@Leeneia - sorry, only just returned to this thread. It just started automatically when I went to the link, with a wee play/pause button bottom left of the screen. Hopefully you managed to get it to work.

Well, I watched it and while I did enjoy it, I was slightly disappointed in the mix of content overall. Too long spent on the early decades/minstrelsy etc for me, and too little on bluegrass and old time. Actually thinking about it now, there was nothing at all about the tenor banjo in Irish music, for instance, was there? That isn't my thing anyway, but given that it was supposed to be a comprehensive history....

Bluegrass didn't show up until extremely late in the film and we didn't really get on to recent/current players until the last 5-10 minutes (e.g. the great Tony Trischka). It was like they were galloping to fit in tiny snippets of as much as possible by the end.

Another thing I think they missed was any sense of the thriving scene of amateur banjo players at festivals, sessions etc across the US and Europe. Anyway enough of the whinging. I was grateful for what there was there, but I too would love to see some of the hours of extra footage.

Maria