Banjos Lost and Found: Don Vappie & Nickel Creek

From the earliest blues and minstrel tunes to clawhammer bluegrass and forward to newgrass, the banjo has been a part of American music. This week we visit with New Orleans Creole jazzman Don Vappie and hear how the instrument is used in New Orleans traditional jazz. And feel the zeitgeist as San Diego-based Nickel Creek come by for a live set and talk about building onto their bluegrass base and moving beyond.

HOUR ONE

Open Bed: Creole Blues Don Vappie
Creole Blues, Vappielle

Gut Bucket Blues Louis Armstrong
The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings, Columbia

I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
San Antonio Rose, Bear Family

Sister Kate Lionel Ferbos with Lars Edegran's New Orleans Band
Lionel Ferbos with Lars Edegran's New Orleans Band, GHB

Shortenin' Bread Lee Dorsey
Golden Classics, Collectables

Candy Man Hot Tuna
First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, RCA

Instrumental: Tishomingo Blues Elmer
Snowden Quartet featuring Cliff Jackson Harlem Banjo!, Riverside

Candy Man Taj Mahal
Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home, Columbia

Don't You Make Me High Blue Lu Barker
1938-1939, Classics

Salee Dame Baby Dodds Trio w/ Albert Nicholas
Jazz a la Creole: Baby Dodds Trio, GHB

INTERVIEW: Don Vappie

Instrumental: Up the Lazy River Papa Don's New Orleans Jazz Band
Papa Don's New Orleans Jazz Band, Vappielle

Banjo Noir Alvin Batiste
Late, Columbia

The Banjo, Opus 15 (Fantasie grotesque) Louis Moreau Gottschalk
American Piano Music played by Amiram Rigai, Smithsonian Folkways

Sail Away Randy Newman
The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1, Nonesuch

HOUR TWO

Open Bed: Stumptown Nickel Creek
American Routes original recording

Bluetail Fly Abner Jay
Blues Routes, Smithsonian Folkways

Blue Ridge Mountain Blues Martin, Bogan & Armstrong
Martin, Bogan & Armstrong / That Old Gang of Mine, Flying Fish

Mississippi Kid Leroy Troy
Folk Masters 1993 Concert

Sitting on Top of the World The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros.

Instrumental: Cumberland Blues Pickin' on the Grateful Dead
Pickin' on the Grateful Dead, CMH

California Boogie Howlin' Wolf
Memphis Days: The Definitive Edition, Vol. 1, Bear Family

Lowside of the Road Tom Waits
Mule Variations, Anti

Step it Up and Go Warner Williams with Jay Summerour
Blues Highway, Smithsonian Folkways

Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
The Essential Flatt & Scruggs: ‘Tis Sweet To Be Remembered, Columbia/Legacy

McKinley's Blues Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robbins, Vassar Clements, David Holland, Jethro Burns
Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robbins, Vassar Clements, David Holland, Jethro Burns, HDS

Instrumental: This Ain't Grass Mike Auldridge
Dobro: Blues and Bluegrass, Takoma

California Blues Merle Haggard
Same Train, A Different Time, Capitol

California Stars Billy Bragg & Wilco
Mermaid Avenue, Elektra

INTERVIEW: Nickel Creek

End Bed: Hartford's Waltz Tony Ellis
Farewell My Home, Flying Fish

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