Art looks at the career of blues and gospel musician Rev. Gary Davis. As an infant in Laurens, South Carolina, Davis was mistakenly given medicine to help his vision that led to him going blind at a young age. Much like many other Southern African-Americans who went blind at a young age, Davis turned to music as a way of helping him cope with a life that included his other seven siblings dying at a young age and his father being shot when Davis was 10 years old. As a figure in the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s in New York City, Davis spent time teaching emerging musicians like David Bromberg, Dave Van Ronk, Ernie Hawkins and Stefan Grossman. This segment not only cover the gospel music that Davis is most often associated with, but also some of the secular blues that Davis could play just as well.

Art takes a look at one of his recordings with Howard Finster from 1984. This segments focuses on one track from the recording that has Finster recalling events from his childhood. While in previous segments we have heard Howard’s music and his signature animal calls, this track features Finster as a storyteller, a yodeler, a singer and of course features his ability to communicate with nature through his signature animal calls. Stories range from how he “got right” and how his discovery of electricity led to great pranks with chickens, dogs and young neighborhood girls.

As many historians look back at 150th anniversary of the start of the civil war, Art looks at some of the songs written during the Civil War. Art takes performances of these wartime naval classics from a new collection from a Smithsonian Folkways collection called Civil War Naval Songs: Period Ballads from the Union and Confederate Navies, and the Home Front.

Art takes a look at the works of Uncle Dave Macon, one of the key figures in old timey music history. Uncle Dave Macon, also known as the Dixie Dewdrop, gained regional fame as a vaudeville performer in the early 1920s before going on to become the first star of the Grand Ole Opry in the latter half of the decade.

On this episode of Backroads and Banjos, Art looks at Easter and Passover songs sung by African American performers. Songs featured in this episode include “Go Down Moses” by Paul Robeson, “He Never Said a Mumbling Word” by Sister Fleeta Mitchell, “Hush and Listen” by Willie Gresham, and “The Lord is Risen.” These recordings come largely from Easter Sunday services in African American congregations through the years, and include musical traditions such as lined-out hymns.

Art takes a look at the life of Clarence “Tom” Ashley. An entertainer before he could walk, Ashley was born in 1895 in his father’s boarding house in Bristol, TN. Unlike many old-timey musicians of the time, Clarence Ashley was more than simply a back porch musician. His career included spending time traveling with medicine shows, entertained in coal-mining camps, and recording with Ralph Pierre