Bio | Banjo Rehab Center, Banjo Restoration

Springtime in the Ozarks & more

April 15, 2023

With March winds and April showers, our Spring season in the Heartland has been wet and blustery. Despite cool and rainy days, the neighborhood daffodils and tulips have bloomed, trees are leafing-out in the countryside, and turtles have re-surfaced in the lake behind the BRC workshop. This week, temperatures surprisingly crept up into the low 80’s, and our Wednesday afternoon jam session in a village nestled in the foothills of the Ozarks was convened at an outdoor pavilion in the township`s municipal park. Although a very breezy day, bluegrass pickers and singers cheerfully gathered as the sun spilled down around us. School kids merrily romped in the adjacent playground while fitness walkers paused to enjoy the music, dance with our clogger, and sing-along to familiar gospel tunes.

It looks likely that the pavilion and its lively greening environs will become our regular jam session venue for the months to come.

Between 2004 and 2006, the BRC craftsman wrote and recorded 4 solo CDs of original music. Three of the discs benefitted our local Children`s Hospital, and one disc was in support of Health Volunteers Overseas, a medical philanthropic international organization.

Three young sisters, all grandnieces of the BRC songsmith, provided back-up vocals for the author`s tunes.

The foursome was reunited recently in Chicago at a reception for the BRC founder`s eldest daughter who was having a book-launch celebration.

From the BRC: All good wishes to you for sunny days of music and song as summer draws nearer, and have a happy Earth Day on April 22nd.

Bio, BRC Activities

Amongst Kith and Kin

July 23, 2022

The week before the Fourth of July holiday, our out-of-state offspring converged with their families on the lakeside BRC home, so the grandkids could attend a nearby horseback riding camp. Included in the visiting assemblage was a large dog that slept everywhere and anywhere. During the week-long equestrian tutorial, the youngsters frolicked in the refreshingly cool waters of our backyard lake after each long sunny day in the saddle. The canine proved itself to be an ardent swimmer. Picking, singing, and fishing followed in the evenings. The BRC father and son (dark shirts) attended the weekly Thursday night local jam session as seen in the below photo taken by our fiddler host.

Our Texas granddaughter, who soon starts 7th grade, entertained us after dinners with a crystal clear songbird voice that had won her a place in the high school Varsity choir. Proficient on the ukulele, she is a 4th generation musician in our family tree.

Two of the Chicago grandkids joined their grandad`s Gainor & Friends band on stage for a song at the local family-friendly brewpub during a weekly Sunday afternoon benefit gig for the Children`s Hospital.

From the BRC: The arbor of family and friends is a precious and leafy tree.

Bio

Ever too much Bluegrass? Never.

July 9, 2022

A couple of weeks ago, the BRC craftsman and spouse attended Bela Fleck`s spectacular touring show “My Bluegrass Heart” which appeared at an outdoor amphitheater near the shores of the Missouri River just outside our capital of Jefferson City. The troupe included (left to right)) Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, and premier banjoist Bela Fleck, and all three stars sequentially performed with their respective bands during the busy evening concert. Although the musicians were fresh from the clear mountain air of the Telluride Festival in Colorado, they were undaunted by a stifling mid Missouri summer heat wave and bugs fluttering throughout the stage lights.

The threesome of headliners united at the grand finale, and mandolinist Sam Bush led an enthralling quartet of fiddlers in a frenetic hoedown tune driven by the impeccable rhythms of veteran guitarist Bryan Sutton.

Despite the palpable humidity, it was a marvelous summer evening of energizing entertainment enjoyed by audience and musicians alike.

From the BRC: Can you ever have too much Bluegrass music? Nope.

Art Shows, Bio, Cell Perches & HVO

On the Wings of Eagles

June 11, 2022

The 64th annual Art in the Park outdoor festival reconvened last weekend in our municipal lakeside green space after a two year covid hiatus. For its yearly Veteran`s Tent pavilion, the BRC founder, who is a former USAF medical corps serviceman, submitted to the show an “Auric Eagle” banjo which was festooned with laser-cut wood inlays.

To further celebrate the reinstitution of the sprawling June fair and its exhibit honoring veterans, the BRC craftsman simultaneously fashioned the “Wings of Music Cell Perch.” This smartphone holder is ornamented with left-over fretboard decorations and was gifted to his son in Texas who grew-up a Bluegrass musician. Upon receipt, he messaged back to his dad, “Thanks, it’s beautiful!”

Our son`s Lone Star family resides in a home that houses three BRC banjos and a grandson who has an abiding interest in constructing vintage WW II fighter aircraft on his computer like the airborne P-51 Mustang seen below. This pastime invokes detailed conversations between the Texas youngster and his grandfather who is a life-long student of military history and a wartime poster collector.

From the BRC: A special thank-you to the men and women serving in our Armed Forces.

Bio

Thanks, Bro

February 26, 2022

About 60 years ago, two guys went to a fire sale and purchased damaged banjo parts to construct longneck open back 5-stringers like Pete Seeger had. They taught themselves how to install calfskin heads while listening to Seeger on Weavers albums and Eric Weissberg with the Tarriers. The twosome journeyed toWashington Square in NYC to hear the live folk music gathered there on Sunday afternoons, and they visited Izzy Young`s Folklore Center at 110 MacDougal St. in Greenwich Village. The brothers frequented the Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs to study the picking skills of visiting performers at this now historic venue which remains the longest operating folk music coffee house in the US. Years passed, and their career paths led to becoming busy bone doctors, and the road of life settled them living a thousand miles apart.

The older sibling (right) gifted his younger brother a vintage archtop Mastertone, and the younger guy gifted his older brother an archtop Stelling Masterflower. In the above photo, the twosome sport fun T-shirts from the BRC archives. These guys love archtops.

Throughout the many years in their mutual equations, the two siblings share a life-long love of music and song. Even one of the grandkids is getting a hand into their music these days.