Burt Nagra

Mal, pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Bert and Agra, natural causes.

Well, I drifted off listening to an old tape of mine, something I'd done quite a few times before, except this time I didn't wake up.

What were you listening to?

Bluegrass music from a recording trip I did a few hours outside of Knoxville, near where I grew up.

I'd been trying to track down this one banjo player.

He finally agreed to let me come by with the rig.

Anyway, it was him and a couple other fellows, all old-timers, but they really knew how to play.

And they gave me a tremendous amount of shit for how long I took setting up the mics.

Yeah, I can still smell the wood stove and the tobacco from his house.

And then towards the beginning of the recording, you could hear the old boy's dog barking in the background.

So he quieted down once the music started.

Probably the best version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown I ever heard.

And I saw Flattin' Scruggs live.

You a fan of folk music, Mel?

Well, I wouldn't know.

I'm a bit out of touch with what's popular these days, and the jukebox at the bar that's not called Spirits leaves a lot to be desired.

Of course, you had Tommy Doyle singing his drinking songs back when he was around, but

I'd already recorded a number of those when I did my Irish American Songbook.

I was hoping when I got here there'd be more songs to hear from the other residents, but they mostly want to talk, not sing.