Black Banjo: Tray Wellington on New Album, A Life in Bluegrass

This article was featured in the 2022 edition of our Down the Road Music Guide:

Growing up in the mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina, Tray Wellington started playing music in middle school. Initially, it was the electric guitar and a little bit of trombone.

“But, it was in eighth grade when I first heard the banjo,” Wellington said. “Our school had a mountain music program and there were actual classes you could take. To this day, I remember that first time hearing the banjo — it was such a beautiful sound, something I’d never heard before.”

Being a Black student in the predominantly white academic and social environment that is Ashe County, Wellington stood out when he picked up the banjo, soon joining local jam circles and other musical gatherings.

 

“I listen to country, rock and rap, but there was something about bluegrass that really pulled me in,” Wellington said. “And I always wanted to be different than anybody around me, I always wanted to do something different that nobody else I knew was doing.”

And part of that mission of being a unique individual includes bringing more attention to the impact of Black musicians and artists on the creation and development of bluegrass and old-time music, something sadly lost underneath the sands of time.

“Most people don’t even realize that the banjo is an African instrument. And one thing that needs to change is learning the actual history of the instrument. It needs to be brought out and celebrated,” Wellington said. “But, at the end of the day, I try not to pay so much attention to being the only Black musician at a lot of these jams — we’re all just musicians making music together.”

Eventually, Wellington started to push out into the world amid his curiosity and quest to dive deep into the “high, lonesome sound,” with Western North Carolina the epicenter of bluegrass banjo, and the pinnacle of the instrument, the late Earl Scruggs, hailing from down the highway in Shelby.

“And even before I started to play music, I knew a couple of professional musicians from my church, which were Zack Arnold and Jacob Greer of Sideline,” Wellington said. “So, they were some of my first introductions into the bluegrass world, where they would have little jams and invite me to come and play.”

Now 22 years old, Wellington is already making a name for himself in the bluegrass, old-time and roots music realms. In 2019, he was awarded “Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

And to that, he’s now a featured artist on the Mountain Home Music Company based out of Arden, North Carolina. Wellington’s highly-anticipated debut album for the record label, “Black Banjo,” will be released this spring — a title aimed at one foot in the storied musical past, the other in the progression of the sound itself.

 

“There is technically a pre-defined ‘black banjo,’ which is more in the old-time realm. It’s definitely something I’ve researched a lot and looked into,” Wellington said. “But, the idea behind the album is that I’m trying to do something new. My sound is my sound, and I don’t want to ever be put in a box, feeling like I have to play a specific style because it’s historically accurate — the thing about music is that it needs to be new and rejuvenating.”