Alan Munde, Banjo Pickin' Gentleman

This article ran in the Summer 2005 Issue of the Bluegrass Journal

Written by Dave Russell • All Rights Reserved by the Author, July 2005
Photography by Sherri Chekal • All Images Copyright by the Photographer, July 2005
Reprint Rights Available by Contacting the Author or The Bluegrass Journal Editor

In the world of bluegrass music, Alan Munde needs no introduction. His clean, coherent style of banjo playing has not only helped define the melodic approach to banjo playing, but it has helped to define the styles of many other great players today.

A native of Norman, Oklahoma, Alan first emerged on the national scene as banjo player for Jimmy Martin in 1969. He left Jimmy Martin in 1971 to join up with fiddle player, Byron Berline and the Country Gazette. Prior to his stint with Jimmy and later Country Gazette, Alan moved to Kentucky in January of 1969 to play with Wayne Stewart and Sam Bush in a group called Poor Richard's Almanac. Unfortunately, Alan received his draft notice and had to soon leave. However, the U.S. Army rejected him, and later he hooked up with Jimmy Martin. For the next twenty years Alan remained a central figure in the Country Gazette, playing with notable musicians such as Roland White, Roger Bush, Kenny Wertz, Joe Carr, and Gene Wooten.

In and around this time, Alan also played a few tours with Clarence and Roland White, and even recorded a live album in Sweden. In 1986, Alan began teach bluegrass music studies at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas while maintaining a less visible Country Gazette. He would eventually hook up with fellow Country Gazette guitarist Joe Carr to produce a musical duo with some original music that featured a bluegrass and tex-mex style. Notable albums that Munde has appeared on (mainly with the Country Gazette) during his musical career include Traitor in our Midst, Banjo Sandwich, Don't Give up Your Day Job, Sam and Alan: Together Again for the First Time, Out to Lunch, What a Way to Make a Living, The Banjo Kid Picks Again, and Festival Favorites.

We caught up with Alan at the Mid-West Banjo Camp held on the campus of Michigan State University June 3-5. It was great to see him after more than twenty years, and to sit down for a chat. The striking thing about Alan Munde is the thoughtful way he answers questions, not only about music, but about life in general. When asked about some of the influences on him musically, he was quick to say that there were many styles of music that has made an impact on his own development. "I do like classical music and also jazz, the influences of which you can hear in my music, though there are others, like Bela Fleck, who can play these styles more convincingly. I'm really not what you could call a jazz banjo player; I just use certain elements of jazz here and there." Despite the fact that Alan claims not to be a jazz banjo player, it's undeniably true that he is one of the first to really experiment with jazz. This is clearly evident in his playing on tunes like, Jazz Grass Waltz, and Stompin at the Savoy on Slim Richey's album called Jazz Grass.

Growing up in the Oklahoma - Texas region exposed Alan to a more western style of fiddling, the influence of which you can hear in his playing. Alan had the opportunity to learn from a number of fiddle players in this region, and this was also an influence on the development of his own melodic style. He has a knack for being able to play fiddle tunes almost note for note the way a fiddler would play it, yet he is quick to say that he plays his interpretation of the song while staying with the melody.

While discussing Alan's style of playing, and the clarity of his playing, he pointed out that the guitar was his first instrument and, then, he found his way to the banjo. "For the first seven or eight years, I played guitar and banjo, but mostly banjo. I always loved the guitar, and I liked classical music, and I tried to play some classical guitar." This experience gave Alan the "sense of the kind of precision it takes to play that kind of music to where every note is part of the music and there are no throw away notes." This translates clearly into his banjo playing insofar as he sees every note important for the music to be good. "Sometimes you hear people play the banjo and the rolls don't sound complete, and when you don't play all the notes out to where you can hear them clearly, then the style becomes less than it really can be." This is one of the great lessons that can be learned from banjo players like Earl Scruggs, J. D. Crowe, and Sonny Osborne, (and there are many others we could mention) each of whom play with precision and clarity. Each note seems to count, and what really catches your ear is what they're "not" playing. You simply do not hear them playing more notes than are necessary, and playing too many notes, according to Alan, "makes the playing rough and out of time." Some of the players that Alan admires include Earl Scruggs, Alan Shelton, Sonny Osborne, J. D. Crowe, Bill Keith, and Doug Dillard. "They all have this precision about them that makes their playing great."

