Frome’s own Banjo Babe and her band will be appearing at the Frome Extravaganza on Friday evening from 5pm, where the 2017 Banjo Babes calendar and CD in aid of two charities, We Hear You and The Dyslexia Association will be available to buy.
Kate Lissauer was “banjo” before banjo was cool so she is both honoured and flattered to have been awarded the position of ‘Miss May’ in the glorious Banjo Babes Calendar 2017.
The Banjo Babes calendar and album is a collective, grassroots celebration of professional banjo players. Each year Banjo Babes produces a light-hearted calendar and a compilation album featuring established female artists. Themed ‘Vote Banjo’ in 2017, this is surely the ideal seasonal gift for banjo-lovers and ‘banjo-widows and widowers’ alike.
To ensure you have this great gift in time for Christmas please be sure to come visit Kate and her band Buffalo Gals on Dec ember 2nd.
In addition to being an artist of clawhammer and finger-picking banjo styles, Kate is a fiddler, guitarist and singer. She plays the old songs and tunes from the roots of US music and the early days of country string bands, as well as a composing her own music inspired by the sound and feel of old-time country.
Since moving to England from her home state of Maryland, she has become a leader in the old-time country and bluegrass scene in the UK, and serves as the Old-Time design consultant for Fairfield Banjos in Bath.
She runs Buffalo Gals Old-Time Country String Band (this year’s recipients of Old-Time Mountain CD of the Year from Iowa’s Rural Roots Music Commission) and the percussive dance company Buffalo Gals Stampede. She also tours her Sonic Silents film show. This homage to black and white Oscar-winning Hollywood movies features live performance of her original old-time based scores to silent films.
The Banjo Babes calendar and CD also features Megan McKamey, Eliza Mary Doyle, Alina Vivita, Amber Rogers, Emily Dowden Band, Emily Dowden-Estes, Liat Tova Lis, Sharon Martinson, Mary Z Cox, Hannah Shira, Chloe LeGrand, Dani Aubert, Eliza Doyle, and project curator Erin Inglish. You can learn more about the Banjo Babes artists at www.banjobabescalendar.com/2017
