Busk Break

Sparrow performs “Power Ballad”

It had been the better part of a year since I’d encountered Asheville-based busker Sparrow, and I was glad to run into her again. Her video had been one of the most popular from the first year of Busk Break, and I genuinely enjoyed listening to her perform. Although she’d seen the video from Halloween the year before, she said she couldn’t recall which song she performed for me. I remembered the tune, but couldn’t remember the name of it. So, after a moment, she decided to go with a song she was almost certain she hadn’t performed for me.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite recall how the song she wanted to play went. So, right in front of me, she worked the entire thing out. Continue reading Sparrow performs “Power Ballad”

Abby the Spoon Lady and Banjo Ben perform “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss”

Here’s an experiment: Take two standard metal soup spoons. Turn them so that the curved bottoms are facing each other, and place them between your fingers like chopsticks. Now, try to clack them in time with any moderately paced song. It should take you about 45 seconds to begin to appreciate just how good Abby the Spoon Lady is at her profession, and you haven’t even done any of the hard stuff yet. Continue reading

Abby the Spoon Lady and Ben Shirley perform “Li’l Liza Jane”

This video of traveling buskers Abby the Spoon Lady (one of the few professional musical spoon players in the country) and Ben Shirley is arguably the most popular thing ever filmed for Busk Break. It’s not because they’re playing some ironic cover of an ’90s hit or something. (Unless you mean 1890s, perhaps.) It’s because they’re both stunningly talented. Or, if you want believe Abby’s take, it’s like 35 people watching the video 1,000 times each to learn how to play the spoons. Continue reading

Caster covers “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)”

If there’s any song that provokes a completely surprised, totally unguarded smile, it’s the “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)” from the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book. Add a banjo, a kazoo and a young busker just finding his voice, and you have a very light-hearted busking moment on the streets of Asheville. And, more than that, it’s an early glimpse at a performer who was slowly coming into his own. Continue reading

Balkan Death Grip perform “Men Trinkte Mashke”

Matt Heckler and Trevor Grassi lead this incarnation of Balkan Death Grip to hell and back. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a melodramatic way of putting it, but this is a highly melodramatic song. After all, it’s about a man who pays his way by shoveling coal in hell, who plays music that smells of gasoline and who, they say, is around “every time a ship goes down.” It’s also one of the most entertainingly over-the-top tunes ever performed in front of the Busk Break camera. Continue reading

Mister Gunn & The Pistol Packin’ Mamas perform “Caffeine”

It’s not every musician that can write an entirely new song that also manages to feel timeless. That’s doubly true when their chosen genre is the nostalgia-driven jazz, blue and old-time hybrid that has been dominating the regional busking scene for the past several years. I was absolutely certain that “Caffeine” was a cover, like some jazzed-up, long-forgotten companion b-side to Clara Smith’s “Ain’t Got Nobody To Grind My Coffee.” But it turns out that it was written by a guy I’ve known for years. Continue reading

Mister Gunn & The Pistol Packin’ Mamas cover “My Fat Gal”

Filmed on a gray spring day outside the Woolworth Walk, Mister Gunn & The Pistol Packin’ Mamas performed an exceedingly fun take on the Merle Travis tune “My Fat Gal.” In other hands, it’s one of those songs that could be interpreted as insensitive, or even outright offensive. But here, it’s neither. It’s just a great band playing a truly entertaining song. Continue reading

Clarence, Antone and Alex perform “Jitterbug Rag”

In this video, resonator guitar-player Clarence Gallagher, jug player Antone Costa and washtub bassist Alex Brady perform Blind Boy Fuller’s tune “Jitterbug Rag” near Pritchard Park. You may know Costa and Brady from Blind Boy Chocolate & The Milk Sheiks, which have expanded their range well beyond the limits of the Asheville area. The trio only performed in this line up a few times, but gave a truly memorable performance. (Even if the camera was only rolling for a small portion of it.)

How memorable? Well, you may also recognize the image of the three playing as the header image for the site. Yeah, it was good stuff. Continue reading Clarence, Antone and Alex perform “Jitterbug Rag”

Will and Clarence cover “Who Gonna Love You Tonight?”

There’s something to be said for anyone in the modern era attempting to play a credible version of any Sam Chatmon song. In the wrong hands, his done-wrong Delta blues can come across as cartoonish rather than heartfelt. But even though they’re about 100 years younger than Chatmon, Clarence and Will surprised me with this version of “Who Gonna Love You Tonight.”

I was walking back from filming the Asheville Holiday Parade on a surprisingly warm November day, when I saw two guys setting up in front of the Iron Sculpture. Both were dressed as if it was a good ten degrees cooler than it was, and putting on a great show of being barely interested in the tip-bearing crowd passing by. They’d clearly spend some time developing their old-time musician personas, from Dust Bowl-hinting clothing to their practiced, skeptically detatched drawls. Continue reading Will and Clarence cover “Who Gonna Love You Tonight?”

Anna Trevor puts a cello spin on “Old Joe Clark”

“It’s really cold in New Hampshire right now,” Anna Trevor explained with a laugh. I’d asked her why she was performing on the streets of Asheville on this chilly, windy winter day in Asheville. “It’s still a beautiful place, and I love it there, but I also love to play music. It’s hard to play music outside when it’s snowing. So, I’ve been traveling around, trying to get down South … as far South as I can.”

In this video, Anna Trevor performs the traditional mountain ballad “Old Joe Clark.” Continue reading Anna Trevor puts a cello spin on “Old Joe Clark”