Aaron Jonah Lewis: Mozart of the Banjo Album Release (makeup date)

6:30 doors, 7PM show

$20, $15 student/bridge card

VIDEO

VIDEO 2

Aaron Jonah Lewis is a champion fiddler who has been elbow-deep in  traditional American fiddle and banjo music since his first lessons at  the age of five with Kentucky native Robert Oppelt. Lewis has taken blue  ribbons at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV, and at  the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA, the oldest and largest  fiddlers convention in the country. He is also noted for his mastery of  multiple banjo styles.  He spends most of his time teaching, touring as a  solo performer, with the Corn Potato String Band, Lovestruck  Balladeers, and other projects.

Lewis has appeared on dozens of recordings from bluegrass and old  time to traditional jazz, contemporary  experimental and Turkish  classical music projects. He has taught workshops at the the Royal  Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and at the English Folk  Dance and Song Society in London. He also plays and teaches banjo,  mandolin, and guitar and is currently based in Detroit.

As a banjoist, Lewis explores some interesting veins in the roots of  Old Time, Bluegrass, Ragtime and Jazz music through his newest  recording, “Mozart of the Banjo: The Joe Morley Project.” This project  is devoted to the music of the great English prodigy and virtuoso  composer Joe Morley (1867-1937), who wrote a significant body of great  banjo pieces in a technique that people today call “classic  fingerstyle.”

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Mozart of the Banjo is just  spectacular! Aaron’s playing and overall musicality is just top notch.  Bravo, what else can I say? Tone is fantastic, timing is spot on, just  full of life. Piano playing is truly awesome. What a commitment —  astounding.  —Jens Kruger

I’m hugely impressed. Aaron brings back these good old days – I’m just loving it. Aaron is so deep inside this style and his playing is great. –Tony Trischka

Aaron could sit in with any of the greats, Ossman, Van Eps, Bickford, Spaulding, Bowen, etc., and be at home.  – Joel Hooks, American Banjo Fraternity