Artist:Noam Pikelny
Song:Old Banjo
Album: Universal Favorite
Fans of the popular band Punch Brothers have heard banjoist Noam Pikelny. But you probably don't know that Pikelny has recorded four solo albums. He was born Feb. 27, 1981 in Chicago and was raised in the Chicago suburb of Skokie. He started playing banjo when he was eight years old and took lessons at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. He also studied with Greg Cahill of the bluegrass band Special Consensus. Pikelny joined the band Leftover Salmon in 2002. He left in 2004 to join the John Cowan Band. Then Chris Thile started Punch Brothers in 2006 and Pikelny has been in that band ever since. They released their debut album on Nonesuch in 2008. In 2010, Pikelny won the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. Then he appeared on a 2010 episode of Late Night with David Letterman with Martin performing a comedic version of Dueling Banjos. And later in the show, he appeared with Punch Brothers. Pikelny released three albums for the Bluegrass label Compass. They were all band albums. One had special guests like Martin and one was a Bill Monroe tribute. So when he signed with Rounder for the 2017 album Universal Favorite, Pikelny and producer Greg Witcher decided Pikelny should record solo. Half are instrumental and he sings on the rest. Half of the songs are traditional like Old Banjo and the rest are originals. Witcher was a fiddler for Punch Brothers until he left the band in 2023 due to his busy Nashville studio work schedule. He has produced all of Pikelny's albums. Universal Favorite is available as a budget CD. That is Pikelny's latest solo album. The Punch Brothers are very busy. But I'm sure Pikelny will record again when he has time. Here's the video for Old Banjo by Noam Pikelny.
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