banjar

a show last night at johnny d's in davis square. danny barnes, banjo virtouoso, oldtime songwriting wonder, ex leader of the bad livers. i have never seen a man treat an instrument as if he were playing 'with it', rather than playing 'it'. i mean to say, the banjo seemed almost seperate from him, as if they had an understanding before the show...
"now, i will hold you up properly, and pick the proper strings, and you just, you know, do your thing..how's that sound?"
"ok then."
...it was raw but flawless.
he played a few covers, including becks "loser" and george jones "he stopped loving her today" (which brought me to tears, of course, as that song always does, no matter the day or the hour).
check him out if you've never heard, you won't be disappointed: http://www.dannybarnes.com/