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Shipping Charges
United States
$4.50 for first item, $1.50 each additonal item.

Canada
$10.00 for first two items, $2.00 each additonal item.

International
(Orders other than Canada and the United States)
$12.00 for first item, $2.00 each additonal item.

"Things Are Simple" by Bill Evans

"Things Are Simple" by Bill Evans
Native and Fine Records 906-13
Release date January 27, 2023

"Things Are Simple is a musical biography, literally a musical description of all that's happened to me and my family in the last several years. This recording traces our journey from sorrow into joy, focusing on the love and bonds of family. I wanted to draw the listener's attention to the melodies and the contemplative mood of these pieces and we tried keep the playing as basic and as beautiful as possible. I'm so proud of the job that everyone did on this recording. I'm hoping that this is a recording that you enjoy and find meaning in for years to come." Bill Evans

Recorded over the span of three years from 2018 to 2021 at Opus Studios in Berkeley, California, Bill assembled some of his favorite musicians to record Things Are Simple, including John Reischman (mandolin), Jim Nunally (guitar), Chad Manning (fiddle), and Sharon Gilchrist (bass). Four tracks, all original Bill Evans instrumentals, are powered by the incredible twin fiddle work of Chad and Brandon Godman and New Acoustic Music legend Darol Anger.

Things Are Simple marks the lead singing debut of Bill on record and these two tracks form the centerpiece of the recording. The title track "Things Are Simple," is a ballad celebrating Bill and Babi's wedding, written and performed by them with a string quartet arranged by Alisa Rose. "True He's Gone" is a Jim Sullivan gospel song performed by Bill and Babi with Bill's daughter Corey featuring fiddle accompaniment from Chad in an arrangement borrowed from Herb Pedersen.

On the instrumental side, there are six original Bill Evans compositions, a well-loved John Reischman composition ("Nesser"), and an old-time favorite (the other "Chinquapin Hunting" in the key of A). All of this adds up to Bill's most cohesive and consistent solo recording of his career and the sounds are stunning, bringing out the incredible tones of the classic, world-renowned instruments used on this recording. Mixing by David Luke and mastering from David Glasser.

Things Are Simple / Road To Ruidoso / Black Range Waltz / Sierra Blanca / True He's Gone / Along Came Sonny / Gertie & Jake / Nesser / Midnight in Rosine / Chinquapin Hunting

What folks are saying about Things Are Simple:

"Bill Evans is not just a banjo player, he's a thoughtful and articulate composer whose melodies speak like words about the things most dear to him. With his album, Things Are Simple, Bill has made room for the most important and the most essential. The result is a clarity of space that engages one immediately, pulling them into the room. From the stark beauty of the title song, "Things are Simple" (co-written and sung here with wife, Babi Evans), to the intricate "Along Came Sonny", Bill has successfully captured exactly all that is needed and nothing more. While this album is heavily weighted as an instrumental feature, Bill's singing shines with a relaxed and peaceful confidence. There is joy in this music. A profound sense of joy that captivates the listener." Missy Raines, 10-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year award winner, Grammy nominee

"Things Are Simple is the latest release from Bill Evans, a 2022 recipient of the Steve Martin Prize. The project is aptly titled, with its sparse instrumentation and presentation of (almost exclusively) Bill's original material. The performances allow listeners the chance to really connect to the melodies and focus on Bill's thoughtful musicianship, as well as that of his stellar supporting cast. There is, however, nothing simple about the musical maturity and sensibility reflected in these 10 songs. This album further affirms that Bill is a seasoned pro and valued member of the banjo and bluegrass communities." Kristin Scott Benson, The Grascals

"Bill Evans is one of my absolute favorite banjo players. His touch is gorgeous and his tunes strike a beautiful balance between creativity and tradition. It's an honor to call him a friend and mentor." Wes Corbett, Sam Bush Band

$15.00

Things Are Simple Tote Bag

Brand new! This high-quality natural canvas " Things Are Simple" tote bag featuring the banjo logo and song lyric from Bill's new album lets you keep things simple on your next excursion. This high-quality USA made and printed natural canvas bag is 18" wide x 15" high x 5" gusset with 1 1/2' wide x 23' long cotton webbing handles.

Or purchase the tote bag and a CD copy of Things Are Simple together for $30 plus shipping (for a limited time only see below)

$23

Things Are Simple Tote Bag with Things Are Simple CD

Limited Time Offer!

$30

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

Order your copy now...

