Pickin’ and Choosin’ : Tony Furtado’s New Instrument, New Sound Show Why He Shouldn’t Be Pegged a Bluegrass Banjo Player

If Tony Furtado questioned the wisdom of leaving his studies at Cal State Hayward to enter the Grand National Banjo Championship in Kansas 10 years ago, he needn’t have worried. Since winning that competition, he has recorded four albums for folk-based Rounder Records and joined the label’s “Banjo Extravaganza” recording and tour, which also featured Tony Trischka, David Grier, Tom Adams and Mark Schatz.

Furtado’s restless spirit is just as alive today. His quest for adventures has led to integrating new musical strains on a new release, “Roll My Blues Away.” Replacing the banjo in the dominant role is the swampy-sounding slide guitar, which is put to great use not only on several blues tunes but also over progressive bluegrass, Celtic and rock numbers.

Influences of Ry Cooder and David Lindley come to the fore on several spooky tracks. Still, Furtado’s most dramatic departure comes via “The Ghost of Blind Willie Johnson,” a dark, eerie instrumental both haunting and beautiful. The slow, dirge-like number is marked by Furtado’s slide work on both guitar and the resophonic banjo, with accenting from the “grunts” of bass player Todd Phillips and Mike Marshall’s tasteful mandola playing.

That bluesy vibe will come as a surprise to listeners familiar with the picker’s more upbeat, bluegrass approach of yore. According to Colorado-based Furtado--who appears Friday night at Shade Tree Stringed Instruments in Laguna Niguel--the time was right to shift gears.

“Sometimes you hear something that you just connect with,” he said during a recent phone interview from an Oregon tour stop. “Whenever I hear the bottleneck slide, my ears just perk up. So I started playing it two or three years ago, sometimes practicing up to eight hours a day. Then I’d just sit on a stool in the middle of this Farmers Market in town and play for passersby.”

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String wizard Lindley is one of Furtado’s early banjo heroes who also happens to be a source of inspiration for Furtado’s fledgling slide playing.

“He was actually a banjo player when he started out, so when I listen to his slide work, it makes a lot of sense to me,” he added. “There’s a certain context there. What I’m trying to do is take some songs from the old slide guys--like Fred McDowell or Skip James--and put my own stamp on ‘em. It’s fun but remains quite challenging.”

Although pegged for years as a “bluegrass banjo player,” Furtado has always had eclectic tastes in music. His early albums may have been grounded in the bluegrass idiom, but he always included a sprinkling of songs from old time and jazz to Celtic, folk and pop. With “Roll My Blues Away,” he has chipped away boundaries to create a more unified body of work.

“I’ve always been interested in a variety of musical genres, but the problem was that by the time I was 20, I felt schizophrenic with my own music,” said Furtado, 28. “My songs were very much separated. I’d play a tune that was strictly jazz . . . or Irish . . . or bluegrass. Now I’m comfortable merging different styles--but not in a forced way. I think it works so well because it’s been sort of a natural progression for me.”

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Furtado--who is on the road with violinist Darol Anger, bassist Billy Rich and percussionist Kester Smith--likes to keep things freewheeling onstage--and maybe dispel a few myths.

“Some people think that if you play the banjo, then you’ve gotta be playing bluegrass . . . and if you play slide guitar, you only play the blues,” Furtado said. “That’s just not true. Like on my next album, I intend to play this Irish air using the slide, along with whistle and fiddle accompaniment. Why limit yourself?

“What really drives me during each show is a sense of discovery. We don’t rehearse so much anymore because I like to leave a little [open] to chance. Every once in a while I’ll just say, ‘OK, follow me on this one’ . . . to try and create a tune on the spot. You’re either gonna fall on your face or make some of the best music that way--and I’m certainly willing to go splat in that search.”

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It was Furtado’s inquisitive nature that led him to the banjo at age 12. He visualized the unfamiliar stringed instrument as part of sixth-grade homework.

“I had to do this report on a musical instrument, and you had to actually build it too,” Furtado recalled. “I loved making things, like balsa-wood airplanes and models. So I considered the banjo, even though I had no idea what you actually played on it.”

“I started thinking. . . . I’ll take a pie pan and glue some paper onto it and paint it with latex paint. Then I’ll put it in the oven so the paper will stretch. Next I’ll use a squared-off stick and put some rubber bands on it as the frets. And finally, I’ll string it up with some nylon fishing string. Voila--my first banjo was born.”

* Tony Furtado performs Friday at Shade Tree Stringed Instruments, 28062 Forbes Road, Laguna Niguel. 7:30 p.m. $17. (714) 364-5270.