38 | JANUARY 9 • 2019
Arts&Life
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A
aron Jonah Lewis has rotated
his recording and stage atten-
tion among different string
instruments, including fiddle, man-
dolin and guitar. As 2020 begins, the
instrumentalist is filling considerable
work time in tribute to the banjo and
a long-revered banjo player.
With the release of a new album,
Mozart of the Banjo: The Joe Morley
Project, Lewis is celebrating Morley
compositions that have engaged the
public beginning at the turn of the
20th century.
“Morley was a very prolific child
prodigy; and, in some ways, he rep-
resents a style that overlaps with
ragtime just like Mozart represents
classical music,
” Lewis says. “He wrote
pieces that stood the test of time, are
frequently played and fun to listen to.
“Morley was British, and his style
of banjo music has been a little more
popular there than here. My dad is
British so I felt I was able to explore
a connection between America and
England that I hadn’
t made before.
”
The album, all instru-
mental, will not be
officially released until
Jan. 24, when it will be
available on all the digi-
tal platforms, but pre-re-
lease copies of the CD
are available from the
record label, Old-Time
Tiki Parlour. A record
release party will be held
Jan. 16 at The Ark in
Ann Arbor to provide
concert renditions of the
sounds.
The concerts include
additional musicians
and poetic readings for
text-based entertain-
ment. Instrumentalists
include Kevin Celestia
on piano, Grace van’
t
Hof on banjo and ukulele and Keaton
Butler on cello. Dad Joe Lewis and
musician-puppeteer Lindsay McCaw
will do the readings.
“Half the album is pieces that have
not been recorded before,
” says Lewis,
who has released dozens of recordings
in various styles. “The other half is
mostly banjo and piano. There’
s one
piece that’
s banjo and banjo. One
piece has double bass and ukulele
because it has a Hawaiian theme.
”
Other instrumentalists on the
album include Ben Belcher (sec-
ond banjo), Tessa Hartle and Kevin
Allswede (piano), Rachel Pearson
(bass) and van’
t Hof (ukulele). Belcher
interested Lewis in the possibilities of
banjo when using it to play bluegrass
and gave Lewis an old banjo to get
him started. The two later formed a
band.
“The banjo has nylon strings rather
than wire strings so it’
s more mellow,
”
Lewis says. “It’
s like a classical guitar.
”
Lewis, 38, who is based in south-
west Detroit and teaches instrumental
students, was a violin performance
major at Interlochen before being
introduced to folk styles by a friend
met through a Habonim Dror pro-
gram in Israel.
A full-time entertainer, Lewis can
be heard as a soloist and band mem-
ber whose affiliations have included
the Corn Potato String Band and
Lovestruck Balladeers. He has won
top awards at country
music festivals and con-
ducted workshops in
Europe.
“I want people to have
a chance to be exposed to
this kind of banjo music,
”
says Lewis, at the helm
of a local square dance
group. “I want them to
come with me back to
a time before recorded
music.
“Back then, if you
wanted to hear music, you
had to learn how to play
an instrument yourself or
persuade someone to play
music for you. These days,
it’
s kind of hard to imagine
a world like that because
music is everywhere, from
the car to the drugstore.
“I also associate the banjo with all
the wonderful people I’
ve met through
my pursuit of music. Whenever I play
or even hold the instrument, I think
of those people, and there’
s a lot of
happy memories.
”
BRADLEY LOHMAN
The Banjo
Beat
Instrumentalist pays
tribute to banjo music.
Album cover
details
Aaron Jonah Lewis will
hold a record release
concert at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 16, at
The Ark in Ann Arbor,
$20, (734) 761-1818,
theark.org.
Aaron Jonah Lewis