It’s a day early, but it seemed appropriate to post it on New Year’s Eve:
Posted in Music, Solo banjo, Videos
Tagged alternate tuning, auld lang syne, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, mellow, solo, Solo banjo, video
Dedicated to the many clever, courageous, and cunning tailors of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This is track 6 on my new CD.
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Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, instrumental, mellow, new age, solo, Solo banjo, video
My solo banjo CD (or individual tracks) can now be purchased via electronic download from DigStation. The downloads are normal MP3s – unencumbered by any silly DRM.
You can also buy the disc locally in Minneapolis at the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor, located near the intersection of 66th & Penn.
Posted in Music, Solo banjo
Tagged banjo, benji flaming, CD, contemplative, mellow, new age, solo, Solo banjo
I am now in physical possession of my long-delayed solo banjo CDs. I’ll probably need another day or two yet, to set up some infrastructure, but I’ll begin taking/shipping orders on (or before) this coming Tuesday, December 1st.
Posted in Music, Solo banjo
Tagged banjo, benji flaming, CD, contemplative, new age, solo, Solo banjo
As promised a few hours ago, here’s the new video:
This is one of the new tunes written for the soon-to-be-released CD.
Posted in Solo banjo, Videos
Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, mellow, new age, solo, Solo banjo, video
With Monroe Crossing’s new CD, Heartache & Stone, set to release in a couple of weeks, I’m happy to announce that my solo banjo CD will following close behind. Specifically, my CD will be going on sale here at this web site shortly after midnight (Central Standard Time) on September 22nd, 2009.
The disc, which will be aptly (if unimaginatively) titled Solo banjo, is roughly half an hour in length, and contains 14 tracks, all of which are original solo banjo compositions. I’ve listened through the rough version several times with friends and family, and I’m very pleased with how the project is sounding.
Posted in Monroe Crossing, Music, Solo banjo
Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, Monroe Crossing, solo, Solo banjo
I recorded this video about two weeks ago, but my laptop decided that it no longer liked my video camera, and so I was unable to transfer the footage into my editing software until today.
I’ve been performing this piece at each of the holiday shows with Monroe Crossing, and I feel that both the arrangement and my ability to perform it have matured considerably since this video was recorded, but I’ve no quick-and-easy way to record a new video at this point, and Christmas is just around the corner.
This is a more recent iteration of a solo banjo arrangement I originally developed and recorded on my first album, “For Brian”, back in 1995.
Posted in Solo banjo, Videos
Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, bells, benji flaming, carol, Christmas, contemplative, mellow, Monroe Crossing, new age, solo, Solo banjo, video
An exercise in restraint. With the exception of the introduction and ending, this tune is composed from a palette of 9 harmonics.
For those of you who don’t play stringed instruments, perhaps I should explain that a “harmonic” (in this context) is a note which is played while lightly touching the string in one of several mathematically significant locations. The finger on the string prevents certain vibrations from occurring, while leaving other vibrations unobstructed. The result is that we hear a different pitch. If you want to know more, Google and Wikipedia are your friends. 
The title of this tune is, of course, a reference to the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. And yes, this will be on my upcoming solo banjo CD. 
Posted in Solo banjo, Videos
Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, harmonics, mellow, Monroe Crossing, new age, solo, Solo banjo, video
Thanks so much for all the positive feedback on the first video! I’ll be posting videos at least once a month for the next year or so, so keep checking back for more (or consider subscribing to my YouTube channel).
This is my oldest solo banjo composition. I started writing it sometime in the ’93 to ’95 range. This video contains a number of embellishments not present in the original version, of course, but the core arrangement and melody have always remained the same.
As with most of the tunes I’ll be posting here, this will be on my forthcoming solo banjo CD.
Posted in Solo banjo, Videos
Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, double c, mellow, Monroe Crossing, new age, solo, Solo banjo, video
Last night I tracked down the video camera, power adapter, tripod, and blank tape, and made a quick-and-dirty recording of one of my favorite solo banjo pieces. It was at that point that I discovered that the Firewire cables I had were all the wrong type to connect the camera to my laptop (and I’d moved my desktop machine to the studio a month or two ago). A quick trip to Micro Center today sorted that out, so here’s the video:
Freedom of improvisation is one of my favorite things about playing solo material. Sometimes, it’s fun to choose just the first couple of notes you are going to play, decide how fast you are going to play them, and then see where the melody wants to go from there.
It was during these improvisational pieces that the melody in this video kept appearing. It became one of my favorite things to play, both alone and with other musicians. Last year, during the Bell Buckle Music Cruise (in the Caribean, no less) a couple dear friends of mine wrote some beautiful lyrics for this, which also furnished the tune with the title “High Above the Hills”.
This will, of course, be on my forthcoming solo banjo CD.
Posted in Solo banjo, Videos
Tagged alternate tuning, banjo, benji flaming, contemplative, mellow, Monroe Crossing, new age, solo, Solo banjo, video