Bio

A Milestone, A Memory, and Sunshine

March 1, 2024

The BRC craftsman passed another calendar milestone this week, and so he again shares with readers his all-time favorite birthday card sent to him long ago by a sibling:

Playing the banjo for well over 60 years, he has bought, sold, and built many 5-stringers. The only instrument that he ever regretted selling was a circa 1963 Gibson J-200 sunburst guitar that he purchased for $300 while exploring the blues idiom during his college days. Soon drifting deeply into the Bluegrass genre, however, he sold the dreadnaught 6-stringer to a school chum for the aforesaid purchase amount. Although this vintage instrument retails online nowadays for up to $18K, what he nostalgically remembers is the unforgettably deep rich tone of this magnificent guitar pictured below in an archival 1967 home photograph.

To paraphrase Missouri`s favorite son Mark Twain: Good judgement comes with experience, and experience comes with having made bad judgements. Within a year of selling the iconic J-200, the BRC craftsman procured a circa 1964 Gibson SJ (Southern Jumbo) guitar for $75 that he has faithfully kept ever since. It is valued online these days for around $4K. At a recent jam session, a fiddler pointedly admired the marvelous tone of the SJ flat-top.

Felicitous greetings to all website visitors who share a birthday this month with the BRC craftsman and are likewise a year older and wiser. Shortly after this aforesaid calendar milestone, the BRC craftsman and spouse babysat the grandkids` dog at our home while the youngsters visited cousins in Chicago. One morning at daybreak, the hound reacted with barking when a hot air ballon passed over our backyard lake whoosing its hot air jets. The sunrise shared its skyline with another orb as photographed from our upper back deck.

For other photos of dawn at the BRC, enter sunrise in our homepage search engine.

From the BRC: Wishing all our readers a sunny long life, good health, and the very best of pickin` and song.

BRC Activities

Thank you, Ladies

February 17, 2024

Every Wednesday afternoon, the BRC craftsman journeys south to a jam session in a small village near the sprawling Lake of the Ozarks. This picking session has been convening for decades, and in recent years it has been held in the basement of a local church. An admixture of musicians, singers, and a clogger faithfully attend these spirited afternoon get-togethers. In the foreground of the below group photo are three women who grew-up singing in church choirs. They are the core of a folk music quintet that performs at nearby venues.

Although the BRC craftsman handily plays an assortment of different musical instruments, his foremost enjoyment is harmony singing. The three female vocalists above can sing lilting harmony parts with zero rehearsal. It is a prime joy for the BRC craftsman to accompany this talented trio on Wednesday afternoons and blend his baritone and bass intonations with them.

From the BRC: Thank you ladies for your delightful music, dance, and seraphic song.

Jamming

A Tradition Endures

February 2, 2024

Several decades ago when our Thursday evening jam sessions were convened in the basement of a local hardware store, a tradition was established regarding the arrival of brand new musical instruments. Whenever a picker introduced a new stringed instrument to the get-together, it was required that the proud owner provide a celebratory ice cream treat for the group. Recently, our banjo picker had a fancy new pot and resonator applied to his 5-stringer. This was deemed sufficient to warrant an ice cream break in the evening assembly which had gathered despite a wintry snow storm outside.

Surrounded by smiling faces, our banjo picker showcases his newly upgraded instrument after a pause in the evening`s music and song for an ice cream treat.

From the BRC: In the traditional spirit of Gobbler`s  Knob, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, have a happy Groundhog Day. Springtime cannot be far away.

Art Shows, BRC Activities

Sweet Sustenance

January 20, 2024

At the beginning of each new calendar year, the inaugural exhibit at the community art league gallery is themed on the subject of food. This January, the so-called food show is entitled “Devour” and focuses on artists` perceptions of appetites and favorite culinary delights. In February, this exhibit will host a yearly fund raising event called “Let Them Eat Art” which is catered by local restauranteurs in a competition to produce the most flavorful finger food and beverage as determined by the voting of gallery visitors. The BRC craftsman constructed the “Honey Bee” banjo for the juried art show.

The peghead and fretboard display the busy honey bee, its hive, the queen`s crown, a honey jar, and nectar-filled flowers. In scientific nomenclature, the honey bee belongs to the genus Apis of the bee clade. These industrious winged creatures came from Afro-Eurasia to North America in the early 17th century, and they are commercially valued producers of honey and wax. Honey bees sting usually in defense of themselves or their colony, and they are fated to succumb shortly after inflicting a sting.

At the gala food show opening reception on a wintry night, visitors closely study the Honey Bee which garnered  a ribbon in the adjudicated competition. During his initial decade of banjo building, the BRC craftsman installed only mother of pearl inlays; but in recent years, he has converted to laser-cut wood inlays made mostly of  birch.

Like all BRC 5-stringers, the heel of the neck on the Honey Bee bears special inlays for the eyes only of the musician. On the rim nearby is an inscription (inverted) indicating that this instrument is the 102nd banjo built in our shop. Since 2016, over forty BRC banjos have appeared in local art shows.

From the BRC: Enjoy the best of food and health in 2024.

Jamming

Wishing you a sunlit New Year

January 6, 2024

On a clear day during the deep winter months, the lakeside BRC domicile not infrequently bears witness to stunning sunrises at daybreak in which shafts of golden light pierce the wintry horizon.

From our breakfast table on a cloud-covered morning, the blazing solar globe can be observed (below) creeping over the rooftops on the opposite shoreline sometimes spilling an array of textures and colors across the skyline above and still waters below. When the quilted clouds slowly boil away, an unexpectedly clear day will often follow. We call these morning spectacles  “Giverny in the Sky” alluding to the pastoral paintings of French Impressionist Claude Monet.

For other daybreak photographs taken from the BRC upper deck, enter sunrise in the website home page search engine and enjoy.

During the recent Holidays, the co-host of our Thursday evening jams took the occasion at his home to pause the music session and invite us to sit down in the dining room for tea time and bakery-fresh pastries. In a busy Holiday Season, it was a warmly festive interlude for camaraderie that was enjoyed by all as 2024 drew near.

From the BRC: May your New Year be filled with fellowship and sunlight.

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