Friday: Something for the Musician - Foggy Mountain Breakdown

This week's "Something for the Musician" entry features Ben Clark.  I remember playing gigs with him in little Texas honky-tonk bars, where he was in the band opening up for us.  He was an amazing player back then... one day, I think I remember hearing this faint whoosh sound as he zipped right past me musically.

Since then, he has gone on to perform with artists such as Craig Morgan and Taylor Swift.  Most would consider that a solid success story... Ben resigned from Taylor's band to focus on a major publishing deal with his sisters and make his instructional videos & website.

Aside from being a friend and a great guy, I'm featuring Ben this week because he is an expert with the heart of a teacher.  Someday, in my own way, I aspire to be the same.

I've been watching "Banjo Ben's" instructional videos since he started making them.  Rather than trying to describe the indescribable, here is a classic video of his: Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

If you are interested in studying with Ben, he has quite a few free instructional videos on YouTube.  You can combine those with the TAB files and backing tracks on banjobenclark.com to get a full lesson.  He even does lessons over Skype!

Friday: Something for the Musician - Beautiful Things

Every now and then, I get lucky enough to come across a truly great recording of a beautiful song.  Sometimes these are recorded as solo acoustic pieces; other times they are full band performances.  This recording of Michael Gungor's "Beautiful Things" is both, and features Kyle Aaron, backed up by an all-star band consisting of Kyle Aaron, Kyle Aaron, Kyle Aaron, and... yes, Kyle Aaron (with some beautiful harmonies contributed by Erika Chambers).  I have yet to see someone come up with such a cleverly performed audition video.  Enjoy!

Friday: Something for the Musician - Stars & Stripes Forever by Chet Atkins

A brilliant musical performance transcends words, so I won't try to describe this.

The world lost one of her greatest musicians and I lost one of my heroes when Chet Atkins passed away in 2001.  Below is one of my favorite Chet performances.  I hope you enjoy!

Friday: Something for the Musician - Old Love

Today, a couple friends told me about a concert video with Brad Paisley and John Mayer.  I was more than a little excited to get home and search for some videos of this.  Out of them all, this one blew me away... I hope it does the same for you.




Thanks to Joel and Josh for hipping me to this.