In 1620, explorer Richard Jobson mentions seeing an instrument he described as "a gourd with neck and strings" in Africa. Fifty years later, something called the "Banza" was noted in Martinique as being played by blacks. White banjo players, performing in blackface, took up the instrument as early as 1769. The first banjos made in a music shop were seen in the mid-nineteenth century. Throughout the late 1800s, the instrument was tweaked and tuned until the tenor banjo was developed in Chicago in 1907. Sometime along the way a fifth string was added. Gibson began making banjos in 1918. Dock Boggs was born in 1897, Earl Scruggs in 1924, Ralph Stanley in 1927. The years 1930-1945 almost saw the disappearance of the banjo since no strings were available. Pete Seeger wrote How to Play 5-string Banjo in 1948, the standard text, still in print today. In 1996 an American college girl named Abigail Washburn visited China and on her return to the States she decided to explore her own culture. She bought a banjo, which her bio claims she "[carried] around without touching it for years." Then in 2002, she says, "I was living in Vermont working as a lobbyist when my good friends, the Cleary Brothers old-time string band, lost their banjo player after setting up a tour of Alaska. I got a crash course in banjo and joined the band for a year."

Whether or not Abigail Washburn will ever be as important to the development of the banjo as Earl Scruggs, Dock Boggs or Ralph Stanley, only time will tell; but her new CD Song of the Traveling Daughter is an evocative and, at times, startling collection of music firmly rooted in the folk process. From the first time I heard any of these tracks (on her Web site) I was hooked. I think you will be too.

The cover photograph alone is worth the price of admission. A headless torso, seated, holds a stringless "banjolin" that looks like it was rejected by Antiques Road Show! Turns out a friend of Abigail's found this in a flea market in Shanghai ". . . it's totally unfunctional, if [you] look closely he'll see that it's missing strings and it's rusted out. I don't actually play the banjolin, I just really dug the whole 'aura' of the instrument." She's right, it has an aura, which is highlighted by the cotton print skirt and red top she's wearing on the back. Casual, old-timey elegance. A scarf and cowboy boots, a suitcase and a Chinese poster. What is this all about?

The banjo is undergoing a renaissance. Gillian Welch is playing one. Michael Card, at a recent concert, said, "This thing is great for writing songs on!" And now . . . Abigail Washburn makes her debut. She plays four different banjos on the disc; her usual axe is a 2003 Ome Old-Time, but whatever she's playing it sounds good: bright, crisp, but not harsh. She is joined by guitarist Jordan McConnell, cellist Ben Sollee, Casey Driesen on fiddle, Amanda Kowalski on upright bass, Ryan Hoyle on percussion and Tim Lauer on accordion. Megan Gregory adds vocals, and Bela Fleck contributes some National guitar and also plays a 1937 Gibson Style 75 flathead banjo. You can read the tiny font on the liner notes for details on all the other instruments. It's very complete.

Bela Fleck and Reid Scelza assisted Ms. Washburn in the production, and this album sounds good. Raw but contemporary, simple and haunting. The songs remind this listener of Dock Boggs. Listen to the lyrics . . . "Lonely lake in Minnesota /dying tree in Ashibula / rains came in yesterday / fleeting hearts are here to stay / sometimes I think it's fine / sometimes I change my mind;" or "me and Dixie, we'd waste away / sleep through the night and all the next day / sleep through the sun, rain and moon / here in this room / oh, rockabye my Dixie child." The second song won second place in the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest. Her voice is plain but with a catch in it that catches you right in the heart.

There are two songs included which Washburn wrote in Chinese. I told you she had visited China -- well she admits to being "caught between two cultures, but I like being a bridge. I want to keep going to China and living a creative existence. I want to learn more about Chinese folk traditions, so I can integrate them into my music and continue to be a part of the development of a more universal language." Whew, that's a goal worth having. Combining old-time mountain music from the USA with even older traditions from oriental mountains . . . hmmm. But it works. You have to keep checking the liner notes to see which songs are original and which are traditional. And, most of them are original.

Like the songs of Gillian Welch, Washburn's songs have a timeless quality. Some of it is presentation, to be sure, but the lyrics are rich in imagery and meaning. The Chinese songs are even presented in Chinese characters with no translations in the insert. The title song is based on a poem written by Meng Jiao between 751-814 A.D.!

Amidst the original songs are some banjo instrumentals of traditional tunes. The fine acoustic picking makes them a pleasure to hear, and the notes feature Abigail's description of her sources. "I learned this from Woody Guthrie's Asch recordings," or "handed down by Riley Baugus/George Gao," or "inspired by the 1927 Blind Willie Johnson and 1968 Nina Simone recordings." Talk about eclectic! "Eve Stole the Apple" is inspired by "Dock Boggs and the singing of Vera Hall . . . [and from] Stephen Wade's "A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings."

Abigail Washburn may not change the face of banjo music in the way Scruggs, Boggs or Stanley did . . . but she provides a wonderfully involving hour of music on this CD. And if she travels nearby, I'll be making the journey to see her. Until then, Song of the Traveling Daughter will accompany me.