Gutbucket?
In the third volume of Eric Flint’s “Ring of Fire” anthology* there’s a story titled “Sound of Sweet Strings: a Serenade in One movement”. It’s about how the banjo becomes a respected instrument in Europe, during the 1630’s.
- If you aren’t familiar with Flint’s Ring of Fire, it begins with the book 1632, in which a town from West Virginia is transported back in time to the Germanies during the Thirty Year War.
Could be worse.
Think about accordion players & Polack jokes.
Because a violin doesn’t have beer stains on it.
Diddley bow?
Yup. Blame Deliverance. Before that, it was still associated with hillbillies, but not necessarily the inbred mentally retarded hicks. That all came from the kid in Deliverance. Bluegrass banjo was more associated with guys like Grandpa Jones.
The five art forms of purely American origin (as frequently claimed by one Harlan Ellison): Comic books & strips, tap dancing, jazz, the musical comedy… and banjo. Come to think of it, all of these are snootily looked down upon by Europhiles with issues.
And blackface minstrel shows. Which hung on in the UK long after they became unacceptable in the U.S. (So unacceptable that Americans tend to forget they ever existed, or that Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney and Bing Crosby did blackface acts on film, played straight.) (Blackface acts are older than Othello, but the minstrel show is a purely American invention. And just about always included banjos.)
Americans also tend to forget that a lot of American standards – “Oh Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “Old Folks at Home” (“Swanee River” – still the state song of Florida, BTW), many others – originally were written to be sung by white men in blackface and clown suits. Stephen Foster wrote practically nothing else.
And, that a lot of genuine African-American (though sometimes they had to hide the fact) entertainers broke into showbiz by way of the minstrel stage.
Before Deliverance, I associated banjos with the whole Greenwich Village folkie scene, which was dominated by liberal intellectuals with pretensions of solidarity with the rural poor and the working class.
Seriously, before Deliverance, I associated the banjo with guys like Pete Seeger.
Spoons, if you’re ever in Illinois, I’d enjoy playing a set with ya. I used to play the spoons myself, but, just can’t keep them together anymore. Damn arthritis!
Very glad to hear that. I always associated the banjo with my great-grandfather, who played classical as well as old-time country.
I don’t get that. It’s a percussion instrument like a drum or a triangle – they don’t need to be complicated.
Why care. Those people are clearly conceited idiots.