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Tony Thomas on Key Banjo History Concepts

6/14/2016

Tony Thomas, scholar and banjo player, presents "Key ideas of banjo history" at the Eighteenth Annual Banjo Gathering (formerly known as the Banjo Collectors Gathering) at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott on October 30, 2015.

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Levi Brown, banjo maker, player, and bon-vivant...

6/7/2016

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Originally posted on www.kristinagaddy.com

At this year's (2015) 19th Century Banjo Gathering (Banjo Collector's Gathering), Pete Ross and I presented on Levi Brown.

This banjo is owned by banjo researcher and historian Bob Winans. For many years, he knew that it was an antique, Minstrel-Era banjo from around the same time as the famous Boucher banjos. But there was no maker's mark or indication of where it came from. Until this showed up:

This tailpiece showed up on a banjo that had a nearly identical silhouette to Winans's banjo and had that mark: Levi Brown, Balto. Winans's research of banjo dealers and makers turned up the crucial information that Brown called himself a maker in advertisements and city directories.

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The Blog

Tony Thomas on Key Banjo History Concepts

Levi Brown, banjo maker, player, and bon-vivant...

Originally posted on www.kristinagaddy.com

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