The April 2012 issue of the Banjo Newsletter features Tom Adams interview with Ross Nickerson, founder of banjoteacher.com. Making a living with the banjo has always been a challenge, and the current economy certainly hasn’t made it any easier. But undeterred by the times, Ross Nickerson has succeeded at doing exactly that very thing. By keeping a number of irons in the fire—teaching private lessons and workshops, organizing banjo camps and cruises, producing instructional books and DVDs, recording CDs and performing live concerts—and then focusing all of these efforts through his website, banjoteacher.com, Ross has managed to create a thriving business and make the banjo his full-time endeavour. You can read part of the interview at www.banjonews.com
We also feature an interview with none other than Kermit the Frog—the first we know of that focuses on his banjo playing. As interviewer Bob Wright put it; "Take away his meteoric rise to superstardom in the movies and we could be hailing Froggy Mountain Banjo as a barometer of banjo bliss right beside Earl Scrugg’s magnum opus. Academy Award nominations...Grammy nominations...TV stardom...blockbuster movies...a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (four years before that other Hollywood banjo guy...what’s his name...)...whew... not bad for a little green banjo picker from Mississippi. A lot of great musicians grew up swatting flies in the Delta, and that’s enough to give anyone the blues. But one man’s swatted fly is a frog’s supper, and if there was ever anyone who could turn a bug into a banquet it’s the legendary Kermit T. Frog. Armed with talent, quick wit, a positive attitude, and a banjo, he hopped into our hearts and became a legend. Was he lucky? Right place at the right time? Maybe. But frogs are the poster boys for leading a charmed life...just kiss one and see what happens...and this is one frog who made it big in a way that any tadpole can look up to with pride."
Includes Ian Perry’s arrangement of Kermit’s signature song, Rainbow Connection, and Janet Davis’s tab transcription of the dueling banjo-guitar video that Kermit did with Brad Paisley. You can read the interview at www.banjonews.com (and listen to Ian's arrangement)
Donald Nitchie, Editor