That came about because I'd done a couple of electric band records for Rounder records and it was time to go back to bluegrass, which has always been a part of what I've done, even when it was an electric band. And I decided it was an acoustic bluegrass album, which I had not done since 83 or 84 ... So I contacted Rounder records and Ken Irwin, whom I’ve known since the 70s, I said, "Ken I want to do a bluegrass banjo album," and he said, "How about a double banjo album? Otherwise it'll be just another banjo album." Because, he said, "If we have a double banjo album, it'll have a little more of a hook, you play with these other people, a little more of a commercial edge." I’d like to sell some CDs, so okay, fine.
I just started calling people up, just as you were saying. I wanted Earl Scruggs, of course, which I knew was somewhat of a longshot even though I had been in contact with him and his wife Louise, who is his business manager, about some other things. He said yes. Wow! It doesn’t get better than that, it was a huge honor. And Bela Fleck has been a good friend of mine for years, so he said fine.
We recorded in this studio in his house, and it was really just that. And of course the other main name on the CD Is Steve Martin. I've been in touch with his "people" or "person" about doing a concert with him in New York City. The concert never came to pass, but I'd established this bridge. So I got in contact with this person and said do you think Steve would be interested in being on this album? Yes! Oh absolutely.
So, then virtually everyone else said yes. Once you have Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck and Steve Martin on there, everything else is cake. There's one person I wanted to have on there that just didn't work out, but I'll get them on the next go-round.
You have a new record coming out on Smithsonian [Folkways] next year. Can you talk a little about that?
Yeah, my former agent knew someone at Smithsonian Folkways. In addition to the electric band, I've been doing a lot of solo shows, and the last solo project I had out was with Bela Fleck in 1983 called Solo Banjo Works. And it wasn't reflecting what I was doing today. So [my former agent] kept saying, "Well you've got to do a solo banjo album," and I [told her] Rounder won't want to do a solo banjo album, they just won’t, because they want something more commercial than that.
She had a friend at Smithsonian Folkways and that's how it came to pass. She said yes, primarily it would be a solo banjo album with a few other tracks—duo, trio, maybe a band thing or two—but primarily it’s slo.
So Anyway, I got all the solo stuff done even before Double Banjo came out. What happened with [that,] ... I lost my own bluegrass focus. There was a lot of bluegrass on it, but then I decided to do a track with Pete Seeger and ... Mike Seeger. Some turn of the century parlor music, some with a friend of mine from California named Bill Evans. I finished off the whole thing, sent it off to Rounder, and my contact was like, "Wait let's put some more bluegrass on this." It was bluegrass, bluegrass, bluegrass!
So I took off about five tracks, rerecorded another three or four, and that became the Double Banjo [album] the way it ended up being. I took those tracks that were not bluegrass enough and stuck them on the Smithsonian Folkways album. And then we decided to add a little more bluegrass, and I recorded another four tracks with my current band.
Is there anything this week that you're looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to the awards show. I'm doing a special event thing at the awards show. Kind of coming out of the Double Banjo thing. A song called, "Doggie Salt." There's a bluegrass song called "Salty Dog," and I took the chords and did them backwards, so, "Doggie Salt." But it's going to be me playing with three other banjo players. There are already two on double banjo, but this is four banjos.
Are you nervous about your nominations at all?
I’m not nervous. Now that the speech is over, I'm not nervous about anything [laughs]. No, the nominations, are a great honor and everyone is certainly worthy in the categories. I’m not counting on winning. It's just [bound to be] a great night.
