“Pogo Big” is an original composition by Joe K. Walsh, a Portland, Maine-based mandolinist, educator, and associate professor at Berklee College of Music who co-founded Joy Kills Sorrow and performs in the ensemble Mr. Sun with Darol Anger. The tune first appeared on Anger’s album e-and’a (Kaleidoscope Records, 2013) in a recording featuring Walsh on mandolin, Courtney Hartman on guitar, Sharon Gilchrist on bass, and Lukas Pool on banjo — produced jointly by Anger and Walsh. Walsh subsequently released his own studio recording on Borderland (2016), produced by Bruce Molsky, with Brittany Haas on fiddle.
The composition belongs to the progressive acoustic tradition that Anger helped define through his work with the David Grisman Quintet in the 1970s: a roots-grounded reel with enough harmonic openness for jazz-influenced improvisation and enough rhythmic directness to satisfy old-time and bluegrass players. The collaborative origin of the e-and’a version — mentor and student producing together, both performing — gives the recording a specific kind of continuity with the DGQ legacy that Anger and Grisman established before Walsh was playing.
The title is a cheerful non-sequitur, but the kinetic implication — something bouncing with considerable energy and velocity — suits the G-major reel’s character. The piece has circulated in progressive acoustic circles since the e-and’a recording and is a reliable vehicle for mandolin-fiddle conversation in the dawg-music idiom.
