“I grew up in an old logging town, less than a hundred people, on the Sierra Nevada/Cascade Divide,” says musician Mark Growden. Lose Me in the Sand is a tribute to Growden’s rural mountain roots. His latest album is also a hats-off to the roughshod beginnings of American music and the spirit that music represents. Growden chose the banjo as the primary instrument for Lose Me in the Sand for both its timbre and history. An African-American instrument that made its way into minstrel shows and Appalachian folk music, the banjo resonates in our collective consciousness with the memory of poverty, oppression, resilience, and fortitude. “I’m aware of the choice of these songs and the era we’re living in,” says Growden. “Lose Me in the Sand is a banjo album. It’s about humility.”