banjo

Did you know that a banjo's body is called a pot? Banjos with open pots make softer sounds. Discover more intriguing facts in Banjos, a Musical Instruments book.

From early morning till late at night, Arthel Watson was surrounded by sounds. He heard the whistle of the train as it passed through the hills near his home in North Carolina. He heard chickens clucking and cows mooing. He heard his pappy playing banjo and voices raised in song. It was all music to him and he drank it in like cool water from the well. But he couldn't just keep it inside. He had to make music too.

A photographic history of American fretted instruments, tracing the evolution of the mandolin, banjo, and guitar from the 1800s through the 1990s.

Jeremiah Birnbaum, an obedient boy from a very wealthy family, attends a private school where he takes classes in etiquette, ballroom dancing, watercolor painting, and classical piano, but his soul is stirred when he hears a banjo being played, and though his parents forbid it, he decides to learn anyway.

A photograhic history of American fretted instruments, tracing the evolution of the mandolin, banjo, and guitar from the 1800s through the 1990s.

Traces the evolution of the banjo within the African-American community from slavery through emancipation, minstrelsy, segregation, and civil rights, and includes portraits of performers.