Minnesota resident Dick Kimmel offers a fine treat with his fifth Copper Creek release, a splendid collection of songs and tunes that highlight his clawhammer banjo prowess. Dick notes that while all of his recordings have featured some clawhammer banjo, this is his first release devoted entirely to this style. He says, “The selections on this recording represent a spectrum of my approaches to clawhammer banjo. I’ve included solo clawhammer banjo, clawhammer banjo within an old-time string band context, and clawhammer banjo within a bluegrass band setting.”

His involvement with this style of playing dates back to the 1960s. Picking sessions with a host of traditional musicians such as Lee Hammons, Tommy Jarrell, Melvin Wine, and Andy Boarman helped to solidify and strengthen his approach. In the 1970s, Dick began demonstrating clawhammer banjo technique at various festival workshops and also had a monthly column in Banjo Newsletter.

A tireless promoter of bluegrass and old-time music, Dick and his band (Dick Kimmel & Co) have performed on a multitude of festivals and concerts in the United States. As the chairman of the IBMA’s International Committee, Dick has taken his music abroad for several successful overseas tours. On all of these performances, the clawhammer banjo has been an integral part of the proceedings. Although the idea for this project was conceived only recently, Dick’s long-time involvement with this style of banjo picking has created a ready-made audience for this pickin’ on this new banjo recording.

Lending fine musical backing on Fishin’ Creek Blues is the respected old-time duo of Bob Bovee & Gail Heil as well as band mates Jed Malischke and Paul Horrisberger.