65 minute DVD performance video plus an accompanying CD

View video

$24.95 autographed copy

Bill Evans - photo by David Bragger

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

"Prime Time" by Crary, Evans & Barnick

Native and Fine Records 906-12 (2020)

Dan Crary is a pioneer of flatpicking guitar solos in a bluegrass band, right up there with founding fathers Doc Watson, Clarence White and Norman Blake in carving a role for the flatpick guitar soloist in bluegrass music. A founding member of the Bluegrass Alliance, and the "newgrass" approach, his 20+ year collaboration with Byron Berline and John Hickman (as BCH and in the bands Sundance & California) earned him numerous awards and accolades. He's a living bluegrass legend!

Wally Barnick (bass & vocals) describes himself as "principally a singer who some 40 years ago took up playing bass guitar in order to ensure a place in the band." That strategy has definitely worked for this wonderful singer and instrumentalist, who is at home singing and playing everything from folk and bluegrass to Bakersfield country and even some rock and roll. Wally has performed with many familiar California Americana and bluegrass groups in these past four decades, including the Cache Valley Drifters, Bluegrass, Etc., and The Hay Dudes.

Dan, Wally and Bill started performing together in 2017, performing on stages from Kansas to Washington. In 2019, Dan celebrated his 80th birthday and Wally his 70th (Bill is the young whipper snapper in the band at 63). The trio's debut CD Prime Time is vibrant, new music celebrating these life milestones featuring their unique take on bluegrass, country, rock, gospel, Irish, and folk source material with special guest Kenny Blackwell on mandolin on six cuts. You'll hear some reimagined favorites from Joe Ely, Steve Young, Jimmy Martin, Ron Hynes and John Hiatt, experience two new Bill Evans banjo instrumentals, "Winston's Jig" and "Road to Ruidoso" and time travel back to 19th century for a stunning album-ending gospel medley. But that's not all! Dan introduces his flatpicked 12-string guitar on the bluegrass instrumental "Crazy Creek" and Wally takes center stage with his warm country-tinged lead vocals on four cuts.

20/20 Vision & Clinch Mountain Backstep (Medley) / All Just To Get To You / I'll Remember You Love In My Prayers / Crazy Creek / Sonny's Dream / Rattlin' Roarin' Willie & Winston's Jig (Medley) / Seven Bridges Road / Memphis In The Meantime / Road to Ruidoso / I'm On My Journey Home, Ecstasy, Heaven's Light Is Shining & We Shall Rise (Medley)

$15.00

Fletcher Bright and Bill Evans with special guests Norman & Nancy Blake - Songs That Are Mostly Older Than Us

Native and Fine Records 906-11 (2016)

Songs That Are Mostly Older Than Us is Fletcher Bright and Bill Evans' follow-up to Fine Times At Fletcher's House. For this release, they add Norman & Nancy Blake on guitar and cello for ten of this project's sixteen tunes. Recorded live in Fletcher's living room atop Lookout Mountain, Tennessee over three days in July 2015, selections include both well-known and more obscure traditional tunes along with more recent compositions from Norman Blake ("Blake's March), Bill Evans ("Berkeley Shanghai"), Sam Bush ("Norman and Nancy"), Bill Monroe ("Old Ebenezer Scrooge") and Peter Ostroushko ("Heart of the Heartland"). George Bright joins Fletcher and Bill on guitar for "Glory in the Meetinghouse."

"About 60 years ago I played with teenager Norman Blake in a band, The Dixie Land Drifters. Norman on Dobro, Cecil Powell on mandolin, Charlie Evans on bass, Hal Culpepper on guitar, and Fletcher Bright on fiddle. Over the years Norman, Nancy and I would occasionally cross paths and play music together. Bill Evans and I determined that having produced our first fiddle/banjo CD (Fine Times at Fletcher's House), we would do yet another -- perhaps demonstrating hope over experience. Bill asked if I knew Norman and Nancy and would they be willing to join us with the CD. I called Norman and this CD was born. We have had fun exploring old tunes and playing together. We think this may be evident to you when you listen to this CD. We hope you enjoy the music as much as we did making it happen."

- Fletcher Bright, from the CD liner notes.

"The performance is straightforward, unvarnished, polished with years of attention to the twists and turns of the individual melodies, allowing the particularities of each tune to shine through like the grain on a well-used old wooden rocking chair. It's a joy to hear these friends playing together. I feel like I'm right there with them, sitting in that chair, privileged to hear these tunes played by their keepers."

- Laurie Lewis, from the CD liner notes.

