Something came to mind while reading the "best musician..." thread, and I hope there might be some feedback. Oh, and by the way, Heather made me contribute a dollar to the profanity kitty, for swearing in that one. Being Glaswegian, she's no prude..she's just found a great way to make money off me!

A few years ago, I was doing a guitar workshop at a festival, and had just played something in Maybelle Carter's style. (probably Miner's Blues) Someone yelled out from the audience. "Can you play something hard? Like Doc Watson"? Made me sad to think that perhaps quite a few folk just could not relate at all to the sheer genius of Maybelle and what she created, but could instantly click in to something with a ton of notes played at top speed. I was like that kid myself when I first heard Doc and was probably far more impressed with "flash" when it came to playing than the subtler approach that Maybelle used. Funny thing though, after thirty years, I've probably heard a hundred guitarists who can play super-fast(and well) but maybe ten (or less) who could do smoothly what she did.

Same with banjo. I'm amazed at some of the things that Bela Fleck or Tony Trishka can do, but this weekend on a trip to Buffalo (great folk venue there by the way) I listened to a couple of hours of the Stanley Brothers with Ralph's glorious repetitive simplistic and PERFECT banjo playing.

That's why I'll always love TRADITIONAL folk music above all else.

Rick