Banjo Whiz Noam Pikelny Brings His Trademark Blend of Old-Time and Progressive Music to Bartlesville

On this edition of ST, we present an equal-parts tuneful and thoughtful conversation with Noam Pikelny, the Grammy-nominated banjoist who's probably best known as a founding member of the progressive bluegrass group known as the Punch Brothers. Pikelny will be performing at the OK Mozart Festival in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, tonight, Monday the 10th; he'll take the stage --- for a concert entitled "An Evening of Bluegrass" --- alongside Bryan Sutton, Ronnie McCoury, Luke Bulla, and Barry Bales. As Pikelny wrote on his website, a few months ago, about this particular all-star collective: "I'm quite thrilled to announce a new bluegrass project featuring Bryan Sutton, Ronnie McCoury, Luke Bulla, and Barry Bales. This marks a historic collaboration between four of the most celebrated acoustic instrumentalists and singers of our time. And I'll be there as well, playing banjo. All of these guys are front-men in their own right and we'll be showcasing everybody's original music as well as some classic bluegrass...." Noam Pikelny & Friends takes place tonight at 8pm at the Bartlesville Community Center; for more about this show, including musician bios and ticket details, please go to this page at the OK Mozart site.