Banjo Friday 10

I must confess I had never heard of Ola Belle Reed until I heard Brad Kolodner play "I've Endured" at a house concert a few years ago. Then I started to notice other young folk artists were covering Ola Belle Reed songs as well, and I started to pay attention. Ola Belle Reed is an American folk singer, songwriter and banjo player from North Carolina who died in 2002. She produced nine albums in her lifetime, and her recently reissued Rising Sun Melodies by Smithsonian Folkways won an award at the 2010 Independent Music Awards for best reissue. The Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a great collection of archived recordings you can listen to online, and there are a number of YouTube videos as well. Here is a link to one of her best known songs, "High on a Mountain." Enjoy: