The 23rd Annual Banjo Gathering was held virtually on Saturday, November 7 and Sunday, November 8.

Presentations & Panels

Saturday, Nov 7 Schedule (EST)4:00 - 4:15PM: Meet n Greet - Committee Welcome - Weekend Agenda
4:15 - 4:45PM: Bonus Content Overview - We will give a brief intro to all bonus content. There will be time for Q&A as time allows.
4:45 - 5:30PM: Christian Stanfield presents 78RPM Commercial Recordings of Black Banjo Players from the 1920s & 30s
5:30 - 6:00PM Closing of Day

Sunday, Nov 8 Schedule (EST)11:00 - 11:45AM: The Minstrel and Classic Era Banjos of the American Banjo Museum
  • Join Johnny Baier on a virtual tour of Oklahoma City’s American Banjo Museum with an emphasis on the Museum’s collection of banjos from the 1840s through the early 1900s.
12:00 - 12:45PM: The Story and Legacy of Doc Green and Candi Creek Banjo Works by Chuck Levy
  • George H. “Doc” Green (1947-2020) was a self-made man, considered by many to be a genius. He and his wife Lori founded Candi Creek Banjo Works (CCBW) 1988-2006. CCBW produced approximately 75 banjos, and a variety of other instruments, each made to be at least a little different than its predecessors. Doc’s aesthetics combined elements of folk art as well influences from Gibson, Vega, and Stewart banjos, and classic automobiles. This presentation will feature biographical material as well as photos of representative instruments.
1:00 - 1:45PM: The Twisted Roots of the Irish Banjo by Rory Corbett
  • This presentation argues for the need to reconnect the history of the Irish banjo in the twentieth century with the earlier introduction of the instrument to Ireland and Irish culture by blackface Irish American performers in the nineteenth century. In so-doing it argues that the whitening of the banjo was a process that ultimately began with the whitening of the Irish in antebellum America.
2:00 - 3:00PM: Lunch Break -- We will have breakout rooms available for those who would like to virtually dine with one another.
3:00 - 3:45PM: Composing for the Banjo - Moderated by Michael Nix - featuring Tony Trischka, Adam Larrabee, John Bullard, Jim Dalton, and Thomas Schuttenhelm
  • Artist and composer Michael Nix moderates a panel discussion with composers and performers who are currently writing, arranging, or commissioning new music for the banjo in a unique individual style, bringing new and different insights into what is possible on the instrument and what the future of creative banjo music might look like.
4:00 - 4:45PM: The Banjo as a Comic Strip Character: Jim Scancarelli, “Gasoline Alley,” and the Five-String Banjo by Lew Stern
  • Jim Scancarelli (b. 1941), an American cartoonist - who, from 1986, was the writer and illustrator for the syndicated comic strip Gasoline Alley for Tribune Media Services - was also a prizewinning bluegrass fiddler and banjo player. Scancarelli was founder of The Kilocycle Kowboys, the banjoist for The Mole Hill Highlanders, and was the power behind the short-lived recording label, "Old Oblivion." When one looks closely at the entire corpus of his Gasoline Alley work, what stands out is the extent to which the banjo itself has been a character in his comic strip for these many years. This paper will look at that "character," or how Jim breathed life into the banjos that inhabited his comic strip from 1986 to date. This paper will also look at Jim's own infatuation with one banjo, his lifelong loyalty to his Fender.
5:00 - 5:45PM: Banjo Setup: A Primer on How to Become a Happier Banjo Owner featuring Kevin Enoch, Pete Ross, Will Seeders-Mosheim
  • When banjo players are looking for an instrument, they have so many variables to consider: rim size, tone ring, head material, scale length-- just for starters. Then there is string gauge, bridge placement, head tension, tailpieces, etc. What many players don't realize is how banjos are endlessly tweak-able and how they both can get the sound and playability they want from an instrument by selecting the right combination of elements and/ or doing do-it-yourself adjustments. This panel includes banjo builders Kevin Enoch, Pete Ross, and Will Seeders-Mosheim discussing how to be a happier banjo owner.
5:45 - 6:00PM: Closing of Day

On Demand Bonus Content

  • Private Collection Tours
    • ​Jim Bollman, Peter Szego, Stan Werbin, Chuck Levy, Hank Schwartz, Mollie Smith, and Jim Jacquet will give video tours of their banjo collections. 
    The Early Banjo: An Overview - Kristina Gaddy and Pete Ross
    • Banjo builder Pete Ross and writer Kristina Gaddy present an overview of early banjo history from the 1600s-1800s, focusing on images and descriptions of the African origins of the gourd banjo and it's early development in the Caribbean and North America.
  • Video Glimpse of Alan Lomax and African American Fiddle and Banjo Roots and Influences - Cece Conway
    • Banjo scholar and author Cece Conway presents an overview into the collecting practices of Alan Lomax (1915-2002), from the time he started working with his father at 18 and then for the Library of Congress (1942-1951) at age 21, to his collecting in Scotland (1951-1959) and some years into his return to the United States. This presentation will include short clips and photos of quills, ballads, fife and fiddle, guitar, old time, and blues with special emphasis on his collecting documentation including banjos.  
  • The Banjo Project: An Update - Marc Fields
    • Since getting the NEH grant, The Banjo Project Digital Museum has added a lot of great content to the site. Marc Fields will also share recent collaborations, including Jim Bollman and the MFA in Boston providing historic banjos for 3D models; Tony Trischka's appreciation of Earl Scruggs; an adaptation of the Musical Passage interactive feature; the Hogan Jazz Archive loan of oral histories of New Orleans banjoists. 
  • Sinclair-Winans Banjo Duet Recordings - Bob Winans
    • Back in the 1980s, Bob was doing some research in NYC and needed a place to stay. He called my friend Dan Sinclair, a sculptor by trade and an excellent banjo player. He said Bob could stay in his studio (where he had a bed and other amenities) and asked in return that every evening they would play banjo duets, with Bob playing second parts. They worked on a total of 16 tunes, playing and recording many (from 2 to 11) takes on each one. This pre-recorded presentation consists of an overview of their collaboration and an introduction to the final takes of what Bob considers their 8 best pieces.  ​
Support provided by: