Across the Blue Ridge #90 - Adam Hurt, Banjo Innovator

In most fields of endeavor, we can point to landmarks in progress – and to the people who create them through their contributions. This week on Across the Blue Ridge, we focus on banjoist Adam Hurt, an innovator who's met the challenge of playing complex melodies beautifully on banjo in the old clawhammer style without sacrificing the banjo's characteristics as a rhythm and drone instrument. He's done this by taking traditional banjo and fiddle players including Kyle Creed and Ed Haley as inspirations, and building on their legacies to create his own trademark sound. We hear Adam Hurt and the band for his latest album, Artifacts, in concert at Muddy Creek Music Hall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We hear cuts from the album itself and from Hurt's earlier albums, plus recordings of older players Kyle Creed, Nathan Frazier and Earl Scruggs to provide context for what Adam Hurt is achieving. Hurt's interview segments with ATBR host Paul Brown illuminate the elements of chance, inspiration, focus and discipline involved in creating something genuinely new that also manages to respect traditions.

Playlist

1. Cumberland Gap/Bluegrass Meadows
   Adam Hurt
   Artifacts
    
2. Old Cow Died
   Nathan Frazier & Frank Patterson
   Southern Journey Vol. 1
    
3. Frankie Baker
   Fred Cockerham
   High Atmosphere
    
4. Randy Lynn Rag
   Earl Scruggs
    Flatt & Scruggs Vol. 3
    
5. Big Liza
   Kyle Creed & Emily Spencer
   Liberty
    
6. Catlettsburg
   Adam Hurt
   Insight
    
7. Break 1 - Rebel Raid
   Adam Hurt
   Artifacts
    
8. Wake Up Susan
   Adam Hurt
   ATBR recording
    
9. Black Jack Grove
   Adam Hurt
   Earth Tones
    
10. Say Old Man, I Want Your Daughter
    Adam Hurt & Stephanie Coleman
    Perspective
     
11. Old Joe Clark
    Kyle Creed & Emily Spencer
    Liberty
     
12. Break 2 - Liberty
    Kyle Creed & Emily Spencer
    Liberty
     
13. Georgia Railroad
    Adam Hurt
    ATBR recording
     
14. Maysville
    Adam Hurt
    ATBR recording
     
15. Lizzie In The Lowground
    Adam Hurt
    ATBR recording