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The Banjo in America DVD/CD set from Tiki Parlour Recordings

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65 minute DVD performance video plus an accompanying CD

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$24.95 autographed copy

Bill Evans and Tiki Parlour Recordings have collaborated on the ultimate banjo recording set (CD & DVD) of the 21st century. Bill Evans' The Banjo in America celebrates 250 years of music performed on a variety of banjos from the Haitian-inspired banza to the Gibson Mastertone and eight other historical instruments in between. "The Banjo in America" traces the complex musical history of the banjo through two centuries of African-American and Anglo-American cultural exchange. Bill is one of the few musicians who has mastered multiple American banjo styles including 19th century stroke style, old-time finger styles, classic banjo of the ragtime era, Scruggs-style bluegrass and beyond, to his many original tunes. These styles are all displayed here, performed on a stunning variety of historic and reproduction instruments. Very few musicians have the ability and experience to boast such a dazzling display of banjo alchemy and this set is unlike any other ever recorded. Bill’s extensive liner notes provide the background and context for each piece and Tiki Parlour's stunning video work captures each performance in gorgeous detail.

"Bill Evans is one of our finest banjo players, at home in styles ranging from the earliest American repertoire to contemporary bluegrass and beyond. His The Banjo In America is a fascinating trip from the very late 18th- and mid-19th-Century styles up through Earl Scruggs's crucial innovations of the mid-20th Century, finally landing among some of Evans’ own lovely compositions. The set’s booklet provides his own erudite commentary on the historical and musical backgrounds of the selections, and the DVD is a special joy. The visual beauty of the various instruments played, and the elegance and grace of Evans’ performances, make this a valuable and very enjoyable contribution to our understanding of the development of this instrument’s roots in the African diaspora, and its flowering amid this nation’s vivid and varied history.
- Tom Piazza, author of Why New Orleans Matters and Devil Sent The Rain

"You will find none better in presenting a program on the banjo in America than banjoist Bill Evans. He couples his scholarly knowledge of the history of this wonderful Americanized instrument with his world class playing skills to elucidate and entertain at every twist and turn of the banjo's glorious journey."
- Alan Munde, 2021 Steve Martin Banjo Award recipient

"As the tape rolls on Bill Evans’ one-man show, The Banjo in America, it’s clear that one thing Evans loves about his instrument of choice is that it contains multitudes."
- Jim Borwick, Bluegrass Unlimited

$24.95

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A Bluegrass Banjo Christmas with Bill Evans

1 hour, 50 minute video lesson includes TAB and playalongs
For all levels including novice players.

Bill teaches seven holiday favorites for all levels in this new instructional video download.

$24.95

Available for download at Homespun Music.

Master banjo picker Bill Evans has made a joyous lesson for novice and intermediate players, bringing the holidays to you through seven classic songs and carols that you can play in bluegrass style. While learning these tunes, you’ll also be gaining invaluable banjo techniques that will help you with any song or instrumental you want to play.

Song selection: Go Tell It On The Mountain (novice) / Jingle Bells (novice) / Silent Night (novice/intermediate) / Away In A Manger (intermediate) / Deck The Halls (melodic style, intermediate)/ What Child Is This? (bluegrass style, intermediate) / Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella (advanced)

Bill starts you off with the simple two-chord song, Go Tell It on the Mountain, building your basic technique: forward and reverse rolls, single string melody notes, basic chord changes and more. He then builds the arrangement, showing you how to combine these skills into a real bluegrass solo, complete with slides, hammers and pull-offs.

Continuing his lesson, Bill takes you through six more much-loved Christmas favorites, each one designed to increase your musical knowledge and build your banjo skills: Away in a Manger, Deck the Halls, What Child Is This? (Greensleeves), Silent Night, Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella and, of course, Jingle Bells.

You’ll learn to move up and down the fretboard with new chord shapes and picking patterns, accompany vocals, and make any song come alive in three-finger bluegrass style.

A gifted and patient teacher, Bill brings a plethora of ideas to his lesson, building your overall musical knowledge along with your banjo technique. By the time you have worked through this engaging course, you’ll be able to regale friends and family with a wonderful repertoire of holiday classics as well as add your newfound skills to your entire bluegrass set list.





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Bluegrass Banjo Licks-Ercises - Turn Powerful Exercises Into An Arsenal of Banjo Licks - DVD 2

DVD 2 Single String and Melodic Styles
Taught by Bill Evans
60 Minutes $29.95

Are these exercises that become licks, or licks that become exercises? You be the judge!

