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Watch PBS Arts from the Blue Ridge Mountains on November 4 at 9pm EST.
The banjo's been called America's quintessential instrument, perhaps because its long and contested history has encompassed so many popular musical forms, from black folk styles and the 19th century minstrel show, to blues, ragtime, early jazz, old time folk and bluegrass. One of the biggest challenges of making Give Me the Banjo was trying to cover the full range and breadth of music that the banjo has helped to shape.
Ask Dr. Ralph Stanley what he's been playing for the last half century and he'll call it "old time mountain music." Enjoy these diverse performances from Cynthia Sayer, Taj Mahal, Rhiannon Giddens and Abigail Washburn. For more on the banjo's diverse styles and history, visit The Banjo Project.
Watch the full episode of Give Me the Banjo here.
Also, discover the Blue Ridge Mountain Art Scene at UNCTV.
Cynthia Sayer on playing the 4-string banjo
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Finding the Real Thing with David Holt
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Taj Mahal Performs "Slow Drag"
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From Kazakhstan to Kentucky
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Rhiannon Giddens Performs "Going to Write Me a Letter"
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Dr. Ralph Stanley's Museum
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David Holt is a multi-instrumentalist, storyteller, a regular on Hee Haw and host of the public TV show Folkways. In the late 1960s, Holt began searching out old time banjoists throughout the mountain south, hoping to learn from the last authentic folk survivors untouched by modern media. But, "authenticity" in folk music proved to be difficult to define.
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