ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Why you should listen

These days your kid can get famous on YouTube for having water sprayed at him, for being duped about his Halloween candy, and for being high off laughing gas. But what if your 8-year-old gets famous on the Internet for being an absolute genius on the banjo? So goes the story of Jonny Mizzone, who first became a YouTube sensation in early 2011 for videos of him and his brothers tearing it up playing Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special. It wasn't long before the press started calling.

Now Jonny, Robbie (fiddle) and Tommy (guitar), known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, are 11, 14 and 15 respectively. In 2011 alone they got calls from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the summer of 2011 they appeared as musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Today Show.

While the trio grew up in New Jersey -- which is known more for rock music than for bluegrass -- they fell in love with the unique sounds of J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Clarence White and Earl Scruggs after some creative YouTube searching. Now, having become sensations on the platform themselves, the trio has accumulated more than 17 million video views. Their first album, America’s Music, was released in September 2011 and charted top eight on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart. In October 2012 they released their second album, The Farthest Horizon, which cracked the top three. The group is already at work on their next album.

More profile about the speaker
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys | Speaker | TED.com
TED@New York

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Teen wonders play bluegrass

Nastoletni geniusze grają bluegrass

Filmed:
2,427,615 views

Bracia Jonny, Robbie i Tommy Mizzone tworzą zespół The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, trio wirtuozów muzyki bluegrass, grających z olśniewającą rześkością. Wspominaliśmy, że żaden nie ma jeszcze 16 lat?
- Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
TommyTommy MizzoneMizzone: TonightDziś we're going to playgrać you two songspiosenki.
0
1057
2165
Dziś zagramy dwie piosenki.
00:19
We're threetrzy brothersbracia from NewNowy JerseyJersey,
1
3222
2000
Jesteśmy braćmi z New Jersey.
00:21
and the funnyzabawny thing is that,
2
5222
1648
Choć może trudno w to uwierzyć,
00:22
believe it or not, we are hookedhaczykowaty on bluegrassbluegrass
3
6870
2640
mamy fioła na punkcie muzyki bluegrass
00:25
and we're excitedpodekscytowany to playgrać it for you tonightdzisiejszej nocy.
4
9510
2156
i z chęcią coś dla was zagramy.
00:27
(MusicMuzyka)
5
11666
115814
(Muzyka)
02:23
(ApplauseAplauz)
6
127480
2853
(Brawa)
02:26
TMTM: Thank you, thank you.
7
130333
2469
TM: Dziękuję.
02:28
(ApplauseAplauz)
8
132802
4285
(Brawa)
02:32
RobbieRobbie MizzoneMizzone: Thank you.
9
137087
1424
Robbie Mizzone: Dziękuję.
02:34
I'm RobbieRobbie MizzoneMizzone. I'm 13, and I playgrać the fiddleskrzypce.
10
138511
2320
Nazywam się Robbie Mizzone. Mam 13 lat
i jestem skrzypkiem folkowym.
02:36
This is my brotherbrat, JonnyJonny. He's 10, and he playsgra the banjobanjo.
11
140831
2560
To mój brat, Jonny. Ma 10 lat i gra na bandżo.
02:39
And on guitargitara is my 14-year-old-roczny brotherbrat, TommyTommy.
12
143391
2729
Na gitarze gra Tommy, 14 lat.
02:42
(ApplauseAplauz)
13
146120
3847
(Brawa)
02:45
We call ourselvesmy sami the SleepySenny Man BanjoBanjo BoysChłopcy.
14
149967
2955
Nasz zespół nazywa się Sleepy Man Banjo Boys.
02:52
(MusicMuzyka)
15
156306
116493
(Muzyka)
04:48
(ApplauseAplauz)
16
272799
2603
(Brawa)
04:51
TMTM: Thank you.
17
275402
1412
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys
04:52
JMJM: Thank you all.
18
276814
922
JM: Dziękuję.
04:53
TMTM: Thank you very much.
19
277736
4000
TM: Dziękuję bardzo.
Translated by Rysia Wand
Reviewed by A. Konstancja Wiszniewska

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Why you should listen

These days your kid can get famous on YouTube for having water sprayed at him, for being duped about his Halloween candy, and for being high off laughing gas. But what if your 8-year-old gets famous on the Internet for being an absolute genius on the banjo? So goes the story of Jonny Mizzone, who first became a YouTube sensation in early 2011 for videos of him and his brothers tearing it up playing Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special. It wasn't long before the press started calling.

Now Jonny, Robbie (fiddle) and Tommy (guitar), known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, are 11, 14 and 15 respectively. In 2011 alone they got calls from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the summer of 2011 they appeared as musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Today Show.

While the trio grew up in New Jersey -- which is known more for rock music than for bluegrass -- they fell in love with the unique sounds of J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Clarence White and Earl Scruggs after some creative YouTube searching. Now, having become sensations on the platform themselves, the trio has accumulated more than 17 million video views. Their first album, America’s Music, was released in September 2011 and charted top eight on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart. In October 2012 they released their second album, The Farthest Horizon, which cracked the top three. The group is already at work on their next album.

More profile about the speaker
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys | Speaker | TED.com