A teenager in Syracuse, New York, heard the Kingston Trio's Charlie on the MTA in 1963 and latched onto the banjo. This episode follows Tony Trischka from the Down City Ramblers and his 1971 recording debut with Country Cooking into Breakfast Special, a New York band that mixed bluegrass with avant-garde, psychedelic rock, jazz, and klezmer in irreverent, sometimes absurdist shows. Drawing on ethnomusicologist Benjamin Krakauer's research, we explore why traditional Southern audiences saw these Northern outsiders as a threat to their cultural property.

Rather than retreat, Trischka pioneered the chromatic banjo style, fretting nearly every note sequentially instead of relying on ringing open strings, which unlocked jazz scales and non-traditional chords. We trace his path as musical leader of The Robber Bridegroom on Broadway, the score for ...