Banjo
Harry Bickel has been passionate about the folk songs and bluegrass music of Kentucky since he was a kid. While in college, he took banjo lessons from J.D. Crowe and learned how to repair banjos from Tom Haile, at Shackleton’s music store. When he purchased his home (The Bluegrass Hotel) in 1975,...
Gerhard Dotzauer has made a living selling musical instrument parts to companies worldwide. He provides bridges, exotic woods, machine heads, and specializes in necks for banjos with mother of pearl and abalone inlays for such companies as Baldwin and Gibson, among many others. He sources these...
Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turning his skills as a luthier. Country stars John Anderson and Marty Stuart are among those Marty has built and...
John Logan became hooked on the Folk music craze and picked up the banjo as a result of the inspiration he felt from the genre. While attending the University of Tennessee, he formed a folk trio that became rather popular on campus. That group went on to tour and perform with Fred Waring and the...
Susan Carson opened her first music store, Taylor Guitar Shop, at just 18 years old in Johnson, Tennessee. Taylor Guitar Shop became the local hangout spot for bluegrass pickers and those looking to jam every Saturday. Susan sold the store when she married her husband, Bill Carson, and he took a...
Ronny Cox is the actor who played the guitar in the famous Dueling Banjo scene during the 1972 movie Deliverance. That movie moment led to a big boom in banjo and acoustic guitar (and canoe) sales around the world. It was also Ronny's first film role. Throughout his acting career he almost always...
Michael Doucet has become an important link to the roots of Cajun music, not only because he has written and performed the musical style since he was 6 years old, but because of the months he spent conducting a geological survey in and around his hometown of Scott, Louisiana. He discovered how the...
Stu Cohen grew up playing the clarinet, and took lessons for close to eight years. In the early 1950s, Stu listened mostly to country music on the radio, just because it was the only station that his radio would pick up. When he was in college, Stu got into country music even more, and started...
JD Crowe recalled seeing Earl Scruggs perform in Lexington with Lester Flatt when he was a kid. The sound was so unique and different that all young JD could think about was getting a banjo! He did and, well, the rest is history. Jimmy Martin hired DJ when he was just 16 and they recorded and...
Bill Rickard is the founder of Rickard Banjos – banjos featuring a classic design with modern innovations. In the early parts of his life, he fell out of touch with music. Following a tragic motorcycle accident, which took an arm and a leg from Bill, he reevaluated his whole life. He began...