banjo

New folk records

Richard Gordon

There was no guest on Tu May 9, 2017’s The Music Room. So we played new records. The Music Room airs every Tuesday, 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. on WVUD, 91.3 FM, Newark DE (University of Delaware) and streams live on ShoutCast and TuneIn. Playlist below:

Artist / Song / Disk / Disk Released

Mélisande [électrotrad] / Je suis née en automne / Les millésimes / 2017

Harpeth Rising / Shades of Orange / Against All Tides / 2017

Hanneke Cassel / Conchas Chinas, Walks with Yih Wen, Simon Desilets of St. Louis, Trip to Walden Pond / 2017

Andrew Vogts / Sadie at the Back Door / Sasquatch with an Alien on It’s Head / 2017

The Bucking Mules / Smoke Behind the Clouds / Smoke Behind the Clouds / 2017

Noam Pikelny / My Tears Don’t Show / Universal Favorite / 2017

Brad Kolodner: Charm City Junction

julgiamb

2591867 At the Delaware Valley Bluegrass festival on Sept. 4, 2016, Mandorichard sat down with Brad Kolodner, banjo player for the acoustic roots quartet, Charm City Junction. Brad is rooted in the traditions of Appalachian folk music, and embodies the next generation of old-time musicians both respecting the music that’s come before and modernizing the tradition with his artistic style and original compositions. In addition to touring and recording with Charm City Junction, Brad also performs with his father Ken Kolodner, a world-renowned hammered dulcimer player.

According to their website, Charm City Junction “creates a fresh soundscape” that has “taken the acoustic music scene by storm.” Patrick McAvinue, fiddle; Brad Kolodner, clawhammer banjo; Sean McComiskey, button accordion; and Alex Lacquement,upright bass blend their different musical backgrounds together creating a common ground on which to develop their unique sound. Charm City Junction released their debut album in the fall of 2015, and are at work on their next CD.

Mandorichard especially enjoyed talking with Brad about his gig as a weekly radio DJ for WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, a 24/7 Internet bluegrass and folk radio station in Washington D.C. “The Brad Kolodner Show” is a radio program that features contemporary bluegrass, americana and old-time music, as well as interviews with touring bands passing through the D.C. area.

To learn more about Brad and Charm City Junction, check-out our interview!

The Interview

Brad Kolodner hosted by Mandorichard. Recorded Sept. 4, 2016. First aired Oct. 4, 2016.
28:37
54.9 MB

The Music

Artist Song Album Year
Charm City Junction Train on the Island Charm City Junction 2015
 Ken and Brad Kolodner  Bradley’s Tune (excerpt)  Otter Creek  2010
Charm City Junction Joe Banes’ Barn Dance Charm City Junction 2015
Red Tail Ring I’d Rather Be The Devil (excerpt) Fall Away Blues 2016
Charm City Junction I’m Troubled Charm City Junction 2015

Kristin Scott Benson: Banjos, Cookies, and Grascals

Richard Gordon

Kristin Scott Benson (Photo courtesy Bluegrass Today)Mandorichard had such a great time chatting with banjoist Kristin Scott Benson on July 16, 2016 (while subbing on WVUD’s Fire on the Mountain), that he also shared the interview with the audience for WVUD’s The Music Room.

Kristin talked about her family, playing banjo with the Grascals, and her new CD, Stringworks (Release Date: July 22, 2016. Amazon.com link).

When we caught up to her, she, her husband–mandolinist Wayne Benson (IIIrd Tyme Out), and their son Hogan, were getting ready to pay a visit to a cookie store on their way to a Grascals show. It was interesting to hear Kristin talk about their family life, her childhood growing up in a bluegrass family, Stringworks, playing with the Grascals, her approach to banjo playing and song writing, some of the artists she admires–it was a great conversation!

Learn more about Kristin and her new record by checking out the podcast.

Listen to the Interview

Kristin Scott Benson. Host: Mandorichard, recorded live on WVUD’s Fire on the Mountain, July 16, 2016; TMR debut: July 19, 2016.
26:06
25.1 MB
(Note: Due to copyright restrictions, the podcast contains excerpts of two of the tracks played in the radio broadcast.)

The Music

Artist Song Album Year
The Grascals Warm Wind (Excerpt in podcast.) And Then There’s This… 2016
Kristin Scott Benson Great Waterton Stringworks 2016
Kristin Scott Benson Foggy Mountain Top (Intro and outro: 1941 recording of Whitey and Hogan. Excerpt in podcast.) Stringworks 2016