The legendary banjo player Tony Trischka joined us on-air to preview his local show at the Iron Horse. This show will feature some fine players including local hero and singer Tim Eriksen, Jared Engel on bass, Hannah Read on fiddle, Sean Trischka on drums along with a special appearance by Eleanor Buckland (formerly in Lula Wiles and presently on tour with Session Americana). The show is billed as a holiday themed show reprising Tony Trischka’s album “Of A Winter’s Night” with a new cast. Tony expects the show to be varied and not entirely holiday themed.

Our conversation starts with Tony describing his earliest work with “Breakfast Special” a progressive bluegrass adjacent unit from the mid-70’s to his assessment of the current younger generation’s talents. We discuss his award-winning project documenting some lesser-known Earl Scruggs recordings entitled “Earl Jam” and the possible (secret) Volume Two of those recordings.

We chat about the difference between writing instrumental tunes and songs like those from his “Shall We Hope” release which features original songs from mid-nineteenth century historical subjects. We also chat about his work in a roots salute to the music of Bob Dylan. Topics include Joe Val, shape note singing, and more. We include music from Tony’s holiday project as well as one from Tim Eriksen too. Give it a listen and grab yourself some tickets for the Iron Horse show on 12/3 or Club Passim on 12/4.

IronHorse.org for more info