In his second “Licks-Ercises” DVD, Bill Evans explores contemporary banjo techniques in both the “melodic” style, developed by Bill Keith, and “single-string” style, pioneered by Don Reno and, more recently, by modern players such as Bela Fleck and others. Bill helps you map out the fretboard and master major scales, octave shifts, chromatic licks, picking and fretting techniques, blues riffs and other invaluable devices. You’ll quickly come to understand the theory underlying these game-changing playing styles.

Bill shows you how to turn the technique-building exercises that he teaches into powerful licks that you can use in everything from traditional bluegrass improvisations to fiddle tunes and blues and jazz-tinged solos. Start playing Red-Haired Boy, Devil’s Dream, Bill Cheatam and any other tune that you want to shine on. Each element you’ll learn doubles as a powerful skill-building exercise - without the usual struggle that the term “practicing” implies.




This lesson was designed for bluegrass banjo players at all levels, and detailed tab is provided for all examples.

$29.95

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Bluegrass Banjo For Dummies 2nd Edition: Book + Online Video and Audio Instruction By Bill Evans from Wiley Publishing

New second edition with video and audio links!

BILL’S NEW COMPLETE GUIDE TO BLUEGRASS BANJO IS HERE!

Bluegrass Banjo For Dummies is Bill’s follow up to his best selling book Banjo For Dummies. This new book focuses just on bluegrass style banjo and gets you started with the roll patterns essential to Scruggs style picking. You’ll then add left-hand techniques such as slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, play great sounding licks and perform classic tunes like "Cripple Creek " and "Old Joe Clark." You’ll navigate up the neck on the instrument as well as learn the essential backup skills you need to play with others in jam sessions and in bands. You’ll even tackle contemporary banjo styles using melodic and single-string scales and picking techniques.

Bluegrass Banjo For Dummies is not just for beginners! It’s a complete guide that will provide new insights for all levels of players. Photos, banjo tablature and diagrams are accompanied by online audio and video tracks for the most complete bluegrass banjo learning experience available today.




Bluegrass Banjo For Dummies has all this and much more:

• 40 classic bluegrass songs in Scruggs, melodic, and single-string styles
• 129 downloadable audio examples and 37 online videos
• Choose a banjo and accessories that are just right for you and your budget.
• How to locate chords up and down the neck of your banjo and use them to accompany others in a jam
• Explore the fingerboard using melodic and single-string playing styles.
• Accompany others in different keys with roll patterns and chord vamping techniques.
• Work up your own solos up and down the neck in Scruggs style..
• Keep your banjo sounding its best with practical and easy set up tips.
• Guidance on choosing and changing strings
• Banjo players you need to know and ten strategies to make you a better player

$24.99 includes a personalized signed copy. If this item is ordered by itself, a $2.75 shipping charge will be added at checkout. Shipping is via USPS Flat Rate. Please email to inquire about Canadian and foreign shipping rates.

$24.99

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Harmony Singing Made Easy Featuring Bill Evans, Murphy Henry, Janet Beazley & Chris Stuart

Learn by ear with the Murphy Method!
1 hour 46 minute instructional DVD

Check out these YouTube video highlights!

Master bluegrass harmony singing by ear in a way that's easy and fun and designed for those new to singing using the world famous Murphy Method! Whether you're young or old, male or female, if you have a high-pitched voice or if you sing in a low growl, this is the project that's for you - if you're ready to learn the secrets of great harmony singing.

The Murphy Method is a learn-by-ear method using no tab or written music and as little music theory as possible. With this DVD, you learn by doing - or in this case, by singing! Harmony Singing Made Easy presents six classic bluegrass and gospel songs in a variety of different keys to fit high, middle-range or low voices. Sometimes the men (Bill, Chris) take the lead; sometimes the women (Murphy, Janet) take the lead. We then show you how to create harmony parts that fit each lead voice.

Lead and harmony parts are presented by themselves, enabling you to learn each part by singing along with the DVD. You'll then hear lead and harmony parts in pairs and finally all three voices together in bluegrass trio harmony - putting you right in the band! You'll even get the chance to sing bass on two gospel quartets!

Along the way, we'll answer questions such as "What key do I sing in?," "How do I find my harmony part?" and "How do voices blend together?" And at the very end, Murphy and Bill break out two banjos for a rousing quartet version of Over In The Gloryland.

Songs include Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Bury Me Beneath the Willow, All the Good Times Are Past and Gone, Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky, Amazing Grace and Over in the Gloryland.

Price $29.95
Shipping and handling: $2.75 within the United States.

