I've been able to attend several of these "roots" sessions at Banjo Jim's in New York City in the past couple of years, in my periodic vists to my brother's family in Brooklyn. Ken Schatz has been coordinating them. They take place one a month on Sunday evenings from 7 to 10 pm, with the particular Sunday varying from one month to another. Usually about 30 people show up, most of them singers, and what is most extraordinary (to me!) is that most of the attendees are under the age of 30. What you hear are revival/gospel songs, old English ballads, sea shanties, some newer songs composed in traditional style, and parodies of all of the above. Ken makes sure that everyone gets a chance to lead a song or two. Instruments are also welcome but most of the songs are unaccompanied with robust choruses or refrains.

Last evening the themes were "love" and "bones" which inspired some folks to be very creative. There were at least three versions of "Oh, the Wind and Rain." Someone lead the shanty "John Francois" with it's reference to "Bonny was a warrior." Ken and Heather Wood began the session with a stirring rendition of "Dem Dry Bones."

I contributed my adaptation of the John Masefield poem "Mother Cary" which describes her taste for "young brass-bounders beefy ribbed" so she and her mate Davy Jones can dine; my second song "The Spectral Fishing Fleet" featured rusty and rotted ribs of fishing boats rather than sailors but people seemed quite appreciative and joined right in on the chorus.

I believe the next session at Banjo Jim's takes place December 7th but check first on the Facebook page for "Exceedingly Good Song Night."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, temporarily in NYC