JOE NEWBERRY: Two Hands

Joe Newberry

Two Hands

© 2005 5-String Productions (837101061490)

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A unique view into Joe Newberry's extraordinary musicianship - from his wonderful banjo playing to his great singing, guitar playing and fiddling. Two Hands also features four original songs that sound like they are from the tradition.

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ABOUT JOE NEWBERRY
Joe Newberry is a Missouri native and North Carolina transplant who has played music most of his life. His powerful and innovative banjo playing has won contests around the country, including first-place at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival.

A fine guitarist, fiddler, and singer as well, Joe plays with the band Big Medicine, which won first place Traditional Band at the 2002 Appalachian String Band Music Festival. He also can be heard playing banjo and singing with Bill Hicks, Mike Craver, and Jim Watson of the original Red Clay Ramblers. When not working as a writer and editor, he does solo and studio work, and teaches and performs at festivals at home and abroad.


ABOUT JOE'S PLAYING
I have had the pleasure of playing music with Joe Newberry for a number of years now, and I continue to be astonished at his talent as an instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Put a banjo, guitar, or fiddle in his hands, and it sounds like he has played it most of his life. Come to think of it, he has. However, if I think of one instrument that is exceptional in Joe Newberry’s hands, it is the banjo.

Joe’s banjo playing has long been heard as part of the band sound of such outfits as the Tar Heel Hot Shots and Big Medicine. Where he really shines, however, is as a solo player. When it is just Joe’s two hands a-playing, you get to really appreciate his style--based in traditional music, and inventive without going off in some esoteric direction. Driving at times, sensitive at others, with subtle complexity in rhythm and melodic variation. Beautiful tone, and real feeling. And it is the latter that I think will ultimately pull you in. Here is not a cold, mechanical banjoist, but a musician with heart to go along with his formidable chops. This is rooted music.

Joe may be innovative, but at the same time you can tell that he loves where he comes from and that his musical roots feed him. Although he lives in North Carolina now, Joe grew up in Missouri, a state also rich in traditional rural music; his Grandfather was a hunting and fishing buddy of the great Ozark folk song collector Vance Randolph. Singing old Ozark songs was part of Joe’s upbringing, and he intimately knows the music of some of the great Missouri fiddlers.

Along with his instrumental skills, Joe Newberry writes songs that you won’t forget; “Resurrection Day”, a personal favorite, is one of those. What it comes down to is this: Newberry makes some awfully fine music, and it’s the real deal. Listen and enjoy. Here’s a banjo, guitar, and fiddle in good hands.
--Kenny Jackson


SOME REVIEWS
Instrumentally or with verse, "Two Hands" is a treasury of early American music performed by an accomplished artist.
--Jack Bernhardt, Raleigh News & Observer

Put a banjo, fiddle, or guitar in Joe Newberry's hands, and the instrument comes to life. Along with Joe's singing, the combination is old-time music making at its finest.
--Independent Old-Time Music Store

For me, Joe Newberry’s command of the idiom sells the notion that if all the other music in this pulsing, throbbing inter-connected world of ours were to disappear one night, old-time banjo would be enough to get us through, and quite contentedly. Loosed from the band context (currently the fine North Carolina outfit “Big Medicine”), the Missouri-born Newberry’s banjo sings and dances with abandon...
--Pete Sutherland, The Old-Time Herald

One of today's elite old-time banjo masters...
--Elderly Instruments

"On This Christmas Day," (is) an original of Newberry's that deserves to become a Christmas classic.
--Mitch Finley, Inland Northwest Bluegrass Association

Joe's talent doesn't simply reside with reintroducing classic tunes, he is a gifted composer. His grandfather's memory of a cattle drive early in the last century inspired "Missouri Borderland." "Resurrection Day" teamed with "The Dusty Miller" was written in memory of a dear friend. "I Know Whose Tears" was inspired by the Kipling verse read at the funeral of Sara Carter. There's even a mini Christmas set at the end of the recording.
--Tom Druckenmiller, SingOut Magazine

I just received Joe's new CD, "Two Hands." It's exquisite...As the title implies, each cut is Joe alone--without overdubs or other players. And he really pulls it off. [I guess that's a pun...] If you're working on traditional banjo playing, especially Round Peak type stuff, this one's a must to hear....
--Bill Rogers

Mr. Newberry is a fine old-time musician who has chosen to feature his banjo playing on this 20 track production. He sings a few songs here in a pleasant, unpretentious manner, and he includes four originals in a program that is mostly devoted to his versions of some fine traditional pieces like ROCKY ISLAND, BREAKING UP CHRISTMAS, ROUSTABOUT, REUBEN, SANDY BOYS, COUNTRY BLUES and LOST GANDER. Newberry, who now lives in North Carolina and is a member of the group Big Medicine, does a fine, tasteful job here on a very enjoyable album.
--County Sales

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  • author: jim lansford

    this is a fine recording, hillbilly music at its best! fine singing,good recording, a hillbilly's dream......

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