Tag: Max Allard

Tray Wellington Shares a List of Banjo Players Thinking Outside the Box

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

North Carolina musician Tray Wellington is fresh off a nomination for this year’s IBMA New Artist of the Year, following the release of his full-length debut album Black Banjo. Still in his early 20s, Wellington pulls from a myriad of influences — on his latest album he cites jazz as the major influence of his progressive bluegrass style. Many other banjo players of this younger generation are using the influence of genre and blurred genre lines, adapting and subverting narrative and traditions, and utilizing sheer unrestrained creativity to operate outside the traditional confines of the instrument.

In honor of BGS Banjo Month, Wellington gathered a collection of current artists who are thinking outside the box, creating their own voice on the banjo in new and innovative ways, and striving to make the banjo a better-known and appreciated sound.

Photo Credit: Dan Boner

We’re giving away a Recording King Songster Banjo in honor of Banjo Month! Enter to win your very own RK-R20 here.

LISTEN: Max Allard, “Fiori”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Max Allard
Hometown: Chicago
Song: “Fiori”
Album: Odes / Codes
Release Date: January 21, 2022

In Their Words: “I wrote this tune for our next-door neighbors, the Fiori family, on the day they moved away. It was bittersweet because they had been wonderful neighbors and friends. They were originally from Italy, and for a long time I thought their name meant fire, but I later learned it means flowers. In September of 2020, they left Chicago for someplace sunnier and warmer. I couldn’t blame them, but we knew we would miss them. The tune itself is written with a ragtime sensibility. Scott Joplin was an early influence for me, and I think his style rubbed off on me in some ways. It’s one of the more upbeat tunes on the album but still has melancholic harmonies and melodies.” — Max Allard

Photo Credit: Evan Sheehan

WATCH: Kat Wallace and David Sasso, “Somes Pond”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kat Wallace and David Sasso
Hometown: New Haven, Connecticut
Song: “Somes Pond”
Album: Old Habits
Release Date: October 1, 2021

In Their Words: “David wrote this instrumental tune at a cabin on Somes Pond, Mount Desert Island, Maine, last summer. We recorded this track at Dimension Sound Studios in Boston with David on mandolin and octave mandolin and Kat on fiddle joined by Brittany Karlson on bass and Ariel Bernstein on drums. In rehearsal, this harmonically adventurous tune called for a ripping solo section, and Kat suggested inviting friends to contribute to a big party breakdown. After a sparse melodic beginning and solos by Kat, David, and Brittany, Ariel launches the track into a funky groove with solos from this all-star cast of featured guests: Max Allard (banjo), Joe K. Walsh (mandolin), Mark Kilianski (guitar), Mike Block (cello), Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), and Mike Marshall (mandocello). A few harmonic twists bring the tune home.

“‘Somes Pond’ is the third single from our second album, Old Habits, which evolves from the raw and transparent fiddle/mandolin duo feel of our first album, Stuff of Stars, into a full band sound with guitar, bass, drums, and pedal steel. Our album’s eclectic songs explore the cyclical nature of life, love, and loss, taking inspiration from the isolation and pain of the past year’s pandemic yet reaching to find beauty in the blemishes of the human experience.” — Kat Wallace and David Sasso

Photo credit: Naomi Libby

LISTEN: Max Allard, “Rooster”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Max Allard
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Single: “Rooster”
Release Date: April 3, 2020

In Their Words: “My family and I have been keeping chickens in our Chicago backyard for many years. In the past, we’ve only had hens, but in the last round of chickens, we accidentally got a rooster. We named him J.D. Crowe, after the banjo player. He likes to crow, sometimes in the middle of the night. He gets confused in the city, where the line between night and day is sometimes blurry. He’s also skittish and he’s the first one to run in the coop if there’s danger approaching. I don’t think he’s doing a very good job of being a rooster. But he’s definitely entertaining.” — Max Allard

Photo credit: Rachel Allard