Banjo Roots

Thanks to FOAOTMAD, there is now a new link on the right-hand side of the BIB, about two-thirds down the list of links: Banjo Roots, a MySpace site set up by the Banjo Roots Network, hosted by Shlomo Pestcoe and Greg C. Adams as one of a series of linked sites that explore the earliest phases of banjo development from the roots in West Africa.

Banjo Roots is already a useful reference work for early banjo history, and the Network is intended to assist future cooperation among researchers. Among the many good things on the MySpace site are a video showing Scott Didlake (1948-94), founder of the revival in gourd banjo making, with Mike Seeger and others. This video was shot by the late Theo Lissenberg, bass player and lead singer with 4 Wheel Drive, at the 1992 Tennessee Banjo Institute; was edited by the Swedish banjo historian Ulf Jagfors; and can also be seen on Ulf Jagfors's YouTube channel.