TALES & TUNES
Here’s me reading “Ode to a Tenor Banjo” with Art Menius on WCHL. I did this interview with Catherine DeVine and poet Celisa Steele as part of the 2012 West End Poetry Festival.
I think that banjo poetry is really on the rise now as an important sub-genre in contemporary literature, and I am proud to be a part of this movement.
I play a Deering Maple Blossom tenor banjo. I love it, but it has a well-deserved reputation of being overly bright and powerful, owing to its bluegrass roots.
I’ve struggled with this for years, with various articles of clothing stuck inside, mechanical muting gizmos attached, and playing techniques where I vary the head resonance by altering the way I rest the side of my palm.
Recently, though, I installed a clear, plastic head. My goodness, has it made a wonderful difference. In the past I used a variety of natural, or faux-natural heads to try to get a more mellow sound. None of them compare to the thick, clear plastic head.
I’m getting a much richer, mellow, but still loud, thumping. I’ve said before that an Irish banjo should sound like the farting of metal frogs.
It’s getting there.