The banjo was almost as annoying as the bagpipes until Charlie Poole invented the Three-Finger Roll, of which Earl Scruggs became the virtuoso.
Strummed or played hammerclaw, a banjo is nothing but an accompaniment. Played three-finger roll and done expertly, it is the star of the show.
And the three-finger roll damn sure was an invention of the Appalachian hillbillies, and its brassy twang is the very sound of Appalachia’s beating heart.
If he had lived long enough to hear the Foggy Mountain Breakdown or even just the Ballad of Jed Clampett I dare say Mark Twain would have changed his tune.