Bio

The BRC founder`s older brother played trumpet in a Dixieland band during college and became interested in the tenor banjo. With the arrival of the Folk Revival around 1960, both he and his younger brother were attracted to the curious 5-string version of this  instrument. Sixty-one birthdays ago,  the BRC founder and his jazz  musician brother built their first long neck banjos from damaged parts purchased at a fire sale. The twosome honed their picking skills together for years, but the younger sibling did not build another 5-stringer for half a century. The two brothers got busy being bone doctors in distant cities, and the BRC craftsman received an occasional thematic (Hallmark) birthday card.

In recent years, hand-crafted birthday greetings (below) are now provided by grandchildren.

This Spring, the BRC founder shared a birthday occasion with another senior fellow musician at an outdoor springtime jam session (below) where both were gifted celebratory cupcakes, each adorned with a solitary commemorative candle.

From the birthday guys: be well, be safe, be vaccinated.

Years ago when recently enjoined as a bridegroom and relocating to Florida, the BRC founder and his young wife (pre-nuptial photo right) departed New England motoring south to the Sunshine State and its rich culture of Southeastern traditional music. In addition to his banjo and guitar, he stuffed his cameras and dark room equipment into their Volkswagen bug for the journey.

Concerts and Bluegrass festivals abounded around the university town of Gainesville, and live performances by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Don Reno, the McLain Family, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, the Earl Scruggs Revue, Doc and Merle Watson, the Nashville Grass, and the Dillards were attended by the newlyweds. It was the home of the Orange Blossom Special.

When vacationing, the young couple camped along the shores of the Florida Keys and admired the playful dolphins in the surf. They visited the Everglades National Park to learn about its ecosystem, wildlife, and indigenous people.

In a storage room in their house, the BRC banjo-builder constructed a dark room to develop his photo essays of musicians like the above side walk trio entertaining at a street festival in the sleepy Gulf coast fishing village of Cedar Key while three somnolent canines doze at their feet.

Busy with medical training and starting a family with his spouse, his music and songwriting a took a back seat to the hobby of photographing their youngsters as the kids grew-up.

There are several species of dolphins that ply the coastal waters of Florida. They are intelligent, social creatures that form pods of 2-3 adults and groups sometimes up to 15. Dolphins are warm-blooded mammals that phonate a “signature whistle’ to communicate and use “clicking” like sonar to facilitate navigation. Pods have complex social structures that manifest cooperative hunting strategies. Dolphin populations are threatened by commercial fishing, propeller strikes, and oil spills.

For the community art league`s annual winter Gift of Art Show, the BRC founder submitted his “Dolphin Songs” banjo. This 5-stringer was originally fashioned for the yearly Boone County Bank gala art exhibit which was cancelled this autumn because of the pandemic. Note the paua abalone treble clefs in the truss rod cover and fretboard.

The BRC banjo was prominently displayed among a field of 80 works including pastel, watercolor and oil paintings, bronze, wood, and metal works, and an array of photographic imagery.

From the BRC: Have a restful Thanksgiving weekend. Be safe, wear a mask, keep on picking.

As challenging public health issues make us homebodies, the BRC founder and spouse interact with grandchildren and their parents in Texas, Illinois, and Missouri, simultaneously via Zoom link-up.

Strumming his long neck Ode banjo, granddad leads the virtual family reunions in sing alongs of familiar animated kids` tunes. The youngsters happily dance on the sofa at home while moms and dads join the grandparents in a noisy and spirited chorus of “You are My Sunshine.”

The lakeside BRC domicile, where our kids grew up and the grandchildren visit each summer, has an almost year-round audio backdrop of a noisy flock of Canada geese. These honking avians recently vanished from the neighborhood leaving a discernible silence.

Only a Great Blue Heron, a couple of hawks, and an occasional bald eagle now patrol the silent waters. Canada goose couples are monogamous, and the March through May nesting season explains their disappearance and quietude. The female goose builds the nest and incubates the eggs, and the gander guards it. Sometime soon, the newly expanded families will proudly ply our lake in linear flotillas of fuzzy goslings bracketed by noisy and watchful parental honkers.

In the meantime, the grandkids send artful notes of appreciation to Grandpa Doc between the Zoom songfests.

Hopefully, our grandchildren will be able to revisit these familiar Missouri environs sometime this summer and watch the goslings growing-up.

In these uncertain times, the BRC founder wishes all our readers Peace and good health. Stay positive and don’t let those strings get rusty.

Nearly three-fourths of the our world`s surface is covered with water. The ocean is a complex biosphere and food source, and greenhouse gases are trapping the sun’s heat causing rising global water temperatures which stress marine and coastal ecosystems. The food chain from plankton up to the great whales is impacted by these climatic changes. As stewards of this Earth, we are obligated to protect the environment and the creatures that dwell in it.

To kick-off the new decade, the BRC founder completed a banjo named “The Dolphin” to portray the ocean which is under siege in its fragile roll as a food source. Although the dolphin is a magnificent creature of beauty, power, and grace, like all things that swim in the sea, it is vulnerable to climate change, plastics pollution, and overly-aggressive industrial fishing. Might we all take heed to the mother of pearl “Save Us” message at the 19th fret space and up-regulate our commitment to recycling and environmental conservation. The Dolphin is a BRC postcard to Mother Earth for Valentine`s Day.

The banjo was marketed via an online auction and sold. In the feedback profile of the auction website, the new owner reported,” Beautiful Dolphin themed 5-string Banjo. Fast shipping, Packaged well, Thanks!”

Departing the snowy Show-Me State, the BRC founder and spouse journeyed to Texas to visit grandkids and attend a spelling bee. As class projects, the new art teacher at their elementary school had her students fashion banjos from construction paper, yarn, paints, and glue.

Hundreds of these colorful images wallpapered the hallways of the school, including a “Picasso” banjo by an imaginative young artist. Is this banjo heaven?

After days of family fun in the Lone Star sunshine, the grandparents bid farewell to their cheery grandkids and returned home to the wintry Heartland and Missouri grandchildren who live only 3 blocks from our lakeside home and its BRC workshop. The lake is frozen-over, and a resident flock of Canada geese cautiously tread its slippery ice. Trumpter Swans, a protected species and the heaviest extant birds native to North America, visited here a month ago. Our world is a precious place.

P.S. Have a Happy Groundhog Day.