About Me.

Why I Choose an Almost Extinct Style of Music.

    A native of north Texas, I grew up just like any normal boy from the suburbs of Dallas in the 90’s.  Punk rock, skateboards, mohawk haircuts you know the usual.

   

    Sometime in my late teens I was drawn to a Silvertone Banjo that my Dad had in his closet.  At the time, the internet was lousy, and the only form of Banjo related music that I was aware of was bluegrass. 

   

    So bluegrass it was,  that is, until it got boring.  So the Banjos (I had added a 70’s  Japanese “masterclone” to the mix) went into their cases.

    Then, several years ago, I got involved in living history (fancy words for dressing up in funny clothes and pretending it is the 19th century).  At these events I was exposed to some great musicians playing even better music. 

   

    Thinking to myself, hey, I used to play the banjo, I went home and retrieved the old machine.  Armed with new strings, and a renewed interest, I began the quest to learn how to play like the “old timers”

    I asked some of the musicians I knew how I should go about learning historical Banjo.  The answers I got were to get modern books. 

   

    Instead of going the modern book route, I decided to learn from the same sources that people used in the 19th century.  I started with the early “minstrel” tutors.  Eventually I moved on to the late 19th century “refined” style.

    Interestingly, the type of music I was playing did not resemble what had been presented to me as “authentic.”  While I had heard “old time” music, my research provided a very progressive sound.  Marches, polkas, schottisches, waltzes, Quicksteps etc.

    Another oddity is the absence of “cowboy songs.”  I have found sources for these after the turn of the century (Lomax).  Other than “oral tradition,” the search continues for a documented source of this genre.  It seems odd that with the thousands of pieces of written music extant, a style so readily identified with the American west is not to be found.  The “cowboy song” may have been sung in the 19th century, but it definitely did not find its way into popular culture.