Bill Evans Plays Banjo (Native & Fine 906-3) came out in 2001 on the banjoist’s own label. It was his second solo album, after Native and Fine (Rounder, 1995). The thirteen tracks include “Petersburg Gal,” “Meadows of Dan,” “Corey’s Slide,” “Leaving Owensboro,” “Lonesome Polka” and “Granite Chief.” Don Rigsby sings on the closing track, “Heavy Traffic Ahead,” the only vocal the Bluegrass Discography lists.
A February 2003 item in the Northfield News said the album was named a Top 10 Bluegrass Recording of 2001 by the Chicago Tribune and spent four months in the Top 10 of the Bluegrass Unlimited charts.
Evans was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1956. His first band was Cloud Valley, based in Charlottesville, which made two albums in the 1980s. He later earned a master’s degree in music, with a focus on ethnomusicology, at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as associate director of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. In December 2006 Bluegrass Today reported that he was writing Banjo for Dummies for Wiley Publishing.
Tracklist
- 1 Petersburg Gal (feat. John Reischman) 3:35
- 2 Germaine's Dream (feat. Darol Anger) 3:12
- 3 Kobe Blues (feat. Darol Anger) 4:15
- 4 Meadows of Dan (feat. Rob Ickes) 4:14
- 5 Corey's Slide (feat. Rob Ickes) 4:05
- 6 Catching the Dickens (feat. John Reischman) 4:25
- 7 New Black Eyed Suzie (feat. John Reischman) 3:39
- 8 Raising the Beams (feat. Steve Smith) 3:07
- 9 When She Smiles (feat. Nina Gerber) 5:41
- 10 Leaving Owensboro (feat. Darol Anger) 4:23
- 11 Lonesome Polka 1:27
- 12 Granite Chief (feat. Rob Ickes) 3:06
- 13 Heavy Traffic Ahead alt version 2:50
