Mark Johnson & Emory Lester – Acoustic Campaign
For most folks, the clawhammer style of banjo playing signifies “old-time,” plain and simple. For Mark Johnson, it’s a little more complicated. Though he uses the down-stroke mechanics of clawhammer playing, Johnson takes an approach that has a strong bluegrass, even post-bluegrass, sound distinctive enough for him to have had some success in using the term “clawgrass” to describe it.
On Acoustic Campaign, Johnson teams up with multi-instrumental virtuoso Emory Lester (guitar, mandolin, bass) to apply the clawgrass style to a dozen tunes that range from old favorites such as “Forked Deer” and “Soldier’s Joy” to a pair of undeservedly obscure Sonny James songs (sung by Lester) and three delicate original instrumentals. If you’re accustomed to the (sometimes faux-) primitive way clawhammer banjo has been used by the genuine old-timers and by alt-country pickers anxious to get a touch of the banjo into their music, you’re in for a surprise. In Johnson’s hands, it’s a technique of considerable subtlety as well as full-blown bluegrass drive.
That’s not to slight Lester’s contributions — he’s a solid accompanist, a gifted, sensitive soloist on his own turns, and a more than serviceable singer — but the banjo playing is the central focus of Acoustic Campaign, and deservedly so.