I don't know how to embed these videos but I think it is worth a good long discussion
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TDjspOnIQvc
http://youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=R5Q27WJSYPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nij2jjJDu0&feature=related
If you can embed these please put them directly into this thread
Ritchie Stearns is my generation's Fred Cockerham. His musical interests are wide and varied. He sings he plays and he is the complete banjo man. Furthermore he was already a master by the time I met him in 1979 - when he was six inches shorter than he is now> I doubt he was more than 14. His abilities have only deepened and grown more subtle over the years. I can remember holding down the melody of Arkansas traveler one morning at Galax while Ritchie and a fiddler I didn't know soloed over the top. Ritchie was deep into chromatics that summer and the couple people that heard us couldn't find the tune - That is the way it can be with Ritchie. He can be so far ahead of you that his playing is over your horizon.
These videos OTOH is Ritchie doing his completely understandable and absolutely stunning best in an "almost" completely traditional manner, using the banjo with the vocals and the fiddle.
The first video has been floating around the other clawhammer forum for a week or so while the second video, Reuben, has Ritchie doing occasional "ukulele shuffle" strums. Ritchie and Frank Lee are the masters of this technique. The third video is the Evil City String Band doing Reuben in Jam Band fashion It is a much rougher taping but you can hear how Ritchie does a Jerry Garcia on the tune. Listen carefully and you will find the meaning of what I say when I say the banjo and fiddle are co-leads. All of these videos show how the banjo is not a subservient instrument. If you think playing with an alpha fiddler limits you to "back-up" watch thes and discover the world of alpha banjo.
Everyone knows I find fiddle and banjo to be completely intertwined - there is no lead or back up. This is true spirit of jamming. The two instruments weave and circle, swoop and soar - together.
If you know of another banjo master like Ritchie - please put some videos here. If you can embed these videos into a post please do so. I'm old and still have trouble with using the "Start" menu to turn a machine off. I'm useless at real computer stuff.