MARY Z. COX: Girl With The Banjo Tattoo
MARY Z. COX
Girl With The Banjo Tattoo
Mary Z. Cox
Mary Z. Cox describes herself as a banjoholic. She has played since the age of 12 and has won numerous prizes in old-time banjo competitions, taught at many folk festivals and workshops, published numerous tab books and Girl With The Banjo Tattoo is her seventh recording. I believe she qualifies.
What makes Mary’s music so appealing to me, as a fellow banjo player, is the easy-going style of her playing. So often banjoists substitute speed and tune obscurity for the beauty of realizing a classic tune in a new variation. Girl With The Banjo Tattoo is chock full of old chestnuts, each arranged in an imaginative manner. The only “original” tune is a reworking of “Whiskey Before Breakfast” retitled as “Whiskey Before Waltzing With Soldiers.”
I frequently play with a friend who is a dulcimer player and we have always found that the two instruments complement each other quite well. Mary is a fine Appalachian dulcimer player as well, and she adds the dulcimer to two of the selections on this great CD.
Mary Z. Cox is a terrific banjo player, and Girl With The Banjo Tattoo focuses on her abilities and imagination.
— Tom Druckenmiller