Remember when you first heard the sound of Earl Scruggs’ banjo playing, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown?” What year was that? Well it really doesn’t matter that much, because whenever you first heard it, it grabbed you hard, and it didn’t let go. Of course your body had to be carrying around the “banjo-gene” if you were to experience full throttle euphoria. Otherwise you may have thought, “So what?”
When the CBA first started holding Father’s Day Festivals back in the 1970’s, banjo players who were accomplished on the ol’ five string were something to behold, both visually and hearing-wise. If you were up close to a player you could see his or her thumb and two fingers racing across the strings of the banjo, and hearing a tune coming from the round bodied wood and steel wonder charged up your brain with half a billion volts of electricity coming down from the sky. Yes, just like Frankenstein’s monster.
You get the picture. Your consciousness was jump-started, and it went into another dimension. And after that experience, time went by, and by, and by. At first there were a handful of competent banjo players. And then a few more, and then a lot more, and now, right here in the year 2016, “hot rod” bluegrass banjo players are a nickel a dozen. There is a good chance that a fair amount of you reading this right now are one of them (confess, confess, confess!). And now there is the second coming of comedian, actor, musician Steve Martin (in 1967 I heard him playing the 5-string down in southern California, before he started acting in movies, gave up playing his comedy- companion for years, and then came back to it not too long ago).
So that’s how it went. From a few banjo pickin’ backwoods folks in North Carolina and Missouri in the 1930’s, came the hundreds (thousands?) of 5-string wizards of today. You can see ’em on every bluegrass TV show (think, “Hee Haw,” “Songs of the Mountains,” “Jubilee,” “Reno Bluegrass” shows, “Cumberland Highlanders,” and a whole lot more). Then there are the radio shows all over the world that play bluegrass music. You may even hear the live sound of a bluegrass banjo coming from the woodshed in your backyard right now. Go to bluegrass music festivals, and you’ll hear the sounds of a banjo from almost every bluegrass band on stage, and in jams happening all over the place in camp sites.
“Familiarity reduces the impact,” pretty much says it all. When you hear the sound of a bluegrass banjo for the first time, it’s a lot different than when you’ve heard it for the thousandth time. And when you hear the banjo coming from almost everywhere now, it’s not same as when you first heard Earl playing on the soundtrack of the movie, “Bonnie and Clyde.” Or Eric Weisberg ripping off licks in the movie, “Deliverance.”
The point I’m making is that we’ve been saturated with bluegrass banjo music, and it doesn’t have the same impact on us as when we first heard it (there are always exceptions to the rule). Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good stuff, still gets your brain, heart, and feet going faster than when you are on the couch watching, “Downton Abbey” on TV (keeping in mind the banjo- gene).
I’m sure that there are some kids these days discovering and listening to a bluegrass banjo for the first time, and saying, “Wow, mom and dad, get me one of those!” And that’s a very good thing. But the rest of us, we, “clouds with silver linings,” who have been around bluegrass heaven’s block more than a few times, have grown accustomed to seeing, hearing, and experiencing five strings mounted on metal and wood.
It is, however, a good accustomed, and we still love it and embrace it. Some even say playing the banjo is good for us. Steve Martin has said something like, “You can’t play the banjo and still be depressed!” Once I heard Steve say, “Lincoln’s bodyguard played the banjo to lift the president’s spirit.” I don’t know about you, but I usually feel a bit better after playing a tune or two on the 5-string.
So, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” was a tune played back then by Earl Scruggs. Metallica’s, “Ride The Lightning,” is a tune being played now by Iron Horse (bluegrass band). Go back in time if you wish, and then come back and focus on the present. It’s all good, bluegrass banjo-wise.
By the way, If you’ve never heard the bluegrass banjo live, or even if you’ve heard it 1,250 times or more, and you want to get your “fix,” why not go over to Sebastopol, California today (March 12, 2016) and attend the 16th Annual Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, 390 Morris Street. The show starts at 1pm, and goes to 9pm, with at least six different live bands. It’s a good one!
