Tomatoes

tried to Kill me

But Banjos Saved My Life

I missed this show in 2022 and was keen to catch it early this year. Now an established international success, it’s a fine piece of American storytelling....

Keith Alessi plays the banjo. Keith Alessi also tells jokes. However, Keith Alessi is not Steve Martin.

A banjo, the lean and kindly man tells us, draws a line to the past – back to circles of players whiling away pre-electric evenings in the Blue Ridge Mountains, back to the vestigial sound of bagpipes urging Scotsmen across a battlefield, back even to primeval times, with people sitting around campfires and vocalizing with grunts and hums.