For Tony Trischka, it always comes back to the banjo.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony Trischka\u2019s Holiday Show\u201d is at 7 p.m. Dec. 11, Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
In addition to Trischka on vocals and banjo, the Godfrey\u2019s concert includes Tim Eriksen, vocals, banjo, fiddle, guitar, bajo sexto (Mexican bass); Hannah Read, vocals, fiddle, guitar; Jared Engel, bass, banjo, tuba, and Sean Trischka (son of Tony and his wife Assunta), vocals, drums.<\/p>\n
Tony Trischka is progenitor of the progressive bluegrass music movement known as newgrass, which has rock, jazz and other genre influences.<\/p>\n
Trischka presented his Christmas-themed concert in 2024 at Godfrey\u2019s where he has performed for some 27 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been going there [Godfrey Daniels] since the early \u201880s. We had a band called Skyline. It\u2019s home away from home,\u201d Trischka says in a phone interview from northern New Jersey. In addition to their son, Sean, he and his wife have a daughter, Zoe.<\/p>\n
At the Godfrey\u2019s concert, don\u2019t only expect \u201cchestnuts roasting on an open fire,\u201d as goes the \u201cThe Christmas Song,\u201d written by Robert Wells and Mel Torm\u00e9 and first recorded in 1946 by the Nat King Cole Trio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to find songs that interest us as much as we love the standard Christmas songs. And we do a few of those,\u201d says Trischka.<\/p>\n
One of the lesser known classics to be heard at Godfrey\u2019s is \u201cChristmas Is A-Comin\u2019\u201d by Woody Guthrie (1912-1967).<\/p>\n
Recalls Trischka:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m friendly with Nora Guthrie, who is Woody\u2019s daughter, and I had the opportunity to go to the archives when they were located in New York City. It\u2019s now the Woody Guthrie Center located in Tulsa, Okla.<\/p>\n
\u201cNora found a whole bunch of Christmas and Hanukkah lyrics. She went through the piles and found lyrics that would be of interest to me for this project. I was actually holding his [Woody Guthrie] typewritten sheets. It had his DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trischka has performed with, in addition to Skyline, the groups, Breakfast Special, Country Granola, Country Cooking and the Down City Ramblers, the latter his first group when as a native of Syracuse, N.Y., he started playing the banjo.<\/p>\n
Trischka, who attended Syracuse University, encountered two of his music heroes, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, in Syracuse:<\/p>\n
\u201cDylan played at the Regent Theatre. I went to the concert with my banjo teacher, who knew Dylan from the Village. Jon Gaines. We were invited to his hotel room.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he [Dylan] asked if I wanted anything to drink. I was 14-years-old at the time. I said, \u2018I\u2019ll have a Coke.\u2019 He [Dylan] went down the hall and bought me a Coke. And it was all downhill since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trischka continues with another anecdote from the \u2018Cuse, as it\u2019s nicknamed:<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a fine arts major. They wanted me to write the text for a slide show about the Everson Museum. Two weeks later, it was announced that Yoko was doing an exhibit [\u2018This Is Not Here,\u2019 her first museum show] for John\u2019s 30th birthday. James Harithas [1932-1923] was the new director [at the Everson] and he knew Yoko.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [John and Yoko] both came in [the Everson]. And John sort of came in twirling. And in your minds, \u2018We said, Oh my God, it\u2019s John Lennon.\u2019 I had a question about this maze that I was constructing with some other folks. I didn\u2019t say anything. I was too in awe.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad I realized that he [Lennon] started playing the banjo before the guitar, I would have struck up a conversation. It always comes back to the banjo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trischka has recorded some 32 albums, including \u201cGlory Shone Around: A Christmas Collection\u201d (Rounder, 1995).<\/p>\n
Joining Trischka on the Grammy-nominated \u201cDouble Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular\u201d album (Rounder Records, 2007) were banjo meisters Steve Martin, Earl Scruggs and B\u00e9la Fleck, a former Trischka student, and bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice (1951-2020).<\/p>\n
Trischka recorded Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs\u201d (2024).<\/p>\n
Trischka has two new singles, based on the jam sessions that he transcribed between Earl Scruggs (1924-2012) and John Hartford (1937-2001), which became \u201cEarl Jam.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the recordings, I play his [Scruggs] notes note-for-note so people can hear what Earl did,\u201d says Trischka.<\/p>\n
Scruggs is credited with popularizing a finger-picking style of banjo-playing that defines bluegrass.<\/p>\n
With Lester Flatt, Scruggs recorded the hit instrumental, \u201cFoggy Mountain Breakdown\u201d in 1949, later heard on the soundtrack of the movie \u201cBonnie and Clyde\u201c (1967).<\/p>\n
Flatt and Scruggs recorded \u201cThe Ballad of Jed Clampett,\u201d theme song for the TV sitcom, \u201cThe Beverly Hillbillies\u201d (1962-1972).<\/p>\n
Trischka was music leader for the Broadway show, \u201cThe Robber Bridegroom\u201d (1976).<\/p>\n
He produced Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers\u2019 \u201cRare Bird Alert\u201d (2011), a Grammy-nominated album that included The Chicks and Paul McCartney.<\/p>\n
Trischka was music director for the documentary film, \u201cGive Me The Banjo\u201d (2011), which Martin narrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just composed a chamber piece for instruments and soprano. It\u2019s debuting in Boston,\u201d says Trischka.<\/p>\n
Trischka has performed on National Public Radio programs, written instructional books and DVDs about playing the banjo and has a website, \u201cOnline Banjo School with Tony Trischka.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt starts from the absolute beginner, how to hold a banjo, to the very advanced,\u201d Trischka says.<\/p>\n
For the concert at Godfrey\u2019s, \u201cWe do a wide variety of things,\u201d says Trischka.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do shaped-note singing of songs that go back to the 1700s. I\u2019ll do a banjo medley of Christmas tunes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll do \u2018Light of the Stable \u2018by Emmylou Harris. We do a Christmas fiddle tune. We do my favorite Christmas song of all, by Ruth Crawford Seeger, \u2018Mother\u2019s Child (Child of God).\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we do a couple of original tunes by Hannah Read.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Dominick the Christmas Donkey,\u201d an Italian song, which my son sings,\u201d Trischka continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do \u2018Christmas Time Is Here\u2019 from the Peanuts\u2019 movie [\u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas,\u201d the 1965 TV special that included the Vince Guaraldi tune].\u201d<\/p>\n
The Godfrey\u2019s website has a photo of Trischka and his band mates ready for the concert in festive attire. You could call some of the tops Ugly Christmas Sweaters. Will the group be sporting them for the Godfrey\u2019s concert?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to say,\u201d says Trischka. \u201cI will plead innocent on that front.\u201d<\/p>\n
You will just have to attend \u201cTony Trischka\u2019s Holiday Show\u2019 at Godfrey Daniels and see for yourself.<\/p>\n
It always comes back to the banjo.<\/p>\n
And holiday sweaters.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony Trischka\u2019s Holiday Show,\u201d 7 p.m. Dec. 11, Godfrey Daniels, 7 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem. 610-867-2390, https:\/\/godfreydaniels.org\/<\/p>\n
PHOTO: GREG HEISLERTony Trischka returns to Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO\u201cTony Trischka\u2019s Holiday Show,\u201d 7 p.m. Dec. 11, 2025, Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Tony Trischka, it always comes back to the banjo. \u201cTony Trischka\u2019s Holiday Show\u201d is at 7 p.m.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-56972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}