This segment of Back Roads and Banjos looks at Curtis Skip James, one of the greatest Mississippi singers and guitar players, who picked up music at an early age and knew a great deal about living the hard life, adding a personal side to the blues music he played. Songs included in this segment are, Devil’s Got My Woman as the signature piece of Skip James, the religious tune Be Ready When He Comes and One of James’ masterpieces, Hard Time Killing Floor Blues which includes moaning, an art used in religious songs that conveys emotion without letting the devil understand what is being expressed.

Art pays tribute to his good friend Mike Seeger who passed away on August 7th of 2009. Seeger was both a musician and a song collector, much like Art, and their relationship spans back to Greenwich Village during the folk revival of the late 50′s/early 60′s. This tribute segment will highlight Seeger’s own performances.

Since our mainstream media suffers from a short attention span, its a good thing that we have Art Rosenbaum to redirect our thoughts back to the island of Haiti in this Backroads & Banjos segment devoted to the recordings that Alan Lomax captured while on honeymoon there in 1936. These recordings have been selected from the 10-disc box set “Alan Lomax In Haiti” that came out in November 2009.

In this 2 part series, Art explores the works of Hobart Smith. Smith was an Appalachian musician who played numerous instruments (fiddle, banjo, guitar, piano) and learned much of his technique from both black and white musicians in his surrounding area. In addition to some of the music of Hobart Smith, part 2 includes a interview with Smith conducted by American folklorist Alan Lomax.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Art begins the show by serenading the listener with an old-time tune on his banjo. While he notes that most American folk songs about love end in sorrow, Art makes an effort to focus on songs discussing courtship and more lighthearted fare.

Smokey Joe Miller played with 4 generations of the Tanner family in their Georgia old-time band called The Skillet Lickers. The band started back in the 1930′s and had a strong influence on traditional old-time music in Georgia. Smokey Joe Miller passed away in November and Art hosts Phil Tanner, a 3rd generation Skillet Licker, to tell about his memories of playing music with Miller.