The G&F bandleader established his inaugural acoustic music group in 1995 and named it ‘The Bluegrass Jammers.” Performing at picnics and community events, all tips and fees were donated to the local Childrens Hospital. The band`s generic moniker sufficed until the year 2000 when its name somehow morphed into “The Moonshyne Reunion.” In 2005, the group leader began playing solo Thursday noontime gigs at the Artisan coffee house near the University campus. Slowly but surely, members of the aforementioned jam bands began to join him on stage during these midday performances. Soon, this amalgamated bluegrass band began performing regular weekend evening gigs at the coffee shop and then simply billed itself as “Gainor & Friends”.
One morning in the autumn 2009, however, the Artisan cafe suddenly and unexpectedly closed down. We musicians were literally left standing at the darkened and locked front door with our instrument cases in hand. A new brewpub had coincidentally just opened on a nearby street, and so we trudged up the alleyway to its back door and offered our services to the owners. After a few trial showcase performances, we began playing weekly Sunday afternoon gigs at the family-friendly downstairs brewpub. The band was initially housed in a alcove by the steps descending from the sidewalk to the front door; and despite this crowded venue, the acoustics there were marvelous. After a couple of years, the owners built us a roomy stage overlooking the main dining room where we continue to perform today.
The youthful and generous sketch artist featured in the previous BRC website posting of 9-27-25 entitled “Young Artists Emerge” was photographed on stage with the band by her mother who later kindly forwarded the above photograph to us. The musicians are holding the drawing that each was gifted by the talented young artist who stands next to the kneeling G&F bandleader. These drawings are especially noteworthy to the band, as we have just surpassed the $34K milestone in donations collected for the University of Missouri Childrens Hospital. We G&F musicians are grateful to the faithful patrons and generous owners of the Broadway Brewery for their years of joint support of our local pediatric medical center.
From the BRC: Again, a special thanks to our young artist and her mom for their gifts to us.
The upper neck fretboard contains frightful visages of werewolves and the heads of hungry dragons.
The lower neck reiterates these scary mythological creatures and their claws.
As all BRC banjos contain an inlay on the heel of the neck for the eyes only of the musician, the base of this neck revisits the image of the fearless knight.
