The five-string banjo has it's antecedents in Africa. Sam Charters in his Roots of The Blues mentions a five-string "Halam". The Senegambian Bania is another earlier form. The slaves brought the banjo to America. The styles of playing were learned by white entertainers who used it in minstrel shows. One such entertainer, Joe Sweeney has been credited for the invention of the fifth peg. (Not the fifth string as sometimes been stated).

Stewart, the banjo maker and others adapted the five-string banjo to emulate the classical guitar in the later eighteen hundreds. These were fretless instsruments stsrung with gut strings. It caught on in rarified wealthy circles and music was composed for it. Some of it was classical in nature such as transcriptions of Mozart etc. and other compositions were deemed "characteristic" evoking a romantic theme of an idealized South.

There were banjo orchestras but these were soon to be overshadowed by the popularity of the mandolin.

The five-string banjo took a back seat to the four string in the Twenties. These were fretted instruments with metal strings. In 1914, there was a Tango craze in the US and an adaptation of the banjo using eight strings like a mandolin (called banjoline) was modified by dropping four strings and was called a "Tango Banjo". Later, jazz became popular due to groups such as the Original Dixieland Jass Band (which did not use a banjo) and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings (which did). The banjo caught on because it was suitable for primitive recording purposes due