Audio from the most recent edition of Mountain Stage, featuring music from Jerry Douglas and Jayme Stone can be found at NPR.org.

Douglas performs a set of music from his latest CD, Glide, along with his band: Luke Bulla on fiddle, Todd Parks on bass, Chad Melton on drums, and Guthrie Trapp on guitar.

His entire 30 minute set can be heard online.

Banjoist Jayme Stone visited Mountain Stage with Malian kora player Mansa Sissoko, with whom he recorded his most recent album, Africa To Appalachia. That CD won a Juno Award for Best World Music Album of 2009.

Audio for his 25 minute set is also available online.

About a month ago, banjoist Jayme Stone put together a special concert tribute to John Hartford, held at the Little Schoolhouse in the Pines in Salina, CO.

Hartford, of course, was both a celebrated songwriter and a genre-shattering live performer who dominated the bluegrass and folk festival circuit in the late 1970s and 1980s. His live show was almost always done solo with John switching between banjo and fiddle to accompany his distinctive baritone voice – with percusion provided by his amplified, non-stop clog dancing.

Stone’s concert outside Boulder on May 22 focused on the great songs Hartford has written, and some traditional songs he recorded. He was joined by Rich Zimmerman on mandolin and vocals, Ryan Drickey on fiddle and vocals, Brad Murphy on guitar, Ian Hutchison on bass, and KC Groves on vocals.

Audio from the show is available for free download from the Steam Powered Preservation Society.

Here’s a taste… the band playing what is surely Hartford’s most popular and successful song.

Our beloved five string banjo is getting its props this week from the jazz world, with both the venerable Down Beat magazine and AllAboutJazz.com giving space to prominent banjo jazzers.

Down Beat has B?©la Fleck on the cover of its June issue, on newsstands now, with an article by Geoffrey Himes. The piece looks at Fleck’s busy touring and recording schedule, and how much pleasure he derives from his work.

As soon as he finished the Flecktones’ tour last winter, he recorded his new album with bassist Edgar Meyer and tabla player Zakir Hussain. Then he went back out on the road with the Sparrow Quartet, the chamber-music/old-time string band led by Fleck’s girlfriend, Abigail Washburn.

When that ended at the end of February, he went into rehearsal for his March/April tour with some of the African musicians on his new album, Throw Down Your Heart (Rounder). At the same time he had to prepare the theatrical release of the documentary film of the same name about his 2005 trip to Africa. In June and July, he will tour again with a different set of African musicians. In September and October, he’ll hit the road with Meyer and Hussain to support their album with shows as a trio and with local orchestras.

Having rattled off this schedule, Fleck seemed more tired than before. But when he talked about the prospect of playing with Hussain, Washburn and the South African singer Vusi Mahlasela, his weary grin spread wider. It was as if he couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into but couldn’t wait to do it.

"There’s such pleasure in learning new music," he said. "I love busting my ass and feeling like I’ve got it. It’s hard for me to turn down the opportunities that come my way.

Look for the full piece in the print edition.

Canadian banjoist Jayme Stone is also featured in an interview this week at All About Jazz. He talks about how he retained his love for the banjo even as he became interested in performing as a jazz artist.

All About Jazz: What made you interested in jazz?

Jayme Stone: I love the spirit of invention, interaction and improvisation in jazz. Those qualities are something I try to bring to all of the music that I play and what I look for in other musicians. (more…)

Jayme Stone is two-for-two at the Juno Awards, honoring the best of Canadian music each year.

Last night (3/29), he picked up his second award for the Best World Music Album of 2009 for his Africa To Appalachia project with Mansa Sissoko. The CD features Stone on banjo and Sissoko on the kora, a West African banjo-like instrument.

The Juno site describes the album as follows:

Jayme Stone went to Africa to explore a hide-covered instrument with an “extra” drone string called the banjo – it comes from West Africa. During his trip to Mali, Stone found himself sitting in with Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra in downtown Bamako, lost in circles of Wassoulou polyrhythms and in a rural Dogon village with no electricity where he discovered a banjo predecessor unheard of in the West. From Africa to Appalachia is his new collaborative album with griot singer and kora player Mansa Sissoko, featuring guests Bassekou Kouyate (ngoni) and Casey Driessen (fiddle).

Jayme tells us that they had a wonderful time at the awards show in Vancouver, and sent along a few words about accepting this award.

“Mansa and I sincerely want to thank all of you who are reading this for your enthusiasm, generosity and ongoing support of our music. We feel really fortunate to be spending our days making music and the encouragement from our wide circle of peers, colleagues, friends, family and fans makes it all possible.”

Stone won his first Juno in 2008 for his banjo CD, The Utmost, in the Instrumental Album Of The Year category.

Congratulations to Jayme and Mansa for this accomplishment – back-to-back is quite a feat for a banjo picker!