If you thought the banjo couldn’t produce soothing, meditative, hypnotic music, listen to how Kendl Winter plays that most American of stringed instruments. Appearing recently at Bellingham’s New Prospect Theatre to perform in anticipation of her newest release, Banjo Mantras (Delicata Records), to be released on March 15, Kendl held an enraptured audience in her palm throughout the evening.

I was introduced to Kendl’s music a few months back when she and musical partner and fellow banjoist from The Lowest Pair, Kendall T. Palmer, played the same room. To say I was captivated is an understatement. Their music is a far cry from “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” or the spooky Deliverance theme. Rather, this is music that, while embracing the banjo’s Americana roots, also searches out alternative interpretations, a restrained musical approach, and superb playing that, ultimately, results in a somewhat incongruous but pleasing mixture of bluegrassy Eastern melodies.

Kendl, originally from Arkansas, relocated to Olympia, Washington in the mid-aughts, releasing several solo albums that showcased her banjo, guitar, and Dobro skills. In 2014, she formed The Lowest Pair with Lee, that over the last ten years has released seven studio albums, the latest of which is The Perfect Plan. In 2022, Horse Camp, a collaboration with instrumental acoustic duo, Small Town Therapy, was released.

Watch The Lowest Pair perform “Morning Light” live for A Song Catcher on YouTube.

An instrumental album, Banjo Mantras, occupies a rather unique space in today’s age of (as Kendl puts it), “big studios and production and nonstop content. Our fast-paced culture and musical turn-over doesn’t exactly celebrate simple reflective space for solitary musical explorations.” Her first solo release in five years, she calls the tunes “mantras” because of their repetitive and soothing vibe. She goes on to say, “The banjo mantras started off as morning writings, like morning pages but in musical form, daily pen to paper, fingers to strings, listening, feeling, sliding and thumbing my way around my open back banjo.”

Watch Kendl perform “Centering Mantra” from Banjo Mantras on YouTube.

On a subdued March 3, Kendl, accompanied on guitar by Adam Roszkiewicz (from Small Town Therapy), played several pieces from the forthcoming album along with a few Lowest Pair tunes. Presented in the New Prospect Theatre’s cozy living room atmosphere, the tunes were hypnotic, but never boring.

Kendl’s clawhammer approach, so named as the strumming/picking fingers are curled clawlike over the strings, coaxes a fascinating diversity of sounds out of the banjo.

Kendl’s Lowest Pair partner Lee, an accomplished banjoist and vocalist himself, offered a short set with selections of his solo work to open the show, although he performed on guitar for his entire set.

Just before 8pm, Kendl appeared and, planting her left leg on a small stool to stabilize her instrument, began with “Humming Mantra” from the new album, followed in quick succession by “Tuesday’s Noods,” and “Roscoe’s Blooping.” Meanwhile, Roszkiewicz (aka Roscoe) provided subtle yet incisive guitar fills. Other tunes from the new album included “The Mushroom Hunter” (clearly a nod to living in the Pacific Northwest), “Centering Mantra,” and the mischievous “Cookies for Breakfast,” before ending with the sublime “Waltz for Ari & Eli.” Palmer then returned to the stage and the trio closed the set with a couple of Lowest Pair tunes.

I’ve now been to several shows at the New Prospect Theatre, and it’s grown to be one of my favorite venues. An intimate community theatre, in addition to the listening room, it hosts a variety of artistic events (plays, poetry, lectures, etc.). For a performer like Kendl Winter whose music requires an attentive, respectful audience, the theatre offers “hear a pin drop” acoustics and subtle, rich lighting. Additionally, (and I can’t recall ever experiencing where) audiences wait until a song’s final note disappears into the ether before breaking out in enthusiastic applause. I found myself holding my breath until each mantra gradually faded before finally exhaling as the clapping started.

Comedian Steve Martin, an accomplished bluegrass banjoist himself, once joked in one of his bits that it’s impossible to play a sad banjo song. Although one may think of Banjo Mantras as melancholy, I left the theatre buoyed by how Kendl’s morning musings had become music that enchants at any time of day or night.

Please visit Kendl’s website for information on future live dates, new music, and videos.

Here are some more photos of Kendl Winter performing at Bellingham’s New Prospect Theatre on March 3, 2024. All photos courtesy of and copyright Mark Caicedo.