Steve Martin and the Board of The Steve Martin Banjo Prize have announced two winners for this year’s prize. Building on the Board’s mission to recognize excellence across the spectrum of banjo styles, this year’s recipients represent excellence in both clawhammer and 5-string bluegrass banjo styles.

Steve Martin will introduce viewers to the winners on December 17th at 5.30PM EDT on the Deering Banjo Company’s livestream show Deering Live broadcasting on their YouTube channel. Martin comments: "The acknowledgement of these unique and talented musicians continues to thrill me."

Roots duo Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves have just released an EP of hot outtakes from their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Hurricane Clarice, on Free Dirt Records. Produced by Phil Cook, the album was recorded as if for a live performance, so some of the duo's favorite tunes didn't make the final set, namely these three!

Traditional music is not static; it shifts with the times, uncovering new meanings in old words, new ways of talking about the communal pathways that led us to where we are today. For master musicians Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, traditional stringband music is a way to interpret our uncertain times, to draw artistic inspiration and power from the sources of meaning in their lives.