A Simple Son of Rounder Banjo

2009-03-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

I just started playing the banjo. It was inspired, I think, by one John Hartford, a friendly, ramblin', steamboat-loving Missouri boy, who eventually became a master on the guitar and the fiddle too. I imagine the man always had a good-natured smile on the face, and was willing at the drop of a hat to pull out an instrument and jam with just about anyone who'd approach him. For him, making music was not something he'd do for a particular end or purpose. He simply loved the music, and this love comes through when you listen to him play.

Only the best of banjo-pickers can possibly expect their pursuit to earn them much money or prestige. The sound of a banjo has an inexplicable quality that causes people to break into an awkward looking 'chicken dance,' where they bob their arms up and down and lift one knee after the other and strut around the room, jerking their head forward and back. The banjo itself is not an elegant instrument. It has a short stumpy neck and a simple, circular drum head, usually with ages-long grease stains where the fingers always rest. A banjo-picker should not expect many women to swoon when he nails a particularly hot lick. Considering all this, why does the banjo-picker do it?

The banjo-picker cares little about these things. His banjo is not very costly, it does not often need tuning, and plays just as well unaccompanied as with a crowd. For him, the passion of the music is the joy inherent to sharing it with fellow listeners, other musicians and himself. John Hartford wrote songs as silly and trivial as "Don't Leave You Records in the Sun," right alongside songs like "Gentle on My Mind," whose humility and sensitivity earned it the title of most covered song in country music. I hope for my banjo picking to be based on just this kind of joy and humility, the very same kind John Hartford lived his whole life by.

Something in Between

A Simple Son of Rounder Banjo