Aaron Weinstein was recently in the Peghead Nation studio recording lessons for his Chord Melody Mandolin course, and took a few minutes to pay tribute to Fred Rogers with this solo version of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” the song that opened all 1,765 episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, with Fred Rogers singing the lyrics as he came through the set door and changed into his famous sweaters and sneakers.
Rogers wrote the song in 1967, and it made its national debut on February 19, 1968 with the airing of the first Mister Rodgers’ show on the National Educational Television network (to be replaced by PBS in 1970). The last episode aired August 31, 2001.
The current wave of interest in Fred Rogers and his body of work is evidenced by the 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor, and the new biopic released in November 2019 called A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as Rogers.
Aaron’s take on this song is a beautiful example of the chord melody style that he teaches in his Chord Melody Mandolin course.
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Aaron Weinstein has a thriving career as a violin and mandolin soloist, composer, and performer, and recently was named as one of Downbeat’s Rising Stars in the venerable publication’s 2019 critic’s poll.
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