Nancy and Norman Blake, Fletcher Bright & Bill Evans, July 2015. Photo by Bobby Burns.
Click photo for larger image

Recording in Fletcher's Lookout Mountain, Tennessee home in July 2015. Photo by Bobby Burns.
Click photo for larger image

Glory in the Meetinghouse / Blake's March / Berkeley Shanghai / Elzic's Farewell / Sugar Tree Stomp / Norman and Nancy / Hannah in the Springhouse / Snowbird in the Ash Bank / Kennedy Rag / Bb Hornpipe Medley / Old Ebenezer Scrooge / Cluck Old Hen / Heart of the Heartland / Brilliancy / American Rifle Team Hornpipe / Whiskey Before Breakfast

Hannah in the Springhouse (mp3-2.5MB) - full track

fiddle and banjo duet with Fletcher & Bill

Kennedy Rag (mp3-2.1MB) - sample

Fletcher Bright (fiddle) & Norman Blake (guitar) duet

Norman and Nancy (mp3-1.7MB) - sample

(Fletcher Bright (fiddle), Bill Evans (banjo), Norman Blake (guitar) & Nancy Blake (cello)

Snowbird in the Ash Bank (mp3-1.5MB) - sample

Fletcher Bright (fiddle), Norman Blake (guitar) & Nancy Blake (cello)

$15.00

Fletcher Bright & Bill Evans - Fine Times at Fletcher's House

Fletcher Bright & Bill Evans - Fine Times At Fletcher's House

Native and Fine Records 906-10

$15

Yellow Barber (full track) (mp3-2.4MB)

Fine Times at Fletcher's House: Fiddle and Banjo Music From Lookout Mountain, Tennessee brings together 81- year old Tennessee fiddling legend Fletcher Bright and Bill Evans in sixteen fiddle and banjo duet performances. Selections include familiar favorites (St. Anne's Reel, Angeline The Baker & Soldier's Joy), tunes associated with Earl Scruggs and Benny Martin (Two O'Clock), Bill Monroe compositions (Northern White Clouds, White Horse Breakdown), lesser known old-time tunes (Greasy Coat), tunes learned from good friend John Hartford (Blackjack Grove) and more recently composed tunes from Tom Anderson (Da Slokit Light), Blaine Sprouse (Blue Ridge Reel) June Drucker (Going Back To Israel).

All of the selections from Fine Times At Fletcher's House were recorded live without overdubs at Fletcher's home on top of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

"The joy that Bill and Fletcher obviously felt in working with each other comes through in every tune on this project. Their timing together is precise, their collective tone is solid, and their taste, impeccable. A happy, satisfying musical experience for all, both players and listeners." Murphy Henry, from the CD liner notes.

Yellow Barber / Two O'Clock / Polly Put The Kettle On / Scott No. 2 / Blackjack Grove / Whitehorse Breakdown / Da Slokit Light / Daley's Reel / Northern White Clouds / Blue Ridge Reel / Greasy Coat / Fiddler's Dream / Abe's Retreat & Fine Times At Our House / Liverpool Hornpipe / Going Back to Israel / St. Anne's Reel, Angeline the Baker & Soldier's Joy

Polly Put The Kettle On (sample) (mp3-1.2MB)

Da Slokit Light (sample) (mp3-1.2MB)

Whitehorse Breakdown (sample) (mp3-850K)

$15

Classic Banjo from Smithsonian Folkways - SFW40209

A new CD featuring 30 tracks of banjo artistry from Tony Trischka & Bill Evans, Pete Seeger, Doc Watson, Mike Seeger, Elizabeth Cotton, Dock Boggs, Mick Moloney, Bill Keith and many others with a 44-page booklet with extensive notes and photos. 64 minutes of classic banjo music from the Folkways collection.

Medley: Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Girl, Cripple Creek,Ida Red,Old Joe Clark by Pete Seeger / Banging Breakdown by Hobart Smith / Johnson Boys by Frank Profitt / Peachbottom Creek by Wade Ward / Coo Coo by Dink Roberts / Josh Thomas's Roustabout by Mike Seeger / Jaw Bone by Willie Chapman / Bright Sunny South by Dock Boggs / Coal Creek March by Pete Steele / Mississippi Heavy Water Blues by Josh Thomas / Walk Light Ladies by Rufus Crisp / Buck Creek Girls by Bill Cornett / Gut Bucket Blues by Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders / Medley: Skylark and Roaring Mary by Mick Moloney / Medley: St. Anne's Reel, La Renfluse Corbeil by Ken Perlman / Smokey Mokes by Roger Sprung / Golden Bell Polka by A. L. Camp / Banjoland by Tony Trischka with Bill Evans / Sally Ann by Snuffy Jenkins / Lonesome Road Blues by Roni Stoneman / Fox Chase by Lee Sexton / Hop Along Lou by John Tyree / Cotton Eyed Joe by "Big Sweet" Lewis Hairston / Foggy Mountain Top by Ola Belle Reed / Rambling Hobo by Doc Watson / Old Rattler by John Snipes / Georgia Buck by Elizabeth Cotton / I Wish to the Lord I'd Never Been Born by Irvin Cook / Black Eye Susie by Roscoe Holcomb / Bluegrass Breakdown by Bill Keith with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.

