# Who is your favorite banjo player? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854 "2001-03-28T17:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/1 "2001-03-28T17:18:43Z")
Whenever this question comes up (as I’m sure it has for a large proportion of us here), the first two names I always here are Earl Scruggs and Don Reno. Now, there is no doubt that these are two of the most influential and best banjo players ever, and I truely love both of them, Scruggs for his straightforward approach, and Reno for his more electic style. But, right now, I’d have to say my favorite is Don Stover. I just love that arch-top sound. Even though his (available) recorded output is relatively small, I’ve heard enough to know that he stands next to the aforementioned giants, plus he’ll even clawhammer once in a while. And while I’m asking, what are some of your favorite banjo performances? Earl Scruggs - Home Sweet Home Don Reno - Green Mountain Hop Don Stover - White Oak Breakdown Walter Koken - Banjonique Stephen Wade - Baptist Shout No, really. I’m serious. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/2 "2001-03-28T17:22:15Z")
Er, _eclectic._ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/3 "2001-03-28T17:54:43Z")
Tony Trischka. He was Bela Fleck’s teacher, and did an album of duets with him a couple years back. One of my favorite performances of his is “Twelve Days at Sea,” which was on one of his mid-1970s albums. I’m also fond of Courtney Johnson, the original banjo player for the New Grass Revival, before Bela Fleck took over his chair in the early 1980s. Bela Fleck’s okay, too, I guess. I really prefer his early stuff…DRIVE is a great record…before he got into all those electronic harmonicas and drums with keyboards on 'em and hanging around with Branford Marsalis and shit like that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/4 "2001-03-28T17:55:47Z")
Kermit D. Frog and Steve Martin ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/5 "2001-03-28T18:06:26Z")
The dead one. 😃 Seriously, the banjo can make a most beautiful sound when played by someone who knows what they’re doing. I’ve always been partial to Roy Clark, though I know he is not the best one out there. Too much Hee Haw in my formative days, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![panzermanpanzerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@panzermanpanzerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panzermanpanzerman)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2001, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/6 "2001-03-29T05:17:32Z")
Easy. David Lindley. Almost impossible to find banjo recordings from him. He’s mostly well known for his steel guitar work with Jackson Browne, especially “Running on Empty.” WOnderful musician. Alison Browne. If you don’t know her, you MUST check her out, either on Fair Warning or on one of the QUintet records. Bela Fleck technique, but with better melodic sense. And the guy from “Clawgrass.” I tend to like Clawhammer style, or frailing, more than Scruggs style. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/7 "2001-03-29T06:00:19Z")
My dad’s sister. Irish folk songs. But you have to get her drunk first. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/8 "2001-03-29T16:23:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Mermaid \* > \*\*Kermit D. Frog and > Steve Martin \*\* I never really paid much attention to Kermit’s banjo playing, but I do remember a 20/20 (60 min?) Barbara Walters interview with Steve Martin. He was playing a gold plated Florentine Gibson Mastertone, and I especially remember his beautiful execution of the 2-3 2-3 second string hammer-on, not, suprisingly enough in _Foggy Mountain Breakdown_, but in some other song whose name escapes me just now **panzermanpanzerman:** where _would_ one find David Lindley playing banjo? ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/9 "2001-03-30T06:53:46Z")
Uncle Dave Macon ---
**Author:** ![VitrolicBump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a587f6/32.png) [@VitrolicBump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VitrolicBump)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/10 "2001-03-30T07:21:51Z")
a pirate’s life for me! My personal fave is the old man audioanimatronic on the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland. You know, the one playing “Oh, Susannah”? Anyway, he is the only one I know of. Him and Kermit. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/11 "2001-03-30T07:48:46Z")
Sandy Bull. Find “Carmina Burana Fantasy” or “Little Maggie” on Napster. -fh, who loves any song with banjo and any song about boats ---
**Author:** ![hesredbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9fc348/32.png) [@hesredbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hesredbird)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/12 "2001-03-30T12:27:26Z")
Grandpa Jones Q: What do you say to a banjo player in a three-piece suit? A: Will the defendant please rise. Q: What’s the least used sentence in the English language? A: “Is that the banjo player’s Porsche?” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/13 "2001-03-30T14:52:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by notcynical \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by The Mermaid \* > > \*\*Kermit D. Frog and > > Steve Martin \*\* > > I never really paid much attention to Kermit’s banjo playing, but I do remember a 20/20 (60 min?) Barbara Walters interview with Steve Martin. He was playing a gold plated Florentine Gibson Mastertone, and I especially remember his beautiful execution of the 2-3 2-3 second string hammer-on, not, suprisingly enough in _Foggy Mountain Breakdown_, but in some other song whose name escapes me just now.\*\* Steve Martin was apparently self-taught, no less. He used to play in his stage act, at least early on: “You just can’t be sad while playing the banjo.” \ “Oh death…and greed…and sorrow…and murder…” I’m surprised no one’s mentioned that kid from _Deliverance_ yet… ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/14 "2001-03-30T14:58:35Z")
Jim Royle ---
**Author:** ![Stellablue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Stellablue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stellablue)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/15 "2001-03-30T16:50:51Z")
Roger Sprung He is the best! Bluegrass, Irish tunes, even pop tunes are great when played by Roger Sprung. He used to be on the Folkways label. Anyone else know of him? ---
**Author:** ![Ma\_Parrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dec6dc/32.png) [@Ma\_Parrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ma_Parrot)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/16 "2001-03-30T16:58:20Z")
**George Segal** , the guy from “Just Shoot Me”, and a lot of great movies. He used to have so much fun on the Johnny Carson show. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/17 "2001-03-30T17:21:02Z")
Q. What is the definition of perfect pitch? A. When you toss an accordion into a Dumpster and it lands on a banjo. Q. What’s the difference between a banjo player and a medium-size pizza? A. A medium-size pizza can feed a family of four. That said, my favorite banjo player is Mr. Scarlett. (He agrees with many of your choices, by the way.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/18 "2001-03-30T22:28:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Mermaid \* > \*\*Kermit D. Frog and > Steve Martin \*\* Agreed. And Bertrum Wooster. ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/19 "2001-03-30T22:42:48Z")
My favorite banjo player is…Clint Griffith. You have never heard of him? Well, that is not surprising. Clint is a man I had a relationship with many years ago. He was witty and charming and…but, I digress. My heavens, the man could make his fingers dance! On the banjo, I mean. He could play that instrument like no one else I have ever seen or heard. Why he never became famous is more than I can figure out. Scotti ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/20 "2001-03-31T01:37:55Z")
Q: What’s the difference between a banjo and a Harley-Davidson? A: You can tune a Harley. Q: If you go to the top of the Empire State Building and drop an accordion and a banjo at the same time, which one hits the ground first? A: Who cares? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854.md?page=2)