The Glory-Beaming Banjo

Earlier this month, an old friend re-emerged from the ashes of oblivion. County Sales was once the foremost vendor of old-time and bluegrass music. The Floyd, Virginia-based store was where I purchased most of my CDs when I first latched onto this music. My copies of the Clawhammer Banjo Vols. 1-3 , the Killer Grits' Midnight on the Run, Christian Wig's Gate to Go Through and pretty much the rest of my Mark Olitsky album collection  were all ordered through the County Sales website . Unfortunately, longtime owner David Freeman closed the store in January this year upon his retirement. Freeman started the business in New York City in 1965 and then moved it to Floyd in 1974. He also launched two record labels to provide musicians a broader avenue for releasing their music. His son Mark Freeman now runs County Records (old-time) and Rebel Records (bluegrass) from Charlottesville, Virginia. For nine, sad, long months, old-time and bluegrass fans has to scrounge the depths o...

The Glory-Beaming Banjo has just gone social. There is now a Facebook page for this blog. Go there and like us. Please? I promise I'll post something more banjo-related soon. Cheers!

One of the most important aspects of playing old-time music is the communal participation of playing the music with other people. However, sometimes that option doesn't exist. Thankfully, there's an "app for that" -- or at least there's a good website anyway. Last December, Josh Turknett , a member of the Banjo Hangout wrote about a new webpage he had created, called The Old Time Jam , which features a music players with backup music tracks (with guitar, fiddle and banjo) to many traditional fiddle tunes. When you go to the site, you see at the bottom a music player, called The Old-Time Machine, which gives you the option of playing with two different speeds of a guitar track or a combination of guitar-fiddle, guitar-banjo, or fiddle-banjo. It also shows the chord changes to help you learn a tune by ear. If you've never been to a jam or want to improve your skills of playing with others, The Old Time Jam site is a great tool. It's also just a fun w...

When I was first getting into clawhammer there was one resource that really inspired me to experiment with the banjo. Cathy Moore's blog, Banjo Meets World , provides a wealth of information about playing the banjo in old-time music, as well as other folk traditions. Sadly, the website has been dormant since November 2009. Last I knew, Moore was based in Bloomington, Ind., which I hear has a decent old-time scene . I know that she didn't disappear into the Australian Outback because she has recent posts at her professional blog  about e-learning tools. Despite Moore's absence from the site in more than a year, Banjo Meets World is still worth a visit to review the already existent content. I keep a link to her blog on the "Fellow Fogies" list to the right in hopes that she might post something new. Two series on Banjo Meets World have been particularly influential to my own playing: " Beyond bum-ditty " and " Getting drive with Liza Jane ....

Nothing says "dropping out of society" like learning the banjo. --Daniel Roth, " O Brother! Daniel Roth Goes to Banjo Camp and Learns to Play Along ," Jan. 21, 2002   * * *  If you're anything like me, the decision to play the five-string banjo can seem a solitary pursuit. No one I knew played the instrument, and it wasn't until I was a couple years into playing that I met others among the banjo afflicted. However, I found solace in an online community dedicated to banjo players, the Banjo Hangout .  At the BHO, as we regulars refer to it as, I found a whole army of banjo players from all walks of life. There are professionals willing to share advice, banjo builders who share their projects, instrument experts to give flash appraisals, and fellow novices to share in the journey of learning to play all kinds of music. Consider it as the Facebook for the banjo enthusiast.  The Banjo Hangout helped me buy my first banjo, helped me realize I actually wanted ...

In the old days, Old-Time music was passed down person to person by direct contact. That is the nature of folk music. However, the Internet is changing that. True isolation is becoming rare in the United States, as an increasing percentage of the population has access to computer networks. Now, Old-Time music is passed down avatar to avatar by broadband connection. As a beginning banjo player, the Internet is an invaluable resource for learning tunes and accessing information on anything from buying an instrument to researching musicians. Of course, you have to be wary of some sources that might be misleading, but the Internet is for the most part a great tool for any banjoist. My top five banjo and Old-Time websites are: Banjo Hangout  -- a forum for all types of banjoists Digital Library of Appalachia  -- free sound files Zepp Country Music  -- for all your banjo needs FolkJam.org  -- find other musicians to play with  Northeast Ohio Old-Time Music Gro...