$29.95

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Banjo For Dummies: Book + Online Video & Audio Instruction, 2nd Edition

By Bill Evans from Wiley Publications

A 384 page accessible how-to guide with banjo tab examples, diagrams and an updated multimedia component with companion audio tracks and complementary video lessons.

Great for beginners but also with plenty of useful information and tunes for intermediate and advanced level players.

It’s here! The famous yellow-and-black book series meets the world of the five-string banjo. Bill takes you through a guided tour of all things banjo, with instruction offered in clawhammer, bluegrass, minstrel, classic, melodic and single-string banjo techniques.

Banjo For Dummies covers everything you need to get into the banjo: including how to choose, tune and care for your instrument, developing a good playing posture, and getting comfortable with the left and right hand positions used for clawhammer and bluegrass playing techniques. You’ll master the basic clawhammer right hand stroke and learn the eight most important roll patterns in Scruggs style playing. You’ll then add the left hand, spicing up your playing with slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs and chokes while learning chord positions and several tunes.

From there, you’ll move on to play 19th century minstrel style, early 20th century classic style as well as try your hand at more advanced examples of bluegrass style. An in-depth chapter on bluegrass explores Scruggs licks and techniques as well as melodic and single-string styles. Also included is a banjo buyer’s guide, a section on music theory as applied to bluegrass and old-time music, an accessories guide, information on how to find a good teacher, banjo camp or music festival, chord charts, bios of twelve influential players, practice tips and much, much more!

Written in the familiar Dummies style, the book is accessible and fun to read and it’s easy to locate just what you’re interested in. Included are several new compositions written by Bill just for the book, including “Reno’s Rag” (single-string style), “Winston’s Jig” (Irish three-finger) and “Everyday Breakdown” (Scruggs style). All musical examples are played slowly on the accompanying CD, many with guitar and mandolin accompaniment.

If you’ve enjoyed Bill’s teaching, either at his workshops or through his AcuTab DVD’s, you’ll love Banjo For Dummies!

Take a closer look at Banjo For Dummies by clicking on the links below:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Dummies Cheat Sheet (a cardboard tearout included in each book)
• Chapter 13: Ten Tips to Make Practicing More Fun
• A Banjo For Dummies original cartoon!

$24.99 includes a personalized signed copy. If this item is ordered by itself, a $2.75 shipping charge will be added at checkout. Shipping is via USPS Priority Flat Rate. Please email to inquire about Canadian and foreign shipping rates.

$24.95

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Parking Lot Picker's Songbook: Banjo Edition

by Bill Evans & Dix Bruce from Mel Bay Publications
A 304 page songbook with over 225 bluegrass & old-time favorites in notation and tab with two CDs!

This is a bluegrass songbook unlike any other on the market: with Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook: Banjo Edition
you can hear each piece as well as follow along in both music notation and banjo tablature. Over 225 songs are included with melodies presented in standard notation and banjo tablature along with complete lyrics and chords. Two CDs (with over 144 total minutes of music) are included in this set that features Bill playing backup banjo (and singing every now and then) to every song in the book with Dix Bruce playing on guitar and mandolin. After listening to the song on the CD, you can then use the tab of the melody to work up your own arrangement.

Songs include “Rocky Top,” “Molly and Tenbrooks,” “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “Nine Pound Hammer,” “Little Maggie,” and many, many more bluegrass, old-time and gospel favorites from Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Doc Watson, Ralph Stanley and the Osborne Brothers, among others. Bill also includes a tab of his banjo version of “Train 45” (with six variations) along with short banjo lead arrangements of “Cripple Creek” and “Sally Goodin’.” An introductory essay discusses everything you need to know to get ready for your next jam, including how and when to use the capo, finding a good key to sing a song and how to transpose melodies and chord progressions for both men’s and women’s voices.

The book also features over 40 photographs of many of today’s leading bluegrass performers from Tom Tworek, Bill Evans and Gretchen Snyder.

Click here to hear “Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms”for a CD sample.

“I picked up a copy of the book from Bill at Banjo Camp North. It is fantastic. I love that just the melodies are tabbed so I can work out my own arrangements…It’s what the banjo fake books should be, but aren’t.” Matthew, in a review post to banjohangout.org.

This book lists for $39.99. You may choose shipping via Media Mail and Bill will cover the cost or Bill can send via Priority Mail (2 to 4 days within the United States) for an additional $5.45 to cover shipping cost.

FOREIGN ORDERS FOR THIS ITEM: contact Bill Evans via email at bill@billevansbanjo.com for shipping rates and to place an order.

$39.00

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