Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Mike Seeger perform for a folk club in Paramus NJ. Mike played the full range of old time songs on old time acoustic instruments -- banjo (gourd & open back), guitar (a Martin 00-17), fiddle, autoharp, Jews harp, harmonica, and panpipes. He also sang a field holler acappella. Songs that he played included Freight Train, St Ann's Reel, Georgie Buck, Sourwood Mountain, Molly and Tenbrooks, Sally Anne, Shady Grove, an abolitionist-era song on gourd banjo, and many many others.
On one song, Seeger did something that I've never seen or heard before: he sang the song while accompanying himself on fiddle *and* rack harp.
For an encore, Mike came out and asked for requests. Sitting in the first row, I shot up my hand & asked to hear "Wildwood Flower" (which he teaches on his
Carter Family Guitar Styles DVD). Mike then decided to bring up two audience members to join him on the song --
Tony Trishka (world-class banjo player) and
Drew Smith (world-class autoharp player). Great stuff!
I posted a few more pics are
here
