Danny Barnes' How to Play the Banjo, Part I

http://www.dannybarnes.com this video produced by Wiant Productions http://www.wiant.com The banjo stirs a feeling of timelessness with its old time/bluegrass/folk associations. Danny Barnes builds with these base molecules of the instrument's heritage, sculpting a sound with one foot in contemporary technological landscapes, another in deep running traditions, and arms waving free in outer space. Found audio samples merge and crash as the instrument's high picking peaks and valleys of bassy depths loop in a journey through the American heart of darkness and back towards the light. Add the free form jazz of Ornette Coleman to the legacy of Dock Boggs, remix it with DJ Shadow, and view it through a DIY punk aesthetic and you have some idea of Folktronics. Live, on studio or homemade records, and through the countless concert recordings that circulate in the taper scene as word-of-mouth gems, Barnes is a sonic pioneer, hacking through the underbrush with his musical weapons of choice, banjo as compass. Sarah Hagerman, jambase.com - - - - "Music needs to change...grow and evolve...be constantly inspired through the work of the people that create it. Thank God we have a man like Danny Barnes leading the way...a true hero and resounding voice to those who are smart enough to listen." Jeff Austin, Yonder Mountain String Band - - - - Danny Barnes has recorded with and/or played onstage with: tim o'brien (hot rize) bill frisell chuck leavell (rolling stones, allman brothers) dave matthews band robert earl keen bad livers bela fleck yonder mountain string band jello biafra (dead kennedys) wayne horvitz butthole surfers government mule leftover salmon chris thile greg leisz robin holcomb al jourgensen (ministry) jenny scheinmann lyle lovett eyvind kang infamous stringdusters sam bush robbie fulks keller williams nick forster darol anger del mccoury john popper dave alvin - - - - "like all great neo-traditionalists he can string together snippets of traditional tunes and lyrical fragments from dozens of folk and country songs, and come up with something that's instantly recognizable and yet brand new." - Harp "yet nothing he plays smacks of novelty, gimmick or willful eclecticism; instead, the selection provides the measure of a voracious musical appetite and a large soul." - No Depression "the label 'true original' gets bandied about too often these days, but danny barnes deserves it." - Paste "barnes' original numbers sound as wonderfully aged as standards" - Time Out New York "barnes' countrified tack belies an intellect as wryly cutting as randy newman, fingers as soulfully nimble as ry cooder's and a sense of history whose fervency rivals t bone burnett's- did we forget to mention charles ives and r. crumb? -yet the sum of his sound is distinctively his own." - amazon.com "an eclecticism that's nothing less than endearing and simultaneously visionary." - all music guide "highly recommended." - Music Corporation "this is the way forward for bluegrass." - Mojo "danny barnes is the coolest songwriter i have heard in ages. i can't stop listening to his records and have played them over and over.... - Chuck Leavell (stones, allman brothers) "he's an original. he's the real deal." - Bill Frisell