Bio

The BRC founder has been a long time fan of the slightly dark and urbane humor of cartoons in `The New Yorker` magazine. Upon returning home recently from an annual trek to NYC to see some Broadway plays, he discovered a mirthful banjo joke in the June issue of the aforementioned magazine. Although 5-string humor is sometimes tiresome, this cartoon earns a laugh- and maybe your chuckle, too.

A year ago, however, when the BRC founder retired from hand surgery at the university hospital, the faculty gave him a unique banjo/hand statuette in gratitude for 37 years on the staff as an educator. He also received an even larger statuette featuring a guitar from the resident physicians in training. Both gracious gifts reside in his music room surrounded by 5-stringers and guitars.     Lucky guy.

A few days after the NYC trip, a university mathematician brought a banjo that he built to the BRC for inspection and advice.

Although a non musician, he had constructed the instrument of richly-figured Missouri walnut and designed a scooped fretboard for his brother who plays old timey style music.

The peg head and fingerboard scoop both have a burled walnut veneer, and the 5-stringer has that fat pocky intonation that clawhammer enthusiasts cherish.

It was a remarkably ambitious and successful  project which he built carefully by the numbers. Very nicely calculated job, Professor.

Lucky brother….

A few months after getting married in 1971, the BRC founder purchased a long neck 5 stringer cobbled together from parts left-over from the Ode banjo company after its purchase by Baldwin. His bride was destined to see a parade of more than 30 banjos stream through their house in the ensuing years, a cavalcade which was culminated by a banjo repair shop cropping-up in her basement 6 years ago.

With her spouse`s permanent collection of 10 prize banjos stationed around the house, his wife recently designated his vintage Ode banjo as the one instrument that their curious grandchildren could play.

Although the Ode had long ago been relegated to a dark and  remote corner of the house to collect dust, the grandkids have reawakened their grandfather`s interest in this mellow and well-seasoned 5 stringer. It has now resumed the premier role of being his daily practice instrument thanks to the grandkids who love to experiment with it.

Speaking of kids, the G&F Singers entertained again this month at the Children`s Hospital. This trio of women effortlessly accompanies the baritone BRC founder by singing four part harmonies in songs familiar to patients, siblings, and parents. The lilting soprano, alto, and tenor female voices are church-choir trained and require no rehearsal. Ladies- thank you for graciously sharing your vocal talents with the children and families.

P.S. Check-out the `5 string  “Freedom Eagle” open back BRC banjo` on eBay Feb. 25- Mar. 4 and its cousin the “Golden Eagle” banjo  Feb 26- Mar.5.

How does a grandmother foster musicianship among her young grandchildren? Is having Grandpa Doc, the BRC founder, build them banjos enough to sustain interest in music during their formative years?

Sending serial emails to the youngsters of toy figurines investigating the features of a 5 stringer is proving to be curious avenue of instruction.

Time will tell if this clever stratagem will produce another generation of musicians, and maybe even a banjo picker somewhere among them.

Who knows? Thanks, Grandma, for cultivating the flowers in this precious garden.

To Fete a Feat of Feet

As the BRC founder and spouse ready to travel to The Lone Star State for a Thanksgiving weekend with the grandkids, there is a long list of things big and small for which to be thankful:  Family, friends, fellow musicians, and our appreciative audiences who generously donate to the Children`s Hospital. A recent and frequent addition to our Sunday afternoon benefit gigs is a young lady who jumps up on the stage and dances her heart out for the audiences who then loosen their pursestrings to donate eagerly to the Children`s Miracle Network.

The band calls her “Dancing Girl”, and her mother tells us that the little whirlwind has no formal training in her footwork.  Check-out and enjoy the below video link (IMG 0029) and decide for yourself whether this prancing little lady is Irish step dancing or clogging- or both. Thank you, Dancing Girl!

IMG_0029            (Ed.) Kiddo`s a natural…

A Legend Remembered

Last month, a giant in the Bluegrass world passed away, and the banjo community worldwide respectfully remembers Bill Keith as an innovative genius and craftsman. A friendly and unassuming guy, Keith was a pioneer in developing the ground breaking melodic style of picking the 5-string which increased the vocabulary of the banjo manifold. He brilliantly designed the inboard D-tuner pegs which bear his name.

In this 1963 photo, a young Bill Keith is holding a classic archtop bow tie inlay Gibson Mastertone. The brother of the BRC founder purchased an identical vintage banjo in 1963 and generously gave it to the BRC founder 20 years ago, and it still delivers the volume and timbre to power-through a bluegrass band in full flight.

Keith not infrequently lectured on the harmonic mathematics of Bluegrass music and is pictured here with the BRC founder who attended one of these insightful and fascinating seminars at a banjo camp several years ago.

Farewell Bill,  and thank-you for all you taught us.

In search of an Old World cousin of the banjo, the BRC founder spent dappled days of autumn tracing the meanderings of the cobalt blue Danube River through eastern Europe. In Budapest, he briefly paused his quest to play harmonica with a friendly Gypsy fiddler. (Click all photos to enlarge.)

While visiting a farm for show horses near the Austrian border, the BRC founder and fellow travelers enjoyed the up tempo music of an Hungarian folk band during the dinner hour. A masterful musician feverishly played the cimbalom– a forefather of the American hammer dulcimer. After the meal, a tiny old man (seated center far behind the quartet) shared his memories of living under the heavy bootheels of the German and then Soviet occupying forces during his youth.

In the cobblestoned medieval city of Cesky Krumlov, a Czech trio dressed in 16th century garb performed lilting Renaissance  tunes during an evening feast at the end of the tour.

Alas, the trip proved to be a cavalcade of violins. But, no banjos were found-  like the one held by the unknown picker in this archival photograph of rural Americana . Can you identify the fiddler?

Answer: Bill Monroe`s fondly remembered Uncle Pen.