To the delight of the audience on Friday, January 3^rd, Mike Evans Banjo sang bluegrass and played three instruments:  a traditional banjo with a goat skin head, a steel banjo, and a bouzouki.  A bouzouki is a Greek instrument, Mike explains, “which the Irish figured out they could use like a fiddle.”

Mike is just as comfortable storytelling as singing stories, weaving in his experiences as a young man train hopping around the country and getting odd jobs to singing his young daughter’s favorite lullaby.  While listening to him, you are either foot-stomping to the music or imagining yourself in the hills of Appalachia.

Mike describes his American folk music as America’s ‘first music’.  “Many people say the blues is America’s first music.  It’s actually not true; it is this old-time Appalachian stuff that I’m doing today.  As the newly freed people were settling in Appalachia, the Irish came over and settled in the same area simply because it reminded them of home.  And so you have this Afro-Celtic mix that created this newly American indigenous music.”

And if you can play vinyl, check out Railcar Griffiti’s debut album, “Going Across the Sea”– the back cover is a photo of immigrants arriving on Ellis Island.  Mike recalls, “We recorded it all in a friend’s bedroom.  Then, a company in England ended up pressing our vinyl.  The first half is all Irish tunes like you would hear in Ireland.  The second half is American Folk like the Appalachian stuff that I played.”

And what, you ask, does ‘railcar graffiti’ mean?  Railcar graffiti – also known as monikers, tags, or hobo art – is a form of graffiti that has been on trains since the early 1800s. 

For future playing times, check out Mike’s Facebook page Banjo Mike Evans, or the Carrigan Café website https://carrigancafemi.com.  View the Railcar Griffiti Facebook page for information on the band.