The Glory-Beaming Banjo

March is over, which means we're a quarter of the way through 2026. In the past, I used to provide quarterly reports  on my various musical goals, but I've gotten away from that kind of content over the last few years. You'd have to go back to 2024 for the last one I did, and further back to 2020 for the last time I provided a report on all four quarters of the year .  To keep me motivated and to give me a regular source of content, I figured I'd bring them back this year to see how they go. I'll use these regular posts as a kind of housekeeping and progress report of the last three months, along with any recent trends and happenings I deem important. So, here we go!  The stats Banjo: A strong January helped carry me through a light February. I stayed on target in March. So far, I've exceeded my benchmark for each month this year, and I'm trending in the right direction for this year's goals.  Fiddle:  As reported above, my January numbers helped car...

Happy Valentine's Day, banjo lovers! Can you believe it's been 15 years since I started this blog? It's true. On Feb. 14, 2011 , I made you all my banjo Valentines. More than 300 posts later, and I'm still complaining about not having enough time to practice, while looking for old-time records and trying learn more about Ohio's fiddle repertoire.  Let's revisit the Top 10 Glory-Beaming Banjo posts of all time 1. The Ultimate Banjo Joke Compendium | I love how this post keeps generating comments. Usually, it's from fellow banjo jokesters wanting to add another zinger to the list. However, my most recent favorite comment was from some anonymous person seemingly upset about all the laughs: " Some of us LIKE banjos 😡😤" You don't say? Well, guess what, I like banjos too. Why do you think I've spent the last 15 years writing about them? If you play banjo but can't take the jokes, then maybe this isn't the instrument for you. (24.4K vi...

This year's Lake Erie Folk Festival dedicated a whole track of its free daytime program to Ohio-centric folk music. Two workshops, presented by Columbus-based old-time musician Henry Barnes , focused exclusively on fiddle tunes from the Buckeye State.  Seeking out Ohio-based old-time tunes has been a subject near and dear to my heart, as I've attempted to identify a common fiddle tune repertoire , uncover uniquely Ohio tunes and seek out my state's most influential old-time musicians .  Barnes is much more accomplished in all of these areas, so it was exciting to meet and learn from him at the Lake Erie Folk Festival on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Thwing Center on the Case Western Reserve University campus in Cleveland.  Barnes presented three workshops during the festival:  Learn Ohio Fiddle Tunes Fiddle Bowing Exercises  Performing Ohio Fiddle Tunes (with Susie Goehring) I attended all three. However, I'll focus on the two presentations related to Ohio fiddle ...

Greetings, glorious readers! It's time for a quick update of my February five-string flings. Since my last update, I had two wonderful opportunities to play old-time music with friends.  First was a house jam to celebrate the birthday of Stephen Rapp , a regular player in Paul Kirk's Old-Time Tune of the Week videos. The festivities included a great gathering of Northeast Ohio musicians. I mostly played banjo. The group played a couple Ward Jarvis tunes for which I pulled out my fiddle, but I was too rusty to play along, so I went back the five-string.  Next was the 7th annual Lake Erie Folk Festival in Euclid, Ohio. I sat in on two organized community jams with an impromptu jam in the hallway in between the orchestra-sized sessions. I played banjo for the first couple hours and then switched to fiddle.  In addition, I finished work on "Hawks & Eagles" from Michael Ismerio's All-Access Online Fiddle Course and moved on to "Sally Ann." Because of s...

Planning for the future. It's an exercise many like undertake at the beginning newly minted years. Last year was a bit of a down year. My music playing didn't measure up to the plans I had made last January. This year is one I hope that ends with better results. So far I've managed to keep my daily playing streak alive. The problem is one I've had before. For the most part I'm only doing the bare minimum to mark off each day as one that I've played banjo and fiddle. Longer practice sessions have eluded me.  Despite the minimal playing, my logged time has still outpaced last year's results. So there is good with the bad. While I want to play more often this year than I did in 2022, what I really want to achieve is getting back into situations where I can play with others more often. Getting Back to Jams One way to play with others is to attend regular jam sessions. The ones I used to attend went away with COVID-19. There are two monthly jams I am aware of tha...

Summer brings warm weather and music festivals, but also a bevy of activities to eat up my time. It's been a struggle to make space for playing banjo and fiddle the past two months.  As some readers might recall, I used to run a lot. In fact, this blog grew out of my now-defunct running blog . In my B.C. life (i.e., before child), I ran a handful of marathons, several half marathons and dozens of other races.  However, that all came to a screeching halt when my son arrived in 2013. I ran sparingly over the next several years as parenthood took centerstage. Last year, my friends coaxed me into running a race for the first time in nine years. That resulted in running my highest mileage since 2012, plus a sprained foot after running my second race.  As of this month, I've already surpassed last year's total mileage, as those same friends recruited me to run a leg of the Burning River 100  for part of an eight-member relay team.  Between running five days a week, ya...

This month, I received two bits of good news related to my local old-time music community. The news has led me to find a decent groove this month playing banjo and fiddle.  Two of my favorite local festivals announced they will return this year after having been canceled the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  First, the Lake Erie Folk Festival (LEFF) announced it will return to the Shore Cultural Center in Euclid, Ohio, on April 30. This festival was actually the last musical event I attended before everything shut down . I had interviewed organizer Laura Lewis prior to the festival for its fifth anniversary.  LEFF only missed 2021, due to the pandemic. Usually held in February as a way to scare away the winter doldrums in Northeast Ohio, the organizers moved the event to April to avoid spikes in pandemic numbers.  Second, the Raccoon County Music Festival announced it too would be coming back this year, returning to Century Village in Burton, Ohio,...