$15.00

Bill Evans - In Good Company

Native and Fine Records 906-9

In Good Company spotlights an all star cast of 26 musicians performing five new Evans instrumentals, a four song, ten-minute Beatles medley and songs pairing Bill with The Infamous Stringdusters (performing John Martyn's Walk to the Water), Joy Kills Sorrow (performing Sarah Siskind's On and On) and Tim O'Brien (performing Follow the Drinking Gourd). In Good Company is Bill's most accomplished and wide-ranging project to date. Includes collector's poster featuring shots from the IGC sessions!

With The Infamous Stringdusters, Tim O'Brien, Joy Kills Sorrow, Darol Anger, Cindy Browne Rosefield, Tashina & Tristan Clarridge, Stuart Duncan, Corey Evans, Matt Flinner, David Grier, Rob Ickes, Dominic Leslie, Laurie Lewis, Ned Luberecki, Mike Marshall, Todd Phillips and Missy Raines. Produced by Bill Evans, Stephen Mougin, Darol Anger & Tom Size.

The Distance Between Two Points / Walk To The Water (w/The Infamous Stringdusters) / Some Other Creek / Follow the Drinking Gourd (w/Tim O'Brien) / Big Chief Sonny / Dakota / On & On (w/Joy Kills Sorrow) / Mother Nature's Son / You've Got To Hide Your Love Away / Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds / A Hard Day's Night / They Say You're Never Lonely In Louisville

$15.00

Bill Evans Plays Banjo

Native and Fine Records 906-3

Petersburg Gal / Germaine's Dream / Kobe Blues / Meadows of Dan / Corey's Slide / Catching the Dickens / New Black Eyed Suzie / Raising the Beams / When She Smiles / Leaving Owensboro / Lonesome Polka / Granite Chief / Heavy Traffic Ahead

With Rob Ickes (dobro), John Reischman (mandolin), Darol Anger and Greg Spatz (fiddle), Jim Nunally and Nina Gerber (guitar), Missy Raines and Todd Phillips (bass) and Steve Smith (mandola). On "Heavy Traffic Ahead," Don Rigsby (vocal), Glen Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Chris Sharp (guitar) and Mike Bub (bass).

• Named "2001 Top 10 Bluegrass CD of the Year" by David Royko, The Chicago Tribune
• Named "Top 5 Instrumental Recording of the Year" by Dave Freeman, County Sales Newsletter

$15.00

Native and Fine

(Rounder 0295)

Fling Ding/Native and Fine/Goodbye Liza Jane/Wondrous Love/Scotland Yard/Choking the Strings/Clarinet Polka/Omie Wise/Jump Jesse/Saalo's Joy/Chicken Pox/Midnight in Rosine

With Stuart Duncan and Jason Carter (fiddle), David Grier (guitar), Mike Compton (mandolin), Missy Raines (bass), Suzanne Thomas (vocals), and Ron Thomason (mandolin and vocals).

Bill's debut bluegrass banjo CD on Rounder features five original tracks along with favorites from Ralph Stanley and Don Reno. Also included are two banjo/vocal duets with Suzanne Thomas ("Wondrous Love") and Ron Thomason ("Omie Wise").

Here's what the critics have said about Native and Fine:

Honorable Mention 1996 "Acoustic Instrumental Recording of the Year" Association for Independent Music

"Editor's Choice for 1995' (Banjo Newsletter, January 1996)

"Bill Evans can...play, which is no surprise, but the melodic quality of his original compositions may be to those unfamilar with Evans the solo artist. As impressive as he is on numbers like Ralph Stanley's 'Fling Ding,' it is on his own tunes that Evans is at his transcendent best, blending tradition with a distinctive sound that only covertly suggests newgrass." (David Royko, Chicago Tribune, June 1996)

$15.00