I LOVE this...searching for his website, it came up as "Ol' Danny Barnes!" Ain't that a hoot. Danny's site is cool, where the first thing you see is other artist's endorsements scrolling of Danny's work. They include Robert Earl Keen, Tony Trischka, Keller Williams, Sam Bush, and Dave Matthews. More heavy duty name dropping: Danny Barnes plays on the song "Tomorrow Never Knows" on Herbie Hancock's new concept CD The Imagine Project with guest vocals from Dave Matthews. Other contributors to the CD are Anousha Shankar, Jeff Beck, John Legend, The Chieftans, Seal, India Arie, Pink, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Chaka Khan, K’Naan, James Morrison, Wayne Shorter, and Lisa Hannigan. Pretty heady stuff! Of course, I suspect Danny is taking it all in stride by now. Matthews sang on a couple of the songs on Pizza Box, Danny's latest CD. You may have also noticed Danny on stage at Bonnaroo with the DMB last month.

All cozy, all for the very BEST of reasons...it's all about the artistry. Danny Barnes' website is a delight to tool around on. Give yourself plenty of time for the exploration. His "How to Make a Living Playing Music" article is a great read, and there are three "How To Play The Banjo" videos, too, if you are of a mind to learn from the master. But first, here's a Music Fog video to get you in the mood, from the Threadgill's stage this past March. The song "Overdue" is from Pizza Box. Beautiful!

- Jessie Scott