Long-time students of bluegrass instruments will recall with fondness the name Oak Publications, a division of Music Sales that released some fine instructional manuals for banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass starting in the 1970s. While the brand has remained active since, some of those early titles have been unavailable for years - though AcuTab reissued their classic (and massive) - Masters of the 5 String Banjo book.

Oak has reprinted a number those early books, and two of particular interest to the bluegrass community are among them. Both Bill Keith and the late Vassar Clements had transcription books as a part of Oak’s Bluegrass Masters series - which also featured books on Kenny Baker, Jesse McReynolds and Clarence White - both reissued earlier this year.

Clements’ fiddle book was written by Matt Glaser, current chair of the string department at Berklee College of Music, and the Keith banjo book was written by Tony Trischka with Bill’s assistance. The Vassar transcriptions are in standard notation and the Keith in tablature. Both feature information on the recordings from which the transcriptions were taken.

Look for Oak titles wherever bluegrass instructional materials are sold.

HT: PlayBetterBluegrass.com

Banjo pioneer Bill Keith is interviewed in a lengthy piece published online by the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association.

Bill talks about his current musical activities and his involvement with a number of noteworthy ensembles in his younger days. He was introduced to most bluegrass fans when he joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1963, where he brought his then-embryonic melodic (or scalar, fiddle-tune style) banjo techniques to much wider attention.

Keith also performed with folk artists Geoff and Maria Muldaur, and found himself a part of what came to be considered a landmark ensemble called Muleskinner. This band featured such notable artists as Clarence White on guitar, David Grisman on mandolin, Richard Green on fiddle and Peter Rowan on guitar and vocals.

“Then, the plan was that we were to back up Bill Monroe in an appearance on the television show. So we got together and rehearsed and got a few numbers to do on our own…and so rehearsed the numbers we were pretty sure Bill would play – Foot Prints in the Snow, and Kentucky Waltz, and whatever. We had our rehearsal, and the next day we scheduled another rehearsal that Bill was supposed to come to. But we got a telephone call that he couldn’t make that rehearsal, so we added a few more tunes to what we could play on our own. The next day was a dress rehearsal in the morning and then taping in the afternoon. But Bill wasn’t there for the dress rehearsal and so we added a couple more things and of course the point in time came and he still wasn’t there, so we did the TV show on our own.”

The video of that show has been a collector’s item for fans of early 1970’s vintage modern bluegrass, and they went on to record a successful album as Muleskinner, which led to a release of the audio from the initial TV appearance.

Hear Muleskinner on Rhapsody or in iTunes.

Read the full interview online.

March 1, 2007 is the last date to take advantage of the early registration discount for the 2007 Smoky Mountain Banjo Academy. The event, held each spring near Gatlinburg, TN (hosted by Jack Hatfield), is scheduled this year from April 20-22. A $50 discount is offered for early registration.

Over the course of 3 days, more than 16 banjo instructors will conduct dozens of small classes and demonstrations, arranged by skill level, and offered for both old time and bluegrass banjo styles. There is also a faculty concert, a student banjo competition and plenty of organized and free-form jamming.

The faculty for SMBA ‘07 is rich with well known players and teachers: Eddie Adcock, Jason Bales, Dave Ball, Gary Davis, Janet Davis, Jack Hatfield, Bill Keith, Andy King, John Lawless, Randal Morton, James McKinney, Tom Nechville, Ken Perlman, Butch Robins, Rick Sampson and Snuffy Smith.

The name is apt, as everything takes place at the Wa-Floy Retreat, in the heart of The Smokies.

Find all the pertinent faculty, schedule and registration details on the SMBA web site.

This coming Tuesday (10/24), you can join 5 string banjo innovator and entrepreneur Bill Keith as he is interviewed on WorldWideBluegrass.com by Becky Taylor. Her show, Out-Of-The-Box, is cybercast live over the internet from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. (EDT), and it isn’t clear from the WWB site whether Bill will be online with Becky that whole time, or join the program at some point during that window.

WWB also maintains a Chat Room for listeners and fans, and Becky invites everyone - banjo pickers in particular - to log in during the show and suggest questions and follow ups for Bill. Becky is a banjo player herself, and promises to make this an interview of, by and for five stringers.

There is no fee or registration required to join the WWB chat. The only restriction is the number of users which the software will allow on simultaneously.

Here’s a nice group of photos from the Exhibit Hall.

Photos by Dave Carney © 2006

Lawson and Reno	Bull Harman	Dan Miller	Herschel Sizemore
The Huber Booth	Katy Daly	Bill Keith	Sewell and Leftwich
Reid and Baucom	Merriam and Bush	Ronnie Reno	Richard Gelardin
Danny Roberts	Roland White	The Smiths	Eberle and Vorndick

We have posted previously about the blogging efforts of noted banjo player and author, Butch Robins. His descriptions of his travels in Australia were the focus of most of the blog entries of late, but Butch also recorded impressions of his time at the recent IBMA convention in Nashville on his main news page, though told second hand through his webmaster.

Butch has just posted some exclusive video on the site, in which he discusses, describes and then plays his versions of two noted fiddle tunes, Sally Goodin and Grey Eagle. He uses this opportunity to discuss how Bill Monroe approached playing traditional fiddle music, and how much Butch learned from him during his tenure as a Bluegrass Boy. Butch also recalls the impact that Bill Keith had on the bluegrass and banjo scene when he introduced the melodic, or fiddle tune style, to a larger audience with Bill Monroe in the 1960s.

Both of these tunes are ones that Butch recorded 30 years ago on the recently re-released Forty Years late on Rounder Records, and are performed largely in that melodic style, influenced by the aforementioned approach that Bill Monroe would take. The video is in the QuickTime format and runs approximately 8 minutes.

There are other video clips and a number of photo archives available on the site as well.