His experience with the Country Gazette exposed him to a number of great musicians like Byron Berline, Roland White, Clarence White, Roger Bush, and Joe Carr. According to Alan, "a big part of their music was the precision of their music, not just the notes and licks, but where they put the notes within the song. So I determined early on that this where I needed to be as a musician as well.".

The subject of learning to play with good timing became an important part of the conversation as Alan described what is what like before the digital age when you had to slow a 33 1/3 LP down to half the speed. Slowing down LPs may have put the pitch of the song an octave lower, "but you could at least hear the timing in a different way than when its up to tempo. You do develop this sensibility that you wouldn't get otherwise if you'd never heard it that slow." Playing slowly is an important part of learning to play quickly. If you can't play with clarity at a slower speed, then attempting to kick it up to high gear will result in disaster. This is true of athletes who go through drill after drill learning how to develop precision in their movements. When it comes time for a game, they know instinctively what to do. Timing is everything in music, and it is necessary for musicians to keep a metronome with them at all times. Alan mentioned that a metronome will keep you within the boundaries of precise playing and force you to slow down.

Jimmy Martin became the next topic of discussion with Alan and he had several insightful comments to make about his contribution to bluegrass music. "I think many of the younger bands, and I'll say the eastern region bands like The Lonesome River Band, Third Tyme Out, and J. D. Crowe's band, owe a great deal of debt to Jimmy Martin's model. I think many of the contemporary younger bands, whether they know it or not, are modeled more after the Jimmy Martin model more than they are the Bill Monroe model, this is my sense of it anyway." Alan believes that this comes from the fact that Jimmy demanded precision in his music, and anyone who played for him had to do it his way or they didnÕt play with him. "It's not just four guys getting up on stage and banging it out the best they can at the moment, but it's four guys playing exactly what they've rehearsed, and in Jimmy's band it came down to the rhythm, especially the rhythm of the banjo, basically. Bill Monroe's band may have been a great band to be in if you were a fiddle player, Jimmy Martin was a great band to be in if you were a banjo player."

This does not mean any kind of banjo player, but only those who played in the specific way that Jimmy demanded which, according to Alan is a player with "timing and precision." Alan pointed out that many musicians think that they've learned the tricks of the trade from guys like Doyle Lawson, J. D. Crowe and Tony Rice, but the truth is that they learned the tricks of trade from Jimmy Martin. Jimmy used to say that if the audience can't hear what you're playing, you might as well not have played it. "He didn't like music that was all jumbled up, but rather precise. If you heard a show somewhere, the solos were liable to be very close if not exactly the same as the recorded versions. His idea was that you perfected your arrangement, it was set and then you did it that same way every time. He had the same view of the vocal arrangements in that you get all of your syllables together, and you breathe together. The precision of the vocals was very important to Jimmy."

It was great to catch up to Alan after more than twenty years and itÕs apparent he's still the same soft spoken gentleman I remember. He continues to teach music at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, recently put together the Alan Munde Gazette, and the band continues in the Country Gazette tradition. Members consist of Glenn Mitchell (mandolin, vocals), Phill Elliott (guitar, vocals), Bill Honker (bass, vocals), and of course Alan (banjo). You can check out their web site at www.AlanMundeGazette.com They also have a new CD titled, The Alan Munde Gazette.

For those of you interested in an academic study of bluegrass music make sure to check out the South Plains College web site at www.SouthPlainsCollege.edu.