Professional banjo player Andy Eversole '02 released his latest Banjo Earth documentary – this one covering his time spent exploring Peru and collaborating with the country’s musicians – earlier this month at a movie theater in Greensboro.

The movie is the latest to document Andy’s global travels as part of Banjo Earth, a project he started eight years ago that has him visiting other countries in search of local traditional musicians. Andy collaborates with the musicians to meld his banjo playing with their native music. 

Andy’s first documentary was filmed in 2015 in China. Andy spent a semester in the country his senior year as part of Guilford’s Study Abroad program and always wanted to return.

“That semester in China opened my eyes to just how different cultures do things and I really wanted to explore that in my documentaries,” says Andy. “I think sharing music, sharing culture, sharing stories, brings us together. Just because we all live across the world, doesn’t mean we don’t share a lot of things we like. We're a lot more alike than we are different.”

After China, Andy visited India and Brazil before Peru last year. He spent several weeks there meeting and creating music with Peruvians and gathering film for his documentary.

Gigi Lambert of Greensboro has seen parts of Andy’s documentaries on youTube but wanted to see this one in person. Her father was a civil engineer who traveled the world for work. She was born in Ethiopia and lived for many years in El Salvador. 

“I think we need to know the world better and we need to know people outside of ourselves that are different from us, and that's what Andy does with his music and films. This one made me cry a little. I love what he’s doing, the message he tells," she says

Andy just spent most of January roaming Mexico and making music. He says a film on his travels there will be ready in the fall.