Jake Schepps's guest appearances

Jake Schepps

Woodsongs Vodcasts

Café Concerts

The Picky Fingers Banjo Podcast

Relax Your Grid

Deering Live

Pat Flynn

Dale Watson

John Paul White

Lindi Ortega

Lukas Nelson

Amanda Shires

Justin Townes Earle

Drew Holcomb

Joey Ryan

Allison Williams

Matthew Ryan

Vance Gilbert

Gretchen Peters

David Broza

Ben Miller

OwlTail

www.patreon.com/banjopodcast   For this Bonus episode, I have a quick chat about the upcoming Banjo Summit with Jake Schepps, an extraordinary banjo player in his own right, and the Director of the Banjo Summit! About Banjo Summit: 2-day online banjo workshop aimed at teaching accessible techniques to add color to your traditional playing or take you beyond bluegrass. Regardless of your favorite styles, the Banjo Summit will expand your expertise and inspire countless new ideas that will raise your playing to new heights.    Faculty include BB Bowness, Wes Corbett, Matt Flinner, Adam Larrabee, Greg Liszt, Jayme Stone, a concert with Jake Blount, and a special guest lecture from the indomitable Jens Kruger.     Visit  www.banjosummit.org to enroll and learn more.    Use code “Pickyfingers” for a 10% discount    Contact the show: pickyfingersbanjopodcast@gmail.com

<a href="http://www.patreon.com/banjopodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.patreon.com/banjopodcast</a> For this Bonus episode, I have a quick chat about the upcoming Banjo Summit with Jake Schepps, an extraordinary banjo player in his own right, and the Director of the Banjo Summit! About Banjo Summit: 2-day online banjo workshop aimed at teaching accessible techniques to add color to your traditional playing or take you beyond bluegrass. Regardless of your favorite styles, the Banjo Summit will expand your expertise and inspire countless new ideas that will raise your playing to new heights.  Faculty include BB Bowness, Wes Corbett, Matt Flinner, Adam Larrabee, Greg Liszt, Jayme Stone, a concert with Jake Blount, and a special guest lecture from the indomitable Jens Kruger.   Visit <a href="http://www.banjosummit.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"> www.banjosummit.org</a> to enroll and learn more. Use code “Pickyfingers” for a 10% discount Contact the show: pickyfingersbanjopodcast@gmail.com

BONUS - Banjo Summit w/ Jake Schepps

Jake Schepps is an uncommon banjoist &amp; composer creating music for the traditional American string band that is anything but traditional. In this episode, he speaks with host Matt Brown in his capacity as director of the Banjo Summit, a progressive 3-finger banjo workshop for intermediate, advanced, and professional musicians. The next Banjo Summit will be held February 11-13, 2022 on Zoom. It features an extraordinary cast of banjoists including Kristin Scott Benson, Noam Pikelny, Bill Evans, Wes Corbett, and Jayme Stone. Jake also describes his recent online camp featuring the band Hawktail, and forthcoming banjo transcription books he will publish featuring the original music of Béla Fleck, Wes Corbett, Adam Larrabee, and Max Allard. Jake has taught at NimbleFingers, Berklee College of Music, Steve Kaufman Acoustic Kamp, British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop, University of Northern Colorado, and produced an instructional DVD entitled Modern Banjo Ideas &amp; Techniques.Links:Väsen DuoYouTube interview with Edgar MeyerEdgar Meyer in shorts and a t-shirtHawktail performing "Annbjørg" Banjo Summitdocumentary about The Jake Schepps Quintet Support this show on Patreon for $2/monthRelax Your Playlist (Spotify)

