Folk Visions and Voices by Art Rosenbaum

Rosenbaum would hear and then track down musicians or singers, find out about their lives and join in their music.

Art had a phenomenal memory for music and people, and he loved keeping traditions alive.” His album “The Art of Field Recording, Volume 1, 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum,” published by Atlanta’s Dust-to-Digital Record Company, earned a Grammy Award in 2008.Īs Dust-to-Digital Record Company co-director Lance Ledbetter was listening to the music with Rosenbaum, he marveled that Art “could remember so many details of recordings he had made 30, 40, 50 years ago, like who was there and what they were playing. Skilled as a fiddler, guitarist and banjo player, Rosenbaum had a lifelong interest in recording vernacular music - found in churches, homes, factories or festivals. ”There’s something deeper in them, the mysteries of the South.” Rosenbaum’s large canvases feature a riot of color and figures, and “he was prone to calling his art allegorical figurative work,” said Lee Matney, who carries Rosenbaum’s paintings in his Linda Matney Gallery in Williamsburg, Virginia. Sometimes he would invite Lucy and Brady “Doc” Barnes, local folk and gospel singers, into the classroom, where they would play and sing during figure drawing classes.

In addition to working with MFA students, Rosenbaum taught drawing and painting to UGA undergraduates.

When they finished, to a round of applause, a Dutch musician said to Art, “You know, you play banjo in the Art Rosenbaum style!” Nasisse said the man was blown away when Art told him that he was, indeed, Art Rosenbaum. One Saturday evening, then-fellow faculty member Andy Nasisse, Art and Margo were walking in Piazza Navona, which was filled with playing musicians, including a bluegrass group from Amsterdam.Īfter the group finished a song, Art asked if he could borrow a banjo and sit in with them, Nasisse said. In 1978, Art was teaching in UGA’s study abroad program in Cortona, Italy.

Folk Visions and Voices by Art Rosenbaum