March 7: Jewgrass Music

“Dueling Banjos,” recorded by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell for the film Deliverance, was certified gold on this date in 1973. (The song was written by Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, who successfully sued over its inclusion in the movie without his permission.) Weissberg and Mandell were among America’s many Jewish men who came to the banjo during the urban folk revival of the countercultural 1960s, often beginning with Pete Seeger’s self-published book, How to Play the 5-String Banjo. Among the best-known contemporary Jewish banjo players are Mike Gordon of the band Phish; Henry Sapoznik, the founder of Klezkamp; Warren Hellman, the late San Francisco billionaire philanthropist; Bob Yellin, who played with Eric Weissberg (and John Herald) as one of the Greenbriar Boys; screenwriter Marshall Brickman; Pete Wernick, former head of the International Bluegrass Music Association; Roger Sprung, who introduced many Southern styles of banjo-playing to the New York scene; and Tom Paley of the New Lost City Ramblers.

“[T]he New York Bluegrass and Old Time scene was pretty much Jewish . . . My first real banjo was a Baldwin Ode, a huge resonating thing — I was able to do bench presses with it.” —Henry Sapoznik

Watch Eric Weissberg (banjo) and Steve Mandell (guitar) perform Dueling Banjos on Midnight Special (1973):