Recapturing the Banjo

The earliest roots of the banjo trace to West Africa, but as the instrument made it to the New World in the hands of incoming slaves, it quickly found a home in the culture of white rural Americans. During the early part of the 20th century, the banjo still held a fairly significant position in African-American musical life, utilized by blues, jazz, and jug musicians alike, but by the 1950s, it had become predominantly identified with Appalachian folk and bluegrass (thanks in large part to players such as Pete Seeger and Earl Scruggs). Sadly, many black musicians shied away from the banjo because of its associations with slavery, minstrelsy, and backwoods. Yet, as the century closed, a new generation of black bluesmen found creative outlet in the instrument — Otis Taylor, Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Keb’ Mo’ among them — and these five kindred spirits form the core of this intriguing collection. Taylor contributes several harrowing originals, including “Ran So Hard the Sun Went Down” and “Simple Mind,” both benefitting from a four-banjo attack. Ron Miles adds cornet on a few tunes, including “Absinthe,” a sinister, second-line-style march that features Hart on lap steel and Keb’ Mo’s son on percussion, and the jaunty Creole children’s number, “Les Ognons.”