I have an amusing story about the banjo I thought I’d share with you. One afternoon about 50 years ago I was in one of the concourses at O’Hare and saw a man and women in their thirties sitting waiting for a plane, completely surrounded by instrument cases. They must have had eight between them.
I walked up to the man and asked “Are you Mike Seeger?” (Mike Seeger was Pete’s younger brother.) He looked at me, startled. “Yes. No one ever recognizes me. How did you?” I responded “I play the banjo”. “That would explain it” he replied.
We had a pleasant, brief conversation about playing the banjo.
Bean Blossom Indiana was in my backyard and has had an annual bluegrass festival for over 50 years that we used to attend. Some of the big names in bluegrass were there and the banjo playing was superb. Scruggs three finger style dominated then, but I vaguely recall a few clawhammer holdouts playing with old time music groups. Lots of fiddle. (With lots of practice became a mediocre guitar player.)
Steve