The Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Superb instrumentalist, acclaimed teacher of instrumental skills, gifted performer, award-winning folklorist, Ken Perlman is surely a welcome addition to any festival or concert-series lineup. Ken is both a pioneer of the 5-string banjo style known as "melodic clawhammer," and a master of fingerstyle guitar. He is considered one of the top clawhammer players in the world, known in particular for his skillful adaptations of Celtic tunes to the style. On guitar, Ken's sparkling finger-picked renditions of traditional Celtic and Southern fiddle tunes are simply not to be missed.
He draws his material from traditional sources -- the music of Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and the American South. His approach to the music, however, is highly innovative. He has developed many new instrumental techniques, and much of his repertoire has never before been played on 5-string banjo or guitar.Around the folk scene, Ken is often referred to as a musician's musician -- a player whose style is so accomplished and unique that other musicians go out of their way just to hear him.Ken is an acclaimed teacher of folk-music instrumental skills. He has written some of the most widely respected banjo and guitar instruction books of modern times, and he has been on staff at prestigious teaching festivals around the world. He has also served as director, or co-director for seveal banjo -instructional camps, including Maryland Banjo Academy, American Banjo Camp , Suwannee Banjo Camp , and Midwest Banjo Camp .Also an active folklorist, Ken has spent over a decade collecting tunes and oral histories from traditional fiddle players on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. Two outgrowths of his research are a tune book called The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island and a two-CD anthology of field recordings called The Prince Edward Island Style of Fiddling (Rounder Recordings). In 1997 and '98, each of these works received awards from the Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation for helping to "preserve, interpret, and disseminate our province's fiddling heritage."
He has several recordings to his credit, including:
-
Southern Summits : A duet recording with fiddler Alan Jabbour.
Northern Banjo
Island Boy
Devil in the Kitchen
Live in the U.K.
Clawhammer Banjo & Fingerstyle Guitar Solos
(Ken's first recording, on the Folkways label).
Ken's instructional books for banjo include:
-
Everything You Wanted to Know About Clawhammer Banjo (Mel Bay)
Clawhammer Style Banjo (Centerstream)
Melodic Clawhammer Banjo (Oak Publications)
Basic Clawhammer Banjo (Mel Bay).
His guitar "tutors" include:
- Fingerstyle Guitar (Centerstream)
Advanced Fingerstyle Guitar (Centerstream; formerly known as Contemporary Fingerstyle Guitar)
Fingerpicking Fiddle Tunes (The Mel Bay edition was called Traditional Dance Tunes for Acoustic Guitar).
Ken has made a number of banjo instructional videos, all of which are now available from Centerstream Music/Hal Leonard. He has also made a guitar-instruction video for Centerstream and a series of banjo-instruction audio cassettes for Homespun Tapes.
To obtain Ken's CDs, instruction books, tune books, companion tab books or instructional recordings, click here.
For more information on Ken Perlman, including musical selections, reviews and itinerary, go to Ken's official site .