Free Republic

Carl was just a kid here. But he kept up. Glen is funny at the beginning.

When your summer tours end, so you’re testing out some new material on a fox — and they come back for an encore. https://youtu.be/Nr_3MvtSgDE

Musician’s “Dueling Banjos” cover from the Deliverance soundtrack became a huge hit in 1973Bluegrass musician Eric Weissberg, whose cover of the Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith instrumental “Dueling Banjos” became an unlikely pop hit when it appeared on the soundtrack to the 1972 film Deliverance, died Sunday at the age of 80 after a five-year struggle with dementia. His son, Will Weissberg, confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone. “Eric Weissberg was a consummate musician, a solid and seemingly effortless player of stringed instruments of all kinds — banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, pedal steel, and string bass,” his lifelong friend and...

A doctor who contracted Ebola was discharged from a hospital on Tuesday after weeks of isolation treatment for the virus and was cheered by New Yorkers from City Hall to the Harlem apartment building where he lives. The release of Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, who worked with Ebola patients in Guinea and had been held at Bellevue Hospital Center since he was diagnosed with the virus on Oct. 23, will mean no one in the United States is being treated for the disease, according to media reports. Spencer appeared at a news conference Tuesday morning, standing alongside New York City...

A drunk, 20-year-old man swung his banjo at a bartender and threatened him with a hatchet after getting into an argument about showing identification at the Willy Street Pub on Monday night, according to Madison, Wis., police. Andre Stoltzfus, 20, yelled and cursed at the bartender when he asked Stoltzfus for his ID at the bar on the 800 block of Williamson Street just before 11:45 p.m., according to a news release.

(Chinese Bluegrass (REDGRASS): Red Chamber 紅庭, Jaybirds) A very nice mix of Bluegrass (banjo and guitar included) with Oriental instruments :) Give it a listen, you may be surprised :)

Banjo player and TV performer Doug Dillard, who gained fame for his appearances on "The Andy Griffith Show" with musical group the Dillards (known on the TV series as the "Darlings") has died following a lengthy illness. A family spokesperson tells The Boot that Dillard was taken to a Nashville emergency room on Wednesday night (May 16) and died shortly thereafter. Doug Dillard was born in Salem, Mo., in 1937 and was playing guitar by age 5. He received his first banjo as a teenager and soon began performing with various bands on radio and TV. He had been encouraged...

Legendary banjo picker Earl Scruggs, one of the pioneering figures of bluegrass music, has died at 88. "The Essential Earl Scruggs"Scruggs reached his highest level of fame in the 1960s when he and partner Lester Flatt recording the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies, which became a beloved weekly staple in living rooms that wouldn't think of ever putting on a bluegrass record, as well as a No. 1 smash on the not usually so rootsy Billboard country chart. But his stardom continued to give him a healthy touring career to the very end, especially at roots-music gatherings like the...

Back in the 60s St. Augustine was a gathering spot for some of the best folk and bluegrass artists. I got to know some of them.Paul Champion was a quiet and shy man, he could sit in a corner unnoticed for hours, until he started with a banjo or guitar.One night he was onstage picking, stomped a little too hard and went through the stage up to his knees. and he never missed a lick.Lots of MP3 files you can download.

Massive inbreeding within the Muslim culture during the last 1.400 years may have done catastrophic damage to their gene pool. The consequences of intermarriage between first cousins often have serious impact on the offspring's intelligence, sanity, health and on their surroundings The most famous example of inbreeding is in ancient Egypt, where several Pharaonic dynasties collapsed after a couple of hundred years. In order to keep wealth and power within the family, the Pharaohs often married their own sister or half-sister and after a handful of generations the offspring were mentally and physically unfit to rule. Another historical example is...

They gave a sold out performance at the Hollywood Palladium last night but you've probably never heard of them. The band members play multiple instruments including banjo, accordion, string base, mandolin, keyboard, drums and guitar (which the lead singer sometimes plays at the same time)-- yet they aren't a bluegrass band. They're not even Americans; they're a group of four young Englishmen. It's hard to classify Mumford and Sons' music, but the closest description is probably "folk rock." Their most popular song, "Little Lion Man" is junked up with a curse word, but an edited version is played on the...

Enjoy that wild and crazy guy, Steve Martin,along with Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka as they perform an original piece by Martin, entitled “The Crow.” [video]

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- A banjo player accused of assaulting another man with his instrument will get to keep pickin' while awaiting his trial. Joseph Stancato, 33, of Denver faces second-degree assault charges after allegedly hitting another man upside the head with his banjo on New Year's Eve. Authorities said Stancato got into an argument with two men at a bus stop.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Comedian Steve Martin next month will make his debut on a new type of stage for the well-known television and movie star, plucking his banjo at country music's Grand Ole Opry. Martin, a veteran of TV shows like "Saturday Night Live and films such as the recent "Pink Panther 2," has long been a banjo player.

Sung to the tune of "Oh! Susanna, don’t you cry for me." “Oh, no Bama, please don’t lie to me... for I’m off to Free Republic with a banjo on my knee.” I come from Minnesota with my banjo on my knee; I’m goin’ to Free Republic my true love for to see. It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry; The sun so hot I froze to death, Obama don’t you lie. Oh! No Bama, don’t you lie to me; I come from Minnesota, with my banjo on my knee. I had a dream...

WASHINGTON -- Consider the evolution of the humble banjo. It morphed from a hollow gourd, strummed by African slaves, into an elegant toy for Victorian society ladies. Later, it grew into one of the mainstays of bluegrass music. This story is told in a new exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Picturing the Banjo" brings together 72 works of art with a sampling of actual instruments. Among the artists are Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Hart Benton and William Wegman. Some of the instruments are themselves elaborate works of art, adorned with inlaid designs and carvings of gargoyles, Masonic...

Not kidding.... (Can't remember how to post a link here so click on the Ebay link above)

Own a piece of history with this one of a kind banjo that survived the wrath of the most powerful atlantic hurricane on record! The Wilma Banjo (manufactured by Del Canto) was housed in Palm Beach county, Florida when the deadly storm savaged the west coast of Florida then steamrolled its way to the east coast by way of Palm Beach leaving unprecidented power outages and structural damage to thousands of homes. Sadly, many instruments didn't make it. The Wilma Banjo barely survived the killer hurricane and lives to tell the story. YOU could be the lucky owner of this...

When you're bored today search ebay for THE HURRICANE WILMA BANJO. Kinda out there... but cool if for no other reason that the seller is donating 10% of the winning bid price to the Red Cross. ..now...back to work!

Saw this on Ebay - what a hoot! If only it were haunted....wait....what if.....? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5630980057