Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond cover image

Rhiannon Giddens Comes Home

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

CHAPTER

The Drone Sound of the Gourd Banjo

Gourd banjo is a short drone string. The claw hammer style, which is called stroke style during this time, can be found in West Africa. There's all the syncopation that's built into the instrument. I hear so many different aspects of like American culture in these tunes. That's really been a code. It was kind of like a, I feel like it was a code breaker for me.

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