Passing the Banjo
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(Producer: Jennifer Deer + Shea Shackelford) Joe Thompson, an 86-year-old native of Mebane, NC, is perhaps the last African-American fiddler playing square dance music who actually grew up in this tradition. 28-year-old Rhiannon Giddens of Durham, NC, is one of a handful of black banjo players excited about carrying on the tradition. Joe opens his home to young musicians like Rhiannon who are interested in learning the songs and the style of music heâs been playing his whole life. Rhiannon takes you along on one of her visits to see Joe. A special thanks to both of them for spending some time with us. A shorter version of this piece aired on Weekend America on 7/30/05. [Photo credit: P. Thompson] Ps. Jeep2This is officially the longest piece ever run at Big Shed! The piece itself is 14 minutes, but we had a trainwreck/adventure while recording the intro/outros for this piece. For better or for worse, we thought we should just share what resulted with you in real time. Just stay tuned after the actual story about Rhiannon and Joe. (-:
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