Spontaneity, Bottled for your Consumption

This entry was posted by on Wednesday, 19 July, 2006 at

A couple of weeks ago, it seems that the leader of our Friday Night Jam group decided to secretly record the dozen or so of us. He gave us a CD last week, and the results are surprising! For one, I’m singing really out of tune on the one song I lead… I wouldn’t have been so sloppy if I knew I was being memorialized!

The really great track, however, was Freeborn Man. It’s just so much fun to listen to. Straight up bluegrass, not too fast or slow…. seven minutes of selfish giddy music. The song is led by one of our excellent electric guitar players,and he really leads the song. He calls on people to solo (me, a mando player, another electric player), and even does this great “build up” from drums and bass to full ensemble. I love the sheer joy in this performance.

And I’m not even too ashamed of my banjo playing: you can hear me keeping a steady syncopated beat all the way through. I do a short solo near the beginning, and a longer one about 5 minutes into the recording. Nothing stellar, but at least I’m comfortable with the limited improv. 🙂

You can download the mp3 here.

Category: Banjo
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One Response to “Spontaneity, Bottled for your Consumption”

  1. mom
    July 20, 2006 at 6:51 am

    I played Freeborn Man this morning at about 6:30 AM. The volume was turned way up and I may have disturbed my neighbors, but I didn’t much care — the music was so joyful. What a great way to wake up to the day!! Thanks, Ben.