Album Notes

What do you do when your head's full of stories about ghosts, witches, unsolved murders, freak accidents, and the tragedies and triumphs of everyday life? "Banjo Dan" Lindner, a history buff, amateur folklorist, bandleader, Vermontophile and compulsive songwriter, deals with the problem by coming up with a seemingly never-ending stream of memorable story songs. "Mystery and Memories," the third in his series "Banjo Dan's Songs of Vermont," offers up a fascinating array of new compositions as rich and varied as the landscape itself. Dan has been described as "the heart and soul of Vermont bluegrass," but his musical tastes range wide, and this new release combines elements of folk, Dixieland, traditional Russian music, shape-note gospel and narration with the solid guitar and banjo work of a man known as one of New England's foremost proponents of traditional bluegrass.
In an earlier album review Bluegrass Unlimited proclaimed:"The South doesn't have the corner on good bluegrass groups anymore...In New Enland Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys can pick and sing with the best." More recently the magazine has commented on Dan's uncanny ability to capture a sense of place. Few artists are identified so closely with their home state, and Dan's prolific output places him at the pinnacle of a state full of talented songwriters. "Mystery and Memories" was chosen by the state's leading newspaper as Best Album of the Year for 2006.