Jake Schepps is an uncommon banjoist &amp; composer creating music for the traditional American string band that is anything but traditional. In this episode, he speaks with host Matt Brown in his capacity as director of the Banjo Summit, a progressive 3-finger banjo workshop for intermediate, advanced, and professional musicians. The next Banjo Summit will be held February 11-13, 2022 on Zoom. It features an extraordinary cast of banjoists including Kristin Scott Benson, Noam Pikelny, Bill Evans, Wes Corbett, and Jayme Stone. Jake also describes his recent online camp featuring the band Hawktail, and forthcoming banjo transcription books he will publish featuring the original music of Béla Fleck, Wes Corbett, Adam Larrabee, and Max Allard. Jake has taught at NimbleFingers, Berklee College of Music, Steve Kaufman Acoustic Kamp, British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop, University of Northern Colorado, and produced an instructional DVD entitled Modern Banjo Ideas &amp; Techniques.Links:<ul><li><a href="https://spoti.fi/3L5mhIn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Väsen Duo</a></li><li><a href="https://youtu.be/LzSXwuEFrHw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">YouTube interview with Edgar Meyer</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Meyer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Edgar Meyer in shorts and a t-shirt</a></li><li><a href="https://youtu.be/RjhC3YDBIlI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hawktail performing "Annbjørg"</a> </li><li><a href="https://banjosummit.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Banjo Summit</a></li><li><a href="https://bit.ly/3oghLx1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">documentary about The Jake Schepps Quintet </a></li><li><a href="https://www.patreon.com/mattbrownsdream" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Support this show on Patreon for $2/month</a></li><li><a href="https://spoti.fi/3axIFd0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Relax Your Playlist (Spotify)</a></li></ul>

Jake Schepps: “You Hear All That, Too‽”

Blame it on Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring or perhaps the ridiculous virtuosity that is characteristic of so much bluegrass playing. In the past decade, growing numbers of classical musicians have been mixing it up with fiddlers, banjo players and mandolin pluckers. Yo-Yo Ma has worked with bluegrass players in the Goat Rodeo Sessions; mandolin wizard Chris Thile has played his own concerto with several American orchestras and released an album of Bach partitas. The latest group to explore this hybrid is the Jake Schepps Quintet, a string band whose members are steeped in bluegrass spontaneity but whose repertoire – yes, repertoire – is by composers from the modern classical tradition. They include Matt McBane, Marc Mellits, Gyan Riley, and Matt Flinner. Led by Schepps, a Colorado-based banjoist, the group came to WQXR to play three pieces from "Entwined," their debut album. "Most of the instruments in the string band aren't foreign" to classical composers, said Schepps, in an interview with host Terrance McKnight. "Most classical composers have written for violin, guitar, and bass, and a mandolin is tuned like a violin so it's familiar territory." The quintet's set began with Flatiron VII: Planetary Tuners by Mellits, a Chicago-based composer whose works have been performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Kronos Quartet, among other groups. Schepps has been at the forefront of melding bluegrass with other genres for several years. He previously recorded an album of Béla Bartok's music arranged for a string band, "An Evening In The Village," and says he wants to play the music of Henry Purcell for a future project. "I fell in love with his three and four-part fantasias," he said. "I love Baroque music and Bach. I'm always curious for places that I can take string band instruments into new terrain." Schepps added that it's a "lateral step" to transfer pieces from Purcell's viola da gambas to the five-string banjo. The quintet's next selection is the album's title track, by Matt McBane, a Brooklyn violinist and composer who directs the Carlsbad Music Festival in California and whose music has been played by a number of new-music groups. Flinner, who plays mandolin in the quintet, composed the last selection in the set, called Migrations. He tells McKnight that his challenge "was trying, as a bluegrass musician, to write across that line in a long-form manner. Classical music goes so many different directions these days. One thing that we could use more of is more American roots elements added to that. Bluegrass is a uniquely American art form. It feels like it's getting more respect." Schepps added: "My hope is that a classical audience will come to find something interesting about bluegrass." Listen to the full interview and performances at the top of this page. Jake Schepps Quintet Personnel: Jake Schepps: five-string banjoMatt Flinner: mandolinRyan Drickey: violinJordan Tice: acoustic guitarAndrew Small: double bass Videos: Kim Nowacki; Audio: Irene Trudel; Production: Brian Wise; Interview: Terrance McKnight; Production Assistance: Rebecca Stein

