[Dixielandjazz] Give Me The Banjo ?

[John Gill]

   I watched the special on the banjo and I did enjoy it. However I did find it strange that so much was left out of the story. Among the 5 string players not mentioned at all were Vess L. Ossman and Uncle Dave Macon. A bit of footage of Ossman was seen but not identified. Fred Van Eps was mentioned and his picture shown but no info. These 3 banjo players were very important and extremely popular and I was amazed that they were barely noticed. I'm sure there are many other 5 stringers that should have been mentioned and were not, "Stringbean" for instance.
  The 4 string banjo (tenor and plectrum) was given hardly any room at all, and amazingly there was no mention at all of Harry Reser who was perhaps the greatest exponent of the tenor banjo in the 20th Century. He also played 5 string and plectrum and guitar and violin with equal skill. There was no mention of the really great Black banjoists like Johnny St Cyr and Bud Scott (both 6 string banjo players), Elmer Snowden, Ikey Robinson, etc. A real dis service to the history of the banjo in my opinion. All of the great modern day 4 stringers were not mentioned at all except for Don Vappie who is a fantastic player and I'm glad that he was included. But others like Buddy Wachter, Howard Alden, and Eddy Davis, just to mention a few, were not mentioned at all and this is really too bad. It was as if the whole legacy of the four string banjo does not exist, and worst of all that it dosent matter and that it's not important today.
  So thats my take on it. I happen to be interested in all aspects of the banjo including 5 string, tenor, six string, plectrum, etc and I did enjoy the program. Just to have a 90 minute special on the banjo is an incredible thing and I'm thankful for that. But it should have been called "Give Me The 5 String Banjo".
   One other thing that was strange was the ending. After the show was over there was a 30 minute segment of Roseanne Cash and Rodney Crowell. She is the daughter of Johnny Cash and was the show's host. Rodney Crowell is Roseanne's former husband. Both are extemely talented songwriters and singers, and I enjoy them very much. I am also a big fan of Johnny Cash. They sang a few Johnny Cash songs and somehow tried to connect this to the banjo. Roseanne said that she didn't think that her father ever recorded with a banjo, but he did. His Columbia recording of "John Henry" has a 4 string banjo on it. There may be other instances of banjo on his recordings too. June Carter Cash, Roseanne's step mother, did play some 5 string banjo as well. So it was a little strange that she didn't know this. All that said, if they needed to fill 30 minutes why didn't the fill it with banjo music, or why wasn't the time used to explore all the styles of banjo that are
 around today that are vital and happening. I'm sure there's an explanation out there somewhere.
  So because of the affiliation with PBS this will be held as the true and final story of the banjo in America, the final word on the story of America's native instrument.The truth is it's only part of the story. There is supposed to be a follow up video that will include all or most of the stuff that didn't make it to the final cut available for purchase, so I guess the final analysis is yet to be written.
Regards
John Gill F.M.B.O  (Fair to Middlin' Banjo Player)