The Banjo Episode, with Hans Martin Austestad

About the episode

Hans Martin Austestad is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and producer. In addition to all of that, he is also one of the most innovative and knowledgeable banjo players on the Norwegian folk scene. In this episode I have a conversation with him about how the banjo has shaped his musical career, and how it has led him down some very interesting and unexpected paths!

Hans Martin is a very philosophically minded person and our conversation jumps around a lot, covering a wide variety of topics including the banjo’s slightly troubled past, the state of bluegrass, adapting different kinds of musical repertoire on the instrument, jam etiquette, musical identity, improvisation, personal expression and a bunch of other things.