Tony Trischka

Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2020: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and avant-garde, Tony Trischka has inspired a whole generation of progressive psychedelic bluegrass musicians."

Music career

thumb|right|[[Bruce Molsky (L) and Tony Trischka at the 2022 New Bedford Folk Festival]]

A native of Syracuse, New York, Trischka's interest in banjo was sparked by the Kingston Trio's version of "Charlie and the MTA" in 1963. Two years later, he joined the Down City Ramblers, where he remained through 1971. That year, he made his recording debut on 15 Bluegrass Instrumentals with the band Country Cooking; at the same time, he was also a member of America's premier sports-rock band Country Granola.

In 1973, he began a three-year stint with Breakfast Special. Between 1974 and 1975, he recorded two solo albums, Bluegrass Light and Heartlands. Ethnomusicologist Benjamin Krakauer devotes an article to the legacy of this group in the bluegrass community, described as of experimental bluegrass musicians from New York City: . This researcher explores the question of why their music has never been absorbed into the bluegrass mainstream, while the newgrass and progressive blue-grass of many of their innovative peers was widely embraced : Benjamin Krakauer argues:

Discography

As leader

Bluegrass Light (Rounder, 1974)
Heartlands (Rounder, 1975)
Banjoland (Rounder, 1977)
Fiddle Tunes for Banjo with Bill Keith and Béla Fleck (Rounder, 1981)
A Robot Plane Flies over Arkansas (Rounder, 1983)
Hill Country (Rounder, 1985)
Alone & Together with Beppe Gambetta (Brambus, 1991)
Solo Banjo Works with Béla Fleck (Rounder, 1992)
World Turning (Rounder, 1995)
Glory Shone Around: A Christmas Collection (Rounder, 1995)
Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular (Rounder, 2007)
Territory (Smithsonian Folkways 2008)
Great Big World (Rounder, 2014)
Of A Winter's Night (Independent, 2014)
The Durban Sessions (Independent, 2019)
Shall We Hope (Shefa Records, 2021)
Earl Jam (2024)
Earl Jam 2 (2026)

With Country Cooking

14 Bluegrass Instrumentals (Rounder Records, 0006, 1971)
Frank Wakefield With Country Cooking (Rounder Records, 0007, 1972)
Barrel Of Fun (Rounder Records, 0033, 1974)
Bluegrass Guitar (Russ Barenberg & Country Cooking, Music Minus One, MMO 185, 1974)

With Skyline

Late to Work (Flying Fish, 1981)
Stranded in the Moonlight (Flying Fish, 1984)
Skyline Drive (Flying Fish, 1986)
Fire of Grace (Flying Fish, 1989)

With the Big Dogs

Live at the Birchmere (Strictly Country, 1993)

With Psychograss

Psychograss (Windham Hill, 1993)
Like Minds (Sugar Hill, 1996)
Now Hear This (Adventure Music America, 2005)

With the Wayfaring Strangers

Shifting Sands of Time (Rounder, 2001)
This Train (Rounder, 2003)

Television appearances

Merv Griffin Show, 1976
Nashville Network's Fire on the Mountain, 1984, 1986
Ralph Emery's "Frets" Awards Show, The Nashville Network, 1987
CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Foxfire with Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and John Denver, 1987
British television production of Echoes of America: History of the Five String Banjo, 1989
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (PBS), 1992
CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood – feature story (including Béla Fleck), 1995
ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Summer, 1996
ABC Views, with Béla Fleck, Summer 1997
Live at the Quick, with Bela Fleck, 2004–2006
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, with Steve Martin, Brittany Haas, and Michael Daves, April 2007
Late Show with David Letterman, with Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Brittany Haas, and Michael Daves, April 2007
CBS Television Network's Elton John: I'm Still Standing - A Grammy Salute, with Miley Cyrus, April 2018