Art Rosenbaum, like
Mike Seeger and
John Cohen and other urban folk revival survivors, fell under the spell of traditional Appalachian music in the 1960s, and has spent his lifetime promoting it, seeking it out, writing about it (four books, including a banjo instruction manual), and most importantly, playing it.
Rosenbaum has developed a variety of finger-picked and clawhammer styles on banjo, and though his voice is a bit pitch-challenged and wavering, that’s the way you’re supposed to sing this stuff, at least if it’s a facsimile you’re after, and that is the goal here.
Georgia Banjo Blues is a stripped-down affair, with most tracks just
Rosenbaum solo on banjo, and for the record, few of these tunes are in the blues category. The playing is studied and back-porch, the singing is, well, appropriate, and in the end, the whole project emerges as a charming and subtle primer of the genre. Highlights include the eerie and haunting “How Come That Blood on Your Sleeve?,” a breakneck version of “John Hardy,” a joined medley of “Coal Creek March” and “Last Payday at Coal Creek” (pieces usually associated with old time banjo player
Pete Steele), and a credible
Dock Boggs impersonation on “Want to Go to Cuba but I Can’t Go Now,” although
Boggs never attempted anything at the velocity
Rosenbaum uses here. The goal of
Rosenbaum,
Seeger,
Cohen, and the so-called “Young Fogies” isn’t to innovate, but to replicate and preserve this fascinating music, and
Georgia Banjo Blues does its part with a very special charm and joy.