This has been a low production year. I can't see myself putting together a post that will top any of the posts that have already been published here in 2020. I'm always thankful for those of you who continue to visit this site and read my ramblings about banjo, fiddle and my adventures in old-time music.  I'm all ready to reflect on what can be reflected upon and move on to 2021. The following are the top viewed posts of 2020.  Sustainable Banjos: An Interview with Pisgah Banjos Founder Patrick Sawyer By far the most popular post this year, this interview was published the week after I started working from home for what I thought would be a short-term period. I think Pisgah Banjos is making some of the best banjos available today. Patrick was a very interesting interview, and here's a belated congratulations, as he and his wife welcomed their son in August.  5 Years, 5 Questions: Talking to Laura Lewis About the Lake Erie Folk Festival Here we have an interview and prev...

This year marks the fifth annual Lake Erie Folk Festival, presented Feb. 21-22 at the Shore Cultural Centre, a former high school that has been transformed into an innovative arts center in Euclid, Ohio. With the festival a little more than a week away, this seemed like the perfect time to provide a sneak peak at the event. Located within the heart of the Lake Erie snowbelt, winter may seem like an odd time to host a music festival. But not to Laura Lewis, the Artistic Director for the Lake Erie Folk Festival (LEFF), who cited some precedent when asked why this was a good time for such an event. “I asked the same question about the Kent State Folk Festival when I first started coming to the area in 1991,” Lewis said. “I'm from Virginia where snow brings everything to a halt. But the Kent State Folk Festival happened regardless of the snow and cold, and provided a welcomed break from hibernation for the music community.” Considering that the Kent State Folk Festival ...

First of all, all apologies for the monthlong gap between this post and the last one . Things got a bit heavy with my professional workload and general seasonal affectation demotivation. But I'm back, and I have some ideas for my next couple posts. But first, let's get this one out of the way.  As I'm wont to do , here's my review of my old-time music activities for the First Quarter 2019. My navalgazing blogger version of a corporate earnings report shows that I logged 47.5 hours on fiddle and 12.5 hours on banjo, attended two jams and one festival. My fiddle tune for this quarter was "Arkansas Traveler." I learned a very basic version that I figured I could eventually work into something more interesting later on. The main thing was to use the tune as a means to improve my basic rhythm, and I think I've achieved that.  On the banjo, I successfully learned to sing (that's a relative term) and play "Mole in the Ground." That went ...

The fourth annual  Lake Erie Folk Festival is coming up this weekend, and there’s plenty to enjoy for us banjo nerds.  First and foremost is the Old-Time Banjo Summit at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23, featuring such five-string luminaries as Mark Olitsky, Doug Unger, Richie Stearns and Lukas Pool. These four banjo masters will compare their banjo playing styles. Longtime readers of the Glory-Beaming Banjo may already be familiar with Olitsky, who was featured in a two-part feature on this site in 2011. Click the links to check out Part 1 and Part 2 . Unger is known for his brilliant banjo building , but he is also an accomplished player with a sparse style. I once heard him describe his style as a series of runs, and hearing that opened up my thinking on how to play in a jam when I don’t necessarily know the tunes. Stearns is a virtuoso based in Ithaca, New York, known for his playing in the Horse Flies, the Evil City String Band and many others. Currently, he tours wi...

Welcome back to our monthly series about the now-defunct Kent State Folk Festival. Click here if you missed the first installment. I was originally going to provide an early history of the festival this month, but figured I'd take a different approach and recall one specific year that was ... alarming . I finally got around to reading Walt Koken's enjoyable memoir, Fire on the Mountain: An American Odyssey , published in 2017. Here's a quick review: It's a fast and interesting read, but he could have used a better editor. There were a number of spelling and grammar mistakes that, as a professional language-type, were hard for me to ignore. I suppose that's the challenge with self-published books. However, the stories about Koken's early days as a musician, the forming of the Highwoods Stringband and their rambling career provided great insights and plenty of entertainment. I have to thank Lynn Frederick for passing along the book to me. But let's get ba...

W e've had a bit of a warm-up recently in Northeast Ohio. What better way to enjoy unseasonably nice weather than to hit up a music festival? If you're in the area, you're in luck. The second annual Lake Erie Folk Fest is Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Shore Cultural Center in Euclid, Ohio. Among the free workshops, mini concerts, kids' activities, open jamming and the Grand Finale Concert, attendees will find plenty of old-time and banjo-centric fun. Mark Olitsky will host two clawhammer banjo workshops, one for beginners and one for intermediate and advanced players. If you're a bluegrasser, don't worry. Paul Kovac will host host a pair of workshops to wet your appetite. Dave Rice, Christina Tanczos and Joel Specht will host an old-time jam in what was once an orchestra practice room at the Shore Center, which was once a high school. If you're looking for something less structured, open jams will also be scattered throughout the building in various ro...

T he inaugural Lake Erie Folk Festival was Feb. 27. Here my instruments are by the door ready to go jam. My wife and I brought our two-year-old son along. He made it long enough for me to participate in the old-time jam led by Mark Olitsky , Susie Goehring and Christina Tanczos . As one friend described it, the slow jam was more like an orchestra because of the tiered seating. I'm looking forward to next year and hopefully experiencing more of the event.

Any distraction from winter in Northeast Ohio is a worthy investment. The organizers behind the Blue Sky Folk Festival are seeking donations for a new event this upcoming February. The Lake Erie Folk Festival is slated for Feb. 27, 2016, at the Shore Cultural Centre in Euclid. Almost three years ago, the same venue was the site of the Shore Folk Festival . This appears to be a relaunch of that same event. The nonprofit group North East Ohio Musical Heritage Association, formed in 2014, has set up an Indiegogo page to raise $5,000 to help fund the Lake Erie Folk Festival.