Chimney Swifts (CD)

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Brad Kolodner’s debut solo album Chimney Swifts proves that traditionally-rooted banjo music is alive, well, and on the move. After years of recording in a duo with his father Ken and with progressive roots supergroup Charm City Junction, Kolodner has assembled a powerful debut of instrumental clawhammer banjo music. Honed during solo practice time during the pandemic, Chimney Swifts focuses on what he calls “private music.” This is what musicians play when they first pick up their instruments, it’s familiar and evokes time and place. The record’s fifteen tracks feature solo pieces as well as duets with Kolodner’s frequent collaborators like his father Ken Kolodner, Rachel Eddy, and the members of Charm City Junction including Patrick McAvinue, Alex Lacquement and Sean McComiskey. Kolodner showcases deft original tunes, both jaunty and plaintive, alongside traditional music spanning old-time, Irish, bluegrass and even a Greek number. A handful of pieces feature the haunting tone of fretless gourd banjo. Clawhammer banjo is frequently used as accompaniment to fiddle music and songs but rarely as a lead voice. One of the most daring achievements of Chimney Swifts is to highlight clawhammer banjo as a central melodic voice. With this record, Kolodner positions himself besides other contemporary banjo luminaries like Jason Romero, Allison de Groot, Jake Blount, and Nora Brown.


  1. Chimney Swifts 3:46 (Brad Kolodner)
  2. Five Miles From Town 3:09
  3. Foggy Mountain Special 3:40 (Earl Scruggs)
  4. Old Grimes 3:00
  5. Ants In The Honey Jar 2:48 (Brad Kolodner)
  6. Chirps & Williams 2:48 (Calvin Vollrath)
  7. Mr. Pantaleish 2:43
  8. Killavil Fancy 3:01
  9. Julianne Johnson 3:01
  10. Tuckerman Lane 2:28 (Brad Kolodner)
  11. Catalpa Hop 2:51 (Brad Kolodner)
  12. Old Aunt Jenny 3:06
  13. Campbell’s Farewell to Red Gap 2:39
  14. Blue Violet Waltz 3:01
  15. Waynesboro 3:46 ​



Brad Kolodner: banjo, gourd banjo

Ken Kolodner: hammered dulcimer (2, 14)

Alex Lacquement: upright bass (1, 3, 7, 11)

Patrick McAvinue: mandolin (3, 10, 11)

Lucas Chohany: guitar (3, 6, 11)

Rachel Eddy: guitar (4, 12)

Sean McComiskey: button accordion (8)



Recorded at Tonal Park, Takoma Park, MD Engineered and Mixed by Don Godwin Mastered by Randy LeRoy

Art and Design by Kelley Wills

Photo by Joanna Tillman