Alessi’s storytelling is first-rate: he’s humble, self-deprecating, and quietly funny. He alternates his personal story with a history of the instrument and plays music in different styles through the banjo’s history. The songs include alternative methods to dealing with troublesome possums; and his stories tell of his happiest times being when he feels the music – whether that’s playing in a jam at a Virginia country store, or amongst sick children in a hospital. His call to action to the audience is to go find what makes them happy, then go and do that.