Concert | Aaron Jonah Lewis

When

Thursday December 1, 2022: 6:00pm to 7:00pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Description

Renowned banjo and fiddle player Aaron Jonah Lewis explores interesting veins in the roots of Old Time, Bluegrass, Ragtime and Jazz music through their newest recording, “Mozart of the Banjo: The Joe Morley Project.” This project is devoted to the music of the great English prodigy and virtuoso composer Joe Morley (1867-1937), who wrote a significant body of great banjo pieces in a technique that people today call “classic fingerstyle.”

Classic banjo was the most popular form of music a hundred years ago, but has been almost entirely forgotten today. Lewis is passionate about sharing early fingerstyle banjo music and keeping classic banjo alive, as it’s a delightful style that brings joy and connects us to the depth of our shared American history.

Aaron Jonah Lewis has been elbow-deep in traditional American fiddle and banjo music since their first lessons at the age of five with Kentucky native Robert Oppelt. They have taken blue ribbons at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV, and at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA, the oldest and largest fiddlers convention in the country. Lewis is also noted for their mastery of multiple banjo styles. They spend most of their time teaching, touring as a solo performer and with the Corn Potato String Band, Lovestruck Balladeers, and other projects, and they are currently based in Detroit.