In 2022, Daniel Sherrill released his solo album From A Heritage Tree, at the centre of which was, besides plenty of time and contemplation, his banjo, made from a heritage tree. As demonstrated on his Folk Radio premiere of “Quincy Dillion’s Hi-D Tune”, he’s a unique player – the harmony and melody were played separately as if two different tunes. Technique details aside, his playing has a beautiful earthy quality, and his zen-like sense of rhythm and melody demonstrates a deep connection to his instrument and the natural world, which clearly inspires him – all of this together makes his music enchanting. In the words of Sean Jewell, the Principal Raconteur behind American Standard Time Records: “His gentle, mesmerizing tone is unlike anything else in the roots music world.”
Sherrill has announced his new album Back To P.A., and shared his new video for Wandering Boy, which you can watch below. Originally a fiddle tune, it’s since become a popular solo tune for the clawhammer banjo players although Sherrill’s delivery feels more relaxed and meditative, his playing style has a gentle rolling feel to it, which makes the moss-covered rocks and waterfall in the video such a perfect visual to his playing.
American Standard Time Records shared the following:
What’s most compelling about Sherrill’s work are things that cannot be found anywhere else in the American roots music canon. His work is done on a banjo of remarkable provenance. Hewed from a 275-year-old claro-walnut tree, the wood in the banjo was around when some of these traditional songs first began being played in America. The tree was declared a heritage tree, fell naturally at the end of its life, and some of its wood landed in the hands of a talented luthier. The luthier had heard Daniel play and constructed the banjo specifically for him as a gift.
We are all the more fortunate since Daniel’s talent seems to bring the most out of the banjo. His ability to play chords and melodies at once hearken country guitar rippers and chicken pickers. With great sensitivity for the music, Sherrill is expanding upon typical song structures with a single banjo, no after-effects, and no overdubs. Daniel sometimes humbly remarks about his inexplicable playing as if he’s a novice, learning a new tune from the locals and trying it out at home, but he’s doing the work of folklorists of old. Taking a tune, transcribing it, and re-sharing it. The folk process lives on.
Of course, this list is a carefully curated collection of traditional tunes with contemporary twists.
From Daniel:
“Moving my family from the pacific northwest back to our roots in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains of Pennsylvania, I find that this collection makes me want to go deeper into the history of the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania, and the square/contra dance culture that sprouted up from all the milltowns in the area. Downingtown, where I live currently, was first called Milltown because of the wood, paper, and stone mills dotting the East Branch of the Brandywine River. I asked Joe Newberry, banjo historian and renowned player, what style of banjo was in southeastern Pennsylvania, and aside from the dance culture playing, there wasn’t a clear example, like there would be from Virginia, Kentucky, or West Virginia. I’m trying to learn more about the banjo and southeastern Pennsylvania.”
My goal is to add to the story of the banjo, honor its roots and push its vocabulary into the future. I try to be very clean and precise with my playing, as if the birds were singing the melodies, with the trees, crickets, and creeks. The videos being released with these tunes hopefully inspire an appreciation of the little spaces and the overlooked beauty that is available to anyone with access to a trail, and the potential to walk slow.“
Sherrill’s precision playing is more than just bluegrass shredding. He’s researching songs that specifically hearken the value of the culture that has played and preserved these songs, and delivers them again in his own inimitable way.
Daniel Sherrill’s Back To P.A. is out on American Standard Time Records on November 10th, 2023.
Pre-Order Back to P.A. here: https://danielsherrill.bandcamp.com/album/back-to-p-a