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
TED2013

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Bluegrass virtuosity from ... New Jersey?

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Virtuosismo em bluegrass de ... Nova Jersey?

Filmed:
7,302,577 views

Todos com menos de 16 anos, os irmãos Jonny, Robbie e Tommy Mizzone são de Nova Jersey, um estado americano que é mais conhecido pelo rock de Bruce Springsteen do que pelo bluegrass de Earl Scruggs. Mesmo assim, os irmãos começaram apresentar covers de bluegrass, e também composições originais, ainda bem jovens. Aqui eles tocam três músicas deslumbrantes em três tons diferentes, passando o solo alternadamente da rabeca ao banjo e ao violão.
- 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.

00:14
(Music)
0
2583
8740
(Música)
01:57
(Applause)
1
105512
3752
(Aplausos)
02:01
(Music)
2
109288
8332
(Música)
02:21
(Applause)
3
129443
9657
(Aplausos)
02:31
Robbie Mizzone: Thank you.
4
139124
1979
Robbie Mizzone: Obrigado.
02:33
Tommy Mizzone: Thank you very much.
5
141127
1192
Tommy Mizzone: Muito obrigado.
02:34
We're so excited to be here.
It's such an honor for us.
6
142343
2623
Estamos muito animados por estar aqui.
É uma grande honra para nós.
02:36
Like he said, we're
three brothers from New Jersey --
7
144990
2746
Como ele disse, somos três irmãos de Nova Jersey --
02:39
you know, the bluegrass
capital of the world.
8
147760
3587
sabem, a capital mundial do bluegrass.
02:43
(Laughter)
9
151371
1787
(Risos)
02:45
We discovered bluegrass a few years ago,
10
153182
2737
Nós descobrimos o bluegrass há alguns anos,
02:47
and we fell in love with it.
We hope you guys will too.
11
155943
2620
e nos apaixonamos.
Esperamos que vocês também se apaixonem.
Esta próxima música
é de nossa autoria chamada "Timelapse",
02:50
This next song is an original
we wrote called "Timelapse,"
12
158587
3629
02:54
and it will probably live up to its name.
13
162240
3234
e provavelmente vai fazer jus ao seu nome.
02:57
(Tuning)
14
165498
8006
(Afinando)
03:05
(Music)
15
173528
8124
(Música)
04:49
(Applause)
16
277639
11650
(Aplausos)
05:01
TM: Thank you very much.
17
289313
2993
TM: Muito obrigado.
05:04
RM: I'm just going to take
a second to introduce the band.
18
292330
2762
RM: Apresento a banda em um segundo.
No violão, meu irmão de 15 anos, Tommy.
05:07
On guitar is my 15-year-old brother Tommy.
19
295116
2264
05:09
(Applause)
20
297404
5343
(Aplausos)
05:14
On banjo is 10-year-old Jonny.
21
302771
2476
No banjo, Jonny de 10 anos.
05:17
(Applause) He's also our brother.
22
305271
6052
(Aplausos) Ele também é meu irmão.
05:23
And I'm Robbie, and I'm 14,
and I play the fiddle.
23
311347
2816
E eu sou Robbie, tenho 14 anos e toco rabeca.
05:26
(Applause)
24
314187
4768
(Aplausos)
05:30
As you can see, we decided
to make it hard on ourselves,
25
318979
2667
Como vocês podem ver,
decidimos nos propor um desafio
e selecionamos três músicas para tocar
05:33
and we chose to play three songs
26
321670
1524
em três tons diferentes.
05:35
in three different keys.
27
323218
3923
05:39
Yeah. I'm also going to explain,
a lot of people want to know
28
327165
2905
Pois é. Também vou explicar,
muitas pessoas querem saber
de onde tiramos o nome Sleepy Man Banjo Boys.
05:42
where we got the name
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys from.
29
330094
2795
05:44
So it started when Jonny was little,
30
332913
2268
Começou quando Jonny era pequeno,
05:47
and he first started the banjo,
he would play on his back
31
335205
3374
e começou a tocar banjo, ele tocava nas costas
05:50
with his eyes closed,
32
338603
1233
com os olhos fechados,
05:51
and we'd say it looked
like he was sleeping.
33
339860
1894
e dizíamos que parecia que ele estava dormindo.
05:53
So you can probably piece
the rest together.
34
341778
2096
E vocês podem imaginar o resto provavelmente.
TM: Não entendemos na verdadeira razão disso.
05:55
TM: We can't really figure
out the reason for this.
35
343898
2429
Pode ser porque pesa quase um milhão de toneladas.
05:58
It might have been that it
weighs about a million pounds.
36
346351
4003
06:02
(Music)
37
350378
9083
(Música)
07:39
(Applause)
38
447266
4538
(Aplausos)
07:43
(Music)
39
451828
5404
(Música)
08:25
(Applause)
40
493230
5034
(Aplausos)
08:30
TM: Thank you very much.
41
498288
2334
TM: Muito obrigado.
08:32
RM: Thank you.
42
500646
4847
RM: Obrigado.
Translated by Gustavo Rocha
Reviewed by Wanderley Jesus

▲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

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee