WFUV On Your Radar

Check out our live version of Freight Train on WFUV.

Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches is a most unusual NYC band.” – John Platt

We love WFUV! I’m a NYC girl, born in Manhattan, raised in Queens, and I’ve always listened to WFUV and John Platt. I got to play on WFUV for John Platt once before. I sang harmony on some Jack Hardy tunes and played some of my own before the 20th Anniversary of Fast Folk concert at the Bottom Line.

This time I was the with my husband Nick Russo as a part of our project Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches.

We played on Sunday April 9th on Supper Sunday, and John Platt was such a delight. He really loves music, is full of knowledge and questions, and has such a warmth.

Then the following Tuesday April 11th John Platt had us as part of his On The Radar series at Rockwood Music Hall.

What a treat!

And here’s what John wrote about us…

Enjoy,

Betina Hershey

Banjo Nickaru and “Sunday Supper” host John Platt (photo by Jeremy Rainer)

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Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches is a most unusual NYC band. Led by banjo/guitar player Nick Russo and singer-songwriter Betina Hersey, they have an appetite for all kinds of music: folk, blues, country, 1920s and ’30s pop and jazz, and roots music in general, expressed in both originals and cover songs.

Their real wild card is a Gullah-Geechee accent brought by percussionist David Pleasant. Pleasant wasn’t with them for this visit to Studio A, but they did bring veteran percussionist Newman Taylor -Baker on washboard and Neal Murgai on sitar.

Listen to what they add to Elizabeth Cotton’s classic “Freight Train.” This is a band that must be heard to be believed! Check them out in this fun session or at Rockwood Music Hall on April 11 for “On Your Radar.”

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Reviews and Fun Links

We’ve had so much going on this September and October! Here are just a few…

Recent Reviews:

San Diego Troubadour Hershey’s “I Don’t Believe in Love” full of double entendre and good humor, is the best track here. While the disc is full of elaborate arrangements, the band sounds best when just guitar, banjo, and Hershey’s arresting vocal takes on a classic like “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” Tracks like “Freight Train” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” are mostly notable for Hershey’s clear-as-a-bell swing jazz vocals.
Acoustic Live (cd reviews are at the bottom of the page) “This album is an intriguing mash-up of old-timey, bluegrass and banjo-driven Dixieland, with even a touch of Calypso thrown in. If you like high-intensity, upbeat versions of standards, this is for you.” Richard Cuccaro, Acoustic Live!
No Depression “Ultimately, this is Americana music at its purest and most impressive, making it indeed a lesson for the learning.”
Classical Arts “This slice of sumptuousness, replete with oodles of Prohibition Era cakewalks, spans the gamut from jazzbo flapper dance tunes and traditional folk hoots’n’hollers to Crescent City craziness, Fats Waller (Ain’t Misbehavin'”), gospel (“This Little Light Of Mine”), Elizabeth Cotton (“Freight Train”) and the kind of honeyed originals that makes one move and tickles one pink. This, then, is the Very Next Thing
TrailMix (our song, and a whole bunch of new music to discover)
What an honor to be interviewed by Artie Martello on Mostly Folk

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New Album Artwork Revealed!!

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