube itself the evening before.

This evening—or tomorrow, or whenever you come across this—we have more classic banjo with this month’s featured artist, Rob MacKillop, & another piece from late 19th century banjoist & composer Frank Converse, whose works are a staple among classic banjo enthusiasts. It really is a lovely, delicate piece, played with great sensitivity by MacKillop on a  Thomson and Odell banjo from Boston, dating to around 1890. MacKillop is using Aquila Nylagut strings, a brand with a good reputation not only with nylon string banjo players, but with uke players as well.

Enjoy!
Image of Mr MacKillop links to its source at banjocrazy.com
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2 comments:

  1. Dominic RivronDecember 22, 2012 at 2:23 AM

    Intriguing. I looked on Wikipedia for Frank Converse and it only had an entry for the actor of the same name. I wonder if they were related? I found some info on the composer elsewhere - but there should be a wiki entry for the man.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 22, 2012 at 12:11 PM

      Hi Dominic: There isn't a whole lot of information about him online, & yes, it's surprising there isn't a Wikipedia entry--certainly he deserves one. One or two of his books have been reprinted recently.

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