Section 2 of 6
The Instruments
Banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass, and an unusually strict division of labour. Every entry here says what the instrument is doing in the sound rather than how it is played.
Five instruments, five jobs. In a standard band none of them doubles another’s work.
6 pieces
Five parts, each with a job.
The roll that never stops
A three-finger banjo pattern running continuously underneath everything, so the instrument functions as motion rather than as melody.
The chop
A closed mandolin chord on the offbeat, standing in for a snare drum.
The fiddle answers
Filling the gaps at the ends of vocal lines.
The guitar holds the floor
Bass runs and rhythm, and the one instrument everyone else is listening to.
The resonator
A guitar with a metal cone, played flat with a steel bar.
No drums
The absence that defines the sound, and what fills the role instead.