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Mother Banjo's Stray Songs

  Play Now [21:17]

by Mike Pengra and Ellen Stanley

May 05, 2011

Mother Banjo
Ellen Stanley, aka Mother Banjo
Photo courtesy of the Artist

By day, she's Ellen Stanley, mild mannered publicist for St. Paul folk music record label Red House Records. By night...or whenever the microphone is on...she's Mother Banjo.

Stanley is a classically trained musician who wanted a more mobile instrument to bring some of her poems to life in the folk music vein she came to love in college on the east coast. One listen and you'll know it's not a typical banjo style. But the laid back tempos and intimate sound fits Mother Banjo's lyrics perfectly.

"Stray Songs" is the title of a new EP from Mother Banjo. Ellen Stanley explained the thoughts behind this album in advance of her album release on, coincidentally, Mother's Day weekend.