Welcome to the official website of Jim Brown - New Column appears each Monday!
This site is part of Brown Publications and The Lisburn Press
You are visiting my site on: February 17, 2025

The Best Banjo Picker There Ever Was!

Jim Brown Audio Player
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

If you check out this blog on regular occasions, you will know that I’m a diehard bluegrass music fan.  I’ve played a variety of sting instruments all my life.  I started with the guitar, went to the banjo, and more recently, the mandolin and even the fiddle.  But my favorite has always been the banjo.  I once had the Rolls Royce of banjos, an Ode, some years back that was stolen from me.  Can you believe I once played on Bourbon Street in New Orleans at a place called Your Father’s Mustache to pay for my law school tuition? I regularly attend bluegrass festivals in the North Carolina Mountains.  My mentor was Earl Scruggs, the founder of bluegrass music and the best banjo player I ever heard, bar none. You knew it was Earl playing from the first pick and roll.  His style was unique and I tried my best to copy him.  He died last week at 88.  He got me hooked on the 5 sting banjo.  With age and some arthritis, I can’t pick nearly as well as I used to. But in memory of ole’ Earl, I got several banjos of mine out last week to play a few of his songs in his memory. You can see them below.

Leave a Reply