Bio

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.

Despite the cautionary advice offered above, it is not unknown for these two guys to exchange a banjo joke by email. Thanks, bro.

 Another calendar year has flown by since those youthful banjo days of yesteryear, and attached is the BRC founder`s all-time favorite birthday card.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and be thankful.

The BRC craftsman and his son have enjoyed playing the blues, folk music, and Bluegrass together for decades. A self-taught musician like his dad, the youngster conquered the guitar, bass, and cello in high school and won awards for his expertise. He coached his father how to play the bass. The twosome performed gigs together regularly until the younger man departed his Missouri home for college, law school, and a busy legal career in the faraway Lone Star State. In the below archival photo taken at a sunny Earth Day festival in nearby Peace Park circa 1995, the BRC founder is picking mandolin while his son (far right) plays rhythm guitar.

Nowadays, the twosome reunite a couple of times each year on holidays or when the grandkids are competing in soccer tournaments. These weekends allow the father and son to revisit the music that they shared decades ago.

Recently, a granddaughter has been cultivating interest in stringed instruments and singing in her school choir. She will be a 4th generation musician in our family tree, as her great grandfather played accordion to accompany great grandma who sang full-throated ragtime era classics more than half-century ago in the BRC founder`s boyhood home.

From the BRC: All the Best in the New Year. Be safe, be well, get the booster.

The BRC founder`s older brother played trumpet in a Dixieland band during college and became interested in the tenor banjo. With the arrival of the Folk Revival around 1960, both he and his younger brother were attracted to the curious 5-string version of this  instrument. Sixty-one birthdays ago,  the BRC founder and his jazz  musician brother built their first long neck banjos from damaged parts purchased at a fire sale. The twosome honed their picking skills together for years, but the younger sibling did not build another 5-stringer for half a century. The two brothers got busy being bone doctors in distant cities, and the BRC craftsman received an occasional thematic (Hallmark) birthday card.

In recent years, hand-crafted birthday greetings (below) are now provided by grandchildren.

This Spring, the BRC founder shared a birthday occasion with another senior fellow musician at an outdoor springtime jam session (below) where both were gifted celebratory cupcakes, each adorned with a solitary commemorative candle.

From the birthday guys: be well, be safe, be vaccinated.

Years ago when recently enjoined as a bridegroom and relocating to Florida, the BRC founder and his young wife (pre-nuptial photo right) departed New England motoring south to the Sunshine State and its rich culture of Southeastern traditional music. In addition to his banjo and guitar, he stuffed his cameras and dark room equipment into their Volkswagen bug for the journey.

Concerts and Bluegrass festivals abounded around the university town of Gainesville, and live performances by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Don Reno, the McLain Family, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, the Earl Scruggs Revue, Doc and Merle Watson, the Nashville Grass, and the Dillards were attended by the newlyweds. It was the home of the Orange Blossom Special.

When vacationing, the young couple camped along the shores of the Florida Keys and admired the playful dolphins in the surf. They visited the Everglades National Park to learn about its ecosystem, wildlife, and indigenous people.

In a storage room in their house, the BRC banjo-builder constructed a dark room to develop his photo essays of musicians like the above side walk trio entertaining at a street festival in the sleepy Gulf coast fishing village of Cedar Key while three somnolent canines doze at their feet.

Busy with medical training and starting a family with his spouse, his music and songwriting a took a back seat to the hobby of photographing their youngsters as the kids grew-up.

There are several species of dolphins that ply the coastal waters of Florida. They are intelligent, social creatures that form pods of 2-3 adults and groups sometimes up to 15. Dolphins are warm-blooded mammals that phonate a “signature whistle’ to communicate and use “clicking” like sonar to facilitate navigation. Pods have complex social structures that manifest cooperative hunting strategies. Dolphin populations are threatened by commercial fishing, propeller strikes, and oil spills.

For the community art league`s annual winter Gift of Art Show, the BRC founder submitted his “Dolphin Songs” banjo. This 5-stringer was originally fashioned for the yearly Boone County Bank gala art exhibit which was cancelled this autumn because of the pandemic. Note the paua abalone treble clefs in the truss rod cover and fretboard.

The BRC banjo was prominently displayed among a field of 80 works including pastel, watercolor and oil paintings, bronze, wood, and metal works, and an array of photographic imagery.

From the BRC: Have a restful Thanksgiving weekend. Be safe, wear a mask, keep on picking.