TONY TRISCHKA’S Earl Jam 2: A TRIBUTE TO EARL SCRUGGS

Live at Unity Hall on Friday, March 20, 2026

Barneveld, NY — Banjo master Tony Trischka brought Earl Jam to a sold out crowd in Barneveld two years ago, and Unity Hall is thrilled to welcome him back for Earl Jam 2. The band will perform in Unity Hall’s Landecker Auditorium on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 PM.

“When the great Tony Trischka starts playing his banjo, the clouds part, the sun shines, and for a while it feels like all’s well with the world. Joined by some of his all-star friends on Earl Jam it becomes a festival of joy that you can’t afford to miss.”
— Sean Wilentz (American HIstorian)

Trischka’s acclaimed Earl Jam Album was released in 2024, after he received a thumb drive containing precious recordings of Earl Scruggs jamming with John Hartford. Trischka has studied Earl for over 60 years, but exciting new information and revelations in Scruggs’s solos compelled him to showcase these recent discoveries.

“Earl is my North Star, a lifetime pathway. And I’m not alone,
says Trischka, a banjo innovator and educator who has influenced everyone from Béla Fleck to Steve Martin.Through his music, this shy kid from Flint Hill, North Carolina went on to enrich countless thousands of lives. At the age of 13, when I first heard 16 notes of Scruggs style banjo playing, I put down my folk guitar and mercilessly pestered my parents to buy me a banjo. Once it was in my hands, that 5-string became my obsession and has been for 60 years.”

Trischka says, “the depth of his genius becomes ever more apparent when I transcribe his solos… discovering new twists and turns in his playing is pure joy and in fact the inspiration for this tribute show and album.”

Earl Jam 2 expands on the project by featuring more of these solos, and celebrates Scruggs’s legacy in an innovative but authentic living archive of the music. Together with his ace band—Michael Daves on vocals and guitar, fiddler Nate Lee, and bassist Jared Engel—Trischka traces the story of Scruggs from his childhood to his final years. The Earl Jam 2 album is scheduled to arrive mid-March, and Trischka will be on tour throughout 2026.

Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam 2: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs begins at 7:30 p.m., at Unity Hall, 101, Vanderkemp Ave, Barneveld is a priceless opportunity to hear Tony Trischka and the band in a small venue close to home.

Ticket information

Details and tickets for this event are available at https://www.unityhall.com/tony-trischka.

Unity Hall members can purchase tickets for $35 and enjoy early seating. Tickets are $40 for non-members. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

An accessible entrance is at the rear of the building,and the concert will be simulcast to the first floor for those who can’t maneuver the stairs to the upstairs theater.

This event is made possible through the support of Unity Hall Foundation members and funding from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant initiative of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, administered by CNY Arts.

For more information about Unity Hall events and membership, visit https://www.unityhall.com/, follow us on Facebook at HistoricUnityHall, or check out our Instagram at unityhallbarneveld.