# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/21 "2001-03-31T08:32:06Z")
Todd Charles ([http://www.toddcharles.com/](http://www.toddcharles.com/)) He’s a comedian who plays a kick ass banjo. Juggles while he’s doing it too! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/22 "2001-03-31T13:32:36Z")
My favorite banjo player is the Dixie Chick that plays a banjo. Don’t know her name. Don’t even know if she can play that thing. Just like to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Yardstick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8c91f0/32.png) [@Yardstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yardstick)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/23 "2001-04-03T04:02:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysdad \* > \*\*My favorite banjo player is the Dixie Chick that plays a banjo. Don’t know her name. Don’t even know if she can play that thing. Just like to watch. \*\* That would be **Emily Robison** , definitely worth watching. My Favorite (and I can’t believe he hasn’t been mentioned) is **Ricky Skaggs** with his performance of “_Country Boy_”. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/24 "2001-04-03T19:12:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jr8 \* > \*\* > Steve Martin was apparently self-taught, no less. \*\* ALL great banjo players are self-taught. Show me a banjo player who isn’t, and I’ll show you someone who plays it with a (shudder) flat-pick. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stellablue \* > \*\* > 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? > \*\* I used to go to the _Old Fiddler’s Convention_ in Galax, VA in the late seventies/early eighties and he was always there with a booth, selling albums and t-shirts, etc. but he never played anything, so I was never inspired to buy anything by him. He always had a sign saying “Sprung Is Here”. Any recommendations? Someone else I really like that I didn’t mention in the OP, for one brilliant album, is Tony Trishka. His _Banjoland_ was amazing. Side one was played in an almost traditional bluegrass style, with side two in a more “Newgrass” style, a term I alaways hated, by the way. And the other players were among the best, people like Evan Stover and Bill Keith and many more I can’t remember. Sadly this not available on CD, but if by chance you stumble upon the album, it is highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/25 "2001-04-03T19:56:50Z")
Steve Martin used to play banjo on the Glen Campbell Show before he started getting comedy gigs. He may have been a writer on the show as well. Not sure about that one. ---
**Author:** ![panzermanpanzerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@panzermanpanzerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panzermanpanzerman)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/26 "2001-04-20T05:38:42Z")
Mary Shannon. She plays traditional Irish tunes on a tenor banjo with a flatpick. It’s a melody instrument in that tradition, similar to a mandolin. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/27 "2001-04-20T20:08:48Z")
My father. Hands like steam-shovels, but an accomplished percusionist (old style: pianos and everything), pretty good with a recorder or flute, and slick-wicked with a banjo. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/28 "2001-04-21T00:50:38Z")
I’m sick of Earl Scruggs getting all the babes. - Lester Flatt ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/29 "2001-04-21T03:44:04Z")
Bertie Wooster played the banjo?!? I’m not watching enough PBS… Ah, Roy Clark- a-pickin’ and a-grinnin’! ---
**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:** [April 21, 2001, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/30 "2001-04-21T12:47:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EJsGirl \* > \*\*Bertie Wooster played the banjo?!? I’m not watching enough PBS… \*\* You’re not listening to enough Andrew Lloyd Webber. Check out the cast CD of By Jeeves! ---
**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:** [April 21, 2001, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/31 "2001-04-21T13:15:23Z")
That was a _banjolele,_ IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Darqangelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@Darqangelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darqangelle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854/32 "2001-04-21T14:44:20Z")
Another vote for “that Wild and Crazy Guy”, Steve Martin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-banjo-player/59854.md?page=1)