-AVAILABLE-  on CD (See Ordering Info)

Banjo Dan and the Mid-Nite Plowboys:
Dan Lindner - banjo, guitar, mandolin, vocals
Willy Lindner - mandolin, guitar, vocals
Al Davis - guitar, bass, vocals
Pete Tourin - bass, viola da gamba, vocals

Bluegrass was born and raised in the shadows of the Appalachians. Remote from urban and industrial influences, the mountains nurtured the music. As one moves north along the Appalachian Chain the crops change, the people's accents differ, the winters are longer and colder.

SNOWFALL is Bluegrass from the Northern Appalachians, the Green Mountains of Vermont. It is basic Bluegrass, using the traditional instruments and harmonies, but the accent is different. The songs are all original, and many of them deal with life in the North Country. The material in this album is strong and fresh, adding new dimensions to this dynamic native American music.

Banjo Dan and the Mid-Nite Plowboys have been performing in New England for two years. One of the few Bluegrass bands in the area, they have been bringing the sounds of Bluegrass to the ears of many Northern listeners for the first time.

Banjo Dan, the spiritual leader of the group, was raised in the Baltimore Bluegrass Belt, and has played in bands in Ohio, Michigan and Yugoslavia. A master inventor of esoteric and largely useless banjo tunings, Dan credits Bluegrass with rescuing him from a life of involvement with the law.

Oat Willy, itinerant mandolin player and youngest of the Fabulous Lindner Brothers, has played Bluegrass coast to coast. Two years in the Tennessee hills brought him closer to the source of American string band music and launched his song-writing career. Willy does not wear pajamas when he sleeps and his favorite color is blue.

Big Al, whose jellyfish guitar has been called the backbone of the band, was reared in Boston. He is a well known Vermont chicken and pig farmer, and writes pornographic novels while not playing with the Plowboys.

Sneaky Pete originally came from the D.C. area, and has played classical, rock and folk music in his meteoric career before finding his musical "resting place" with the Plowboys. In addition to his work in the band, Pete is a viol performer, a baroque instrument builder and a mad tinkerer.

1. Snowfall (clip)
   Al's song about the quiet beauty and soul-healing qualities of a soft Vermont snowfall.
2. Sweetie's Gone to Boston (clip)
   A heartrending (but true) tale by Banjo Dan of lost love and kinky decadence in the Cod Capital of America
3. Danny on the Dirt Road (clip)
   A fresh approach to an old subject; Dan's instrumental in the unheard-of-b-minor banjo tuning.
4. Song for a Friend (clip)
   A straightforward love song written, sung and played on the guitar by Dan.
5. She's Mine All Mine (clip)
   A bit of nonsense from high lonesome Willy, who dips deep into the wellspring of his life's experience for this tune of little redeeming social value.
6. Donna on Horseback (clip)
   Willy's song about the prettiest girl in Fentress County, Tennessee, and a rainy afternoon spent with her. The Plowboys play Musical Instruments, with Willy switching to guitar, Dan on mandolin, Al on bass, and Pete playing the viola da gamba in what must be a bluegrass first.
7. Wood Heat (clip)
   Conservation of our nation's precious energy resources is a fundamental part of the Plowboy Credo. Al sings of the joys and hard work of getting in the winter's fuel supply.
8. Snowstorm (clip)
   Sometimes a Vermont winter is just too long. Dan's song describes the despair which the approach of a storm in the depths of winter can bring.
9. To the Guitar Player (clip)
   A slow and easy song of lost love. Willy wrote it, Pete sings it.
10. Doreen, My Bluegrass Queen (clip)
    Big Al presents a searing indictment of urbanism, rock'n'roll, expensive haircuts, man's inhumanity to man, etc. etc.
11. Rumford, South Dakota, Is No More (clip)
    Al's song takes us through the musical time warp to a once-real town which no longer exists.
12. Barnaby's Tune (clip)
    Banjo Dan picks his way into your heart with this lively instrumental (in the equally unheard-of-b-major banjo tuning) based upon the life of his dog. Vocal by Barnaby.
13. Willy's Lament (clip)
    Dan sings the verses of Willy's quartet number about a truck driver with a fatalistic point of view.
14. We Never Can Be (clip)
    In a musical tribute to the Mann Act, Willy faces a problem common to Country Music idols.

This was Banjo Dan's first album. Back to Banjo Dan home page