Great Big World

Liner Note Author: Béla Fleck.Banjo maestro Tony Trischka's other commitments have kept him from recording for nearly six years: producing Steve Martin's Grammy-nominated Rare Bird Alert, serving as musical director for the PBS documentary Give Me the Banjo, etc. Great Big World features mostly new tunes and a few re-visioned covers. Trischka's core band includes Mike Barnett on fiddle, Mike Compton on mandolin, Michael Daves on guitar and vocals, and Skip Ward on bass, but there are numerous guest appearances. Opener "Say Goodbye" was written for the memory of Kate McGarrigle. Trischka nods to Earl Scruggs' roll style (his first great stylistic influence) and pushes it an evolutionary stop up the chain. The track also includes lead vocals and guitar by Chris Eldridge, and burning fiddle by Barnett. The reading of Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" melds mountain folk and bluegrass with Trischka's expansive use of harmony. He doubles the time with Compton's mandolin, and underscores its lyric