Blame it on Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring or perhaps the ridiculous virtuosity that is characteristic of so much bluegrass playing. In the past decade, growing numbers of classical musicians have been mixing it up with fiddlers, banjo players and mandolin pluckers. Yo-Yo Ma has worked with bluegrass players in the Goat Rodeo Sessions; mandolin wizard Chris Thile has played his own concerto with several American orchestras and released an album of Bach partitas. The latest group to explore this hybrid is the <a href="http://www.jakeschepps.com/the-quintet/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jake Schepps Quintet</a>, a string band whose members are steeped in bluegrass spontaneity but whose repertoire – yes, repertoire – is by composers from the modern classical tradition. They include Matt McBane, Marc Mellits, Gyan Riley, and Matt Flinner. Led by Schepps, a Colorado-based banjoist, the group came to WQXR to play three pieces from "Entwined," their debut album. "Most of the instruments in the string band aren't foreign" to classical composers, said Schepps, in an interview with host Terrance McKnight. "Most classical composers have written for violin, guitar, and bass, and a mandolin is tuned like a violin so it's familiar territory." The quintet's set began with Flatiron VII: Planetary Tuners by Mellits, a Chicago-based composer whose works have been performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Kronos Quartet, among other groups. Schepps has been at the forefront of melding bluegrass with other genres for several years. He previously recorded an album of Béla Bartok's music arranged for a string band, "An Evening In The Village," and says he wants to play the music of Henry Purcell for a future project. "I fell in love with his three and four-part fantasias," he said. "I love Baroque music and Bach. I'm always curious for places that I can take string band instruments into new terrain." Schepps added that it's a "lateral step" to transfer pieces from Purcell's viola da gambas to the five-string banjo. The quintet's next selection is the album's title track, by Matt McBane, a Brooklyn violinist and composer who directs the Carlsbad Music Festival in California and whose music has been played by a number of new-music groups. Flinner, who plays mandolin in the quintet, composed the last selection in the set, called Migrations. He tells McKnight that his challenge "was trying, as a bluegrass musician, to write across that line in a long-form manner. Classical music goes so many different directions these days. One thing that we could use more of is more American roots elements added to that. Bluegrass is a uniquely American art form. It feels like it's getting more respect." Schepps added: "My hope is that a classical audience will come to find something interesting about bluegrass." Listen to the full interview and performances at the top of this page. Jake Schepps Quintet Personnel: Jake Schepps: five-string banjoMatt Flinner: mandolinRyan Drickey: violinJordan Tice: acoustic guitarAndrew Small: double bass Videos: Kim Nowacki; Audio: Irene Trudel; Production: Brian Wise; Interview: Terrance McKnight; Production Assistance: Rebecca Stein

The Jake Schepps Quintet's Classical Hoedown


JAKE SCHEPPS has made a name for himself as a banjo renaissance man, an artist with not only an adroit touch on his instrument but an intrepid, imaginative vision for contemporary stringband music. Although a student of traditional and progressive bluegrass styles as a player, Schepps has stretched beyond those genres to take his place alongside the Punch Brothers, Matt Flinner and other notables in a field the Colorado-based banjoist likes to call simply "new acoustic music." His venturesome new album, 'An Evening in the Village: The Music of B�la Bart�k,' finds common ground between the piquant beauty of the great Hungarian composer's take on Eastern European folk melodies and the big-sky vibrancy of new American acoustic music.HARPETH RISING is a group of four young classically trained musicians exploring the Americana genre. With a banjo and fiddle, you might think they're traditional bluegrass, but think again: cello and hand drums round out the group, creating a truly new sound. A little bit bluegrass, a little bit folk, a little bit classical and whole lot of original, Harpeth Rising is a band to watch. The band just released their second album, with Grammy-award winning producer Bil VornDick, entitled 'Dead Man's Hand'.

JAKE SCHEPPS has made a name for himself as a banjo renaissance man, an artist with not only an adroit touch on his instrument but an intrepid, imaginative vision for contemporary stringband music. Although a student of traditional and progressive bluegrass styles as a player, Schepps has stretched beyond those genres to take his place alongside the Punch Brothers, Matt Flinner and other notables in a field the Colorado-based banjoist likes to call simply "new acoustic music." His venturesome new album, 'An Evening in the Village: The Music of B�la Bart�k,' finds common ground between the piquant beauty of the great Hungarian composer's take on Eastern European folk melodies and the big-sky vibrancy of new American acoustic music. HARPETH RISING is a group of four young classically trained musicians exploring the Americana genre. With a banjo and fiddle, you might think they're traditional bluegrass, but think again: cello and hand drums round out the group, creating a truly new sound. A little bit bluegrass, a little bit folk, a little bit classical and whole lot of original, Harpeth Rising is a band to watch. The band just released their second album, with Grammy-award winning producer Bil VornDick, entitled 'Dead Man's Hand'.