Video Premiere: Tony Trischka, “Lost”

The Artist: Grammy-nominated banjo great Tony Trischka
The Video: A live performance of “Lost,” from his new album Great Big World.
Fun Fact: Trischka produced fellow banjo player Steve Martin’s Rare Bird Alert. 
Songwriter Says: What inspired the song? “Mostly the tuning, which for banjo nerds such as myself is: GCGCD,” says Trischka. “It’s different enough from the standard G tuning that it seems to open up all sorts of new vistas every time I hang out in its vast terrain. Though originally conceived as a solo banjo piece, ‘Lost’ ended up with a chamber music production featuring string trio, flute and clarinet.   I’d been working with Greg Pliska, the musical director and arranger for a Shakespeare in the Park production of As You Like It in New York City in 2012, and we’d been talking about doing a project together.

“When it came to record ‘Lost’ I asked if he would do an arrangement for it. That’s what you hear on the recording, and needless to say, I was thrilled with the beauty of Greg’s work.   After ‘Lost’ had been mixed, I decided I wanted to write a short set of lyrics.  I thought Abigail Washburn would have the perfect emotive voice for delivering the words, so  I reached out to her and with Bela Fleck joining me to help produce her vocal, we had an exquisite take.  We overlayed Abby’s voice on top of the already mixed track to create the final version that appears on Great Big World.”