Don Reno interviewed by Pete Wernick at Fincastle festival 1965

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ม.ค. 2025

ความคิดเห็น • 9

  • @mandolinman2006
    @mandolinman2006 10 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    There are times I think I hear Sonny Osborne playing. Definitely a gem of a recording n

  • @budahbaba7856
    @budahbaba7856 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Funny, but back in the 1980's when i lived in Colorado, i was just discovering Don Reno, and really wanted to learn more about his playing. So, since i owned a copy of Peter Wernick's banjo book, & Mr Wernick just lived up the highway a bit from me, i sent him a letter hoping he could point me in the right direction. Much to my surprise, Pete actually took the time to give me a call back at my parents house! Imagine that! :) We had a real nice conversation. Unfortunately he also informed me that Don Reno had passed away right about the time i had first picked up the banjo, and so whatever i wanted to learn would probably be on my own. Keep in mind too, that at the time, most of Don's recordings, especially the older material with Red Smiley was out of print. Sometimes old copies could be had from record auctions & the like, which tended to get real expensive real quick. There was some tablature to be had too if you could afford to back-order copies of certain banjo publications ...i can't remember the names anymore. But as a school kid in the 1980's none of these seemed very realistic options to me, and my ear was never quite good enough to figure out Reno's playing just from the limited recordings i had access to, so i never really could emulate my banjo hero, Don Reno.
    Wow... the internet has made all those things so much more accessible than they were for me growing up! :)
    And i always loved that Reno picture at 1:07. You just don't get cooler than that for a banjo player! ;)

    • @renoman
      @renoman  7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I completely understand. I started playing in the early 90's. It was a time before the internet and before CDs even took off. So I had to learn the old fashioned way...from records!! I didn't even know about tab then. And not many banjo players around me even played Reno tunes. I had to struggle for hours and hours trying to figure out what Don was doing. It was hard work but I think it made me a better musician having to learn by ear. But the frustration I experienced as a kid led me to create my youtube channel. My main goal was to make learning Reno style easier. And hopefully my instruction videos and rare Reno recordings I upload can help keep Reno style alive. You should join the Reno and Smiley Fan Club on facebook. I've got a bunch great pics, tabs, articles, song books, etc. that you can download there. facebook.com/groups/renoandsmileyfanclub/

    • @budahbaba7856
      @budahbaba7856 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I'm sure it helped you a lot. Successfully pursuing a difficult goal to its conclusion is not just a music skill, but a life skill. One that i have performed very poorly at over the years, truth be told. As for Facebook, i just don't do it, and trust me, the world is a better place for that! :)
      Something that struck me about this interview was Don Reno recounting the story of his early career. Some parts of that story are given with a good bit of detail. One part that is left out entirely however, is the unexpected death of his cousin Vernon Reno, whom he was starting a band with after leaving the Bluegrass Boys. Both in his autobiography and in song references, it is clear this was one of those defining events in his life. He seemed to be very close with that cousin, and i can understand him not mentioning it again. But i must admit, as his narrative approached that event, i was curious if he would go ahead and talk about it. It was like i could sense him approaching it, feeling his way through it, exploring his options. He goes as far as to mention his cousin & their plans, but then suddenly decides not to rehash those memories and skips over it into the next chapter. Rest in Peace Don and Vernon. :)

    • @renoman
      @renoman  7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I don't totally disagree with you about FB. I'd really rather not be on it to be honest. There are many great things about it but also MANY bad things as well. The bad out weight the good in my opinion. I am mainly on there to run the Reno and Smiley Fan Club. But honestly the world would be a lot better off without social media in general. The death of Verlon Reno and his mother had a profound affect on his career and life in general. As well him joining the army instead of taking the job with Monroe. Those things more than any other shaped his life and career that followed. Another interesting tid bit about this interview is when Pete Wernick naively says "So you didn't follow Scruggs exactly?" I know Reno well enough and I can tell that irritated him a little. And I don't blame him. That's why he says "I was the first one with the style." And proceeds to tell the story about learning from Snuffy Jenkins and going into the army etc etc. Don wanted to set the record straight that HE was playing three style before Earl. In 1965 Flatt and Scruggs were at the height of their popularity and people thought Earl invented the banjo at that point. lol And I am sure it would be a little annoying to Don to have people constantly giving Earl all the credit for three finger banjo playing. I don't think Pete meant any disrespect really. I just don't think he knew the history at that point. He was still really young. Listen to the interview I have posted with Hub Nitchie and Don. Don talks about how Earl used to come watch him play every week at his radio show back when they were young. I found that very interesting. Obviously Earl was coming to watch and pick up ideas from Don. Which is understandable. There were very few folks playing back then, especially three finger style banjo. I would have done the same thing. But this also corresponds to the story he told Pete. So in reality Don influenced Earl, not the other way around. BUT ironically it weren't for Earl taking the job with Monroe, Don probably would not have developed the style we know today. It's very interesting how they helped create each other and changed bluegrass music as we know it. I wrote a whole article in Banjo Newsletter about this very thing a few years ago when I used to do the Reno Workshop column for them. banjonews.com/2010-08/licks_and_letters.html

    • @slowpoke7759
      @slowpoke7759 6 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Jason Skinner I knew a very old man who played the banjo with the three finger style back in 30’s who is never mentioned anywhere. His name was Lawrence Wright and lived over Windy Gap Mountain in a farm house that used a cut wood cook stove and block ice refrigerator. When my daddy would get a call from friends for a shindig somewhere he would round a fiddle player, across the street from him was a dobro player. Then dad would call a mandolin player he played music for years with and mandolin player knew a man that played an upright bass. They would all meet at Lawrence Wright’s house and rehearse. The music was as good as anything heard at Cantrell’s Farm in 1965. I was only 6 years old back then and for years this would take place.
      When Lawrence Wright got to old to play, there was another man that lived just north of Franklin county line in Roanoke County. His name was Leroy Stanback. He was as good a banjo picker as the ones bluegrass called the great ones. Been around bluegrass for a long time. My dad had a Martin D-28 and could mimic Lester Flatt. During the mid-60’s into the late 1970’s, he could cover Bill Monroe’s voice when needed.
      I was at Cantrell’s Farm festivals in 1965, 1966, 1967. My dad played music with all the musicians over the several days of those festival and I was there to see it all three festivals. Some of the best music was played on there buses. Since we lived near by, the festivals were easy to get to and watching all of those musicians recognize my dad and playing music with him was great. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

    • @AndySalinger33
      @AndySalinger33 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Budahbaba wow! what a great story!!!!

  • @jmmyheffernan
    @jmmyheffernan 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    NICE!!!!!!
    I THOUGHT I HEARD BILL KIETH ON STAGE PLAYING DEVIL'S DREAM!!!!!

  • @Roses_R_redeR
    @Roses_R_redeR ปีที่แล้ว

    🪕🪕🥀⛽️🎭🪕🪕