solobanjo.com – Benji Flaming

The year is off to a wonderful start! After a January/February tour of the warmer southern states, Monroe Crossing returned to MN for a week or two, before flying out to Tacoma, WA, for our first appearance at the Wintergrass festival (where I was introduced to a marvelously eclectic band called The Paperboys – who I’d highly recommend).  We were also in-town this year to perform at Minnesota’s own Winter Bluegrass Weekend, which gave me a welcome opportunity to spend a bit of time with some of my very dear friends in the MN bluegrass community. Last weekend, the band was down in Rochester, performing the The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass three times with the fantastic Choral Arts Ensemble there.

The recording studio which my friend Todd and I have been working on for the last few years is tantalizingly close to being operational. A bit of paint, flooring, trim, and electrical finishing are all that separate us from a beautiful workspace.  Then, of course, will come the task of convincing all of our equipment to cooperate after years of neglect.

In February, with the practical challenges of recording in an apartment being what they were, and with a proper studio seeming so close to readiness, I decided to delay finishing my solo banjo CD.  Over the last week or so, however, I’ve decided to push forward and finish the recording at home, impracticalities notwithstanding. I am now 2/3 of the way through the recording process, and I am optimistic about finishing within a week.

I realize that this news update has been a jumble of bland and disconnected paragraphs, and I’m quite grateful if you’ve read this far. I will attempt to avoid such ghastly writing in the future, by posting smaller updates with greater regularity and higher frequency.

With the weather in Minnesota being such as it is, I’m immensely grateful that Monroe Crossing is spending some time in warmer places. After a 2-week break in the beginning of January, we drove down to Florida, for our third time on the Bell Buckle Music Cruise. We’ll be getting off the ship (Carnival Cruise Line’s “Inspiration”) in just a few hours, after which we’ll continue with a series of southern shows – which will keep us out of Minnesota’s harsh winter until mid-February (by which time, one might hope, things may begin to warm up just a bit).

A warm greeting to any of my fellow passengers, who may have found their way to this news item because of my performance (or Monroe Crossing’s performance) during the ship’s “talent/variety show” on Monday night. As usual, I neglected to mention my web site, but I expect that anyone who is truly interested in the music will be able to find their way here somehow.

When I return home, I’ll resume recording my solo banjo CD – a process which is nearly halfway complete. It is my plan to finish the album artwork while I am still on the road, so that the CD can be duplicated and ready for full release in March (with limited prerelease copies being created by-hand in February). If nothing else, I’ll certainly be posting more videos to my YouTube channel over the next month.

Thanks for reading!