Here is a little Christmas offering, "What Child is This?", played on my grandfather's old banjo (arrangement by Josh Turknett). Merry...

The banjo is unique among modern acoustic string instruments in that it is designed to be taken apart. It is a tinkerer's dream, and this...

Here's another post featuring clawhammer banjoist, Abigail Washburn. As a student she travelled to China to study law to improve...

Today, I want to feature the playing of Frank Evans. I first heard Frank playing with the Slocan Ramblers at Banjofest in Guelph in March...

In this week's post, I won't be featuring a player or a song, but a tuning. One of the things that sets a banjo apart from a guitar is...

Today's tune is the "The Cuckoo." It's an English folk song that has spread throughout the English-speaking world. The earliest printed...

In an earlier post, I mentioned hearing Brad Kolodner play at a house concert. Here is Brad playing a fiddle tune called "Julianne...

I must confess I had never heard of Ola Belle Reed until I heard Brad Kolodner play "I've Endured" at a house concert a few years ago. ...

The late Pete Seeger is one of my heroes. Born in New York City in 1919, Seeger was a Harvard dropout who discovered the banjo and hit...

It's always fun to watch a banjo cross genre boundaries. Today's selection comes from Finland and a bluegrass band called Steve 'n...

Here is Cathy Fink, on the five-string, and Marcy Marxer, on a cello banjo, with a really fine rendition of "Coleman's March." This is...

This week I'd like to feature a clawhammer player from Toronto, Chris Coole. Chris got his start busking and has become one of the most...

I want to feature another banjo duet this week, although I don't want you to get the impression that banjo duets are a common thing....

When I was in university and just starting to teach myself the 5-string banjo, I haunted used record stores trying to find old LPs of...

I mentioned in an earlier post that Earl Scruggs inspired me to take up the five-string banjo. I would imagine that he inspired many of...

Here's another great song for the banjoist, "The Mexican Cowboy," aka "The Hills of Mexico." Like all great folk songs, you can find it...

Here's a catchy tune that I am trying to learn, Wabash Blues. I think a lot of clawhammer players hear this tune and immediately want to...

When my grandmother passed away, and her children gathered to clear out the family home in preparation for its sale, they found a fiddle,...