Banjoholic, Mary Z. Cox, third generation Floridian, has played banjo since she was 12, and is a two time Florida banjo champion. Mary Z has been a recording artist since 1999, and records cds, plays concerts & festivals, gives workshops, and authors banjo & dulcimer instruction books. Her music has been played on National Public Radio’s, “Thistle & Shamrock”, “All Songs Considered,” Pandora World Music Genome, & the BBC. Mary’s version of the traditional song, “Sally In the Garden” will be in the soundtrack of an upcoming film in the Hunger Games series.
Girl With the Banjo Tattoo, her most recent cd was selected as a “Best Banjo CD of 2011” by the editor of Banjo Newsletter. Mary has 7 cds and 7 instructional books in print and she is grateful and humbled that so many folks from all over the world order and download them and write to say how much they enjoy the music and the instruction.
Mary [...]
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It's mostly solo banjos--open back old time, cello, cigarbox and more with a few extra instruments here and there and some really good tunes.
The tab book with have the new tunes plus the tunes on "Drumming On the Edge Of Banjo."
Back to work :)
Hope to see you at the Florida Folk Festival in May 2011 :)
Drumming On the Edge Of Banjo/ Back Story
This is not another African roots meets modern banjo cd. It began as an American story--a blend of Afro/Caribbean, Celtic, old time, and a fusion of American music from the 17th to the 21st century.
It began with "The Old Plantation" painting from the 1700s. Two men are pictured playing a banjo and drum for a dance--and we wondered--where would that music have taken them with today's awesome banjos and drums and the freedom to choose their musicians?
We chose Yazid for this project because he is not African--but African American--and his drumming has a heavy Caribbean as well as African flavor. He more accurately reflects the feel of the music in colonial America gone modern--more than current African/American blends. :)
Mary Z’s family roots are Scotts, Irish, English, Hungarian and Bohemian. Her Celtic ancestors came to the Americas in the 1600s and 1700s and her middle European ancestors in the 1800s. We believe we have thrown the [...]
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It’s very old and new at the same time--we believe it's our best CD yet. Afro/Caribbean drumming with Celtic claw hammer frailing fusion banjo. Entirely acoustic with fresh blends of banjos, cello banjo, djembe, congas, mountain dulcimer, dulcimette, guitar, bass, pots and pans, and featuring George Clinton singing "John Bowlin's Groundhog Strut."
