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“Modal Misery At Its Finest”

Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

The explanation of the title will reveal itself in the text below. But first, here are a few comments I heard while teaching this week:

Student playing “Cripple Creek” with a few minor errors : “My fingers are tongue-tied!”

Student learning to do the pull-off from 3 to 2 on the third string: “It’s like a reverse hammer-on!” (Never thought of that!)

And my favorite: Susan, commenting on Casey’s recent performance in Maryland: “Murphy, she was fabulous!”

Susan also filed a short report about the show:

OK, folks! Been there, done that, bought a T-shirt, which reads The Dixie Bee-Liners and sports the signature of Casey Henry, banjo diva for the group, who was kind enough to sign it for me! This was their second performance of a three-week tour which includes nineteen shows. The Weinberg Center for the Performing Arts in Frederick, Maryland, was the venue.

Being so excited to see Casey and her new band, I forgot to carry along my small pad of paper for note taking, but, hey, just kicking back and enjoying the event was definitely the way to go. The Bee-Liners were full of fire and verve as well as a sound that I like to describe as modal misery at its finest. Besides being creative, they put on an energetic show which could have only been improved, IMHO, by five or six more major banjo breaks by Casey! (There never seem to be enough banjo breaks to satisfy me, at least if I’m not the one playing them!) The entire show was completely entertaining and a not-to-be-missed performance. Definitely catch them somewhere along their tour route!

Thanks, Susan. Red and I are looking forward to seeing them Monday night at the Birchmere!

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 am and is filed under By Murphy, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to ““Modal Misery At Its Finest””

  1. Steve (in Japan) says:
    November 2, 2009 at 1:04 am

    I sure wish that I could’ve been there in Maryland to see the show but my situation wouldn’t allow me to. I like Casey, she’s a winner and an example for my daughter. Good work Murphy.

  2. Martin Bacon says:
    November 2, 2009 at 8:00 am

    “Modal misery” sounds good. I called it “Bluesgrass”. I think the banjo will gain prominence when they get to incorporate Casey into their new recordings.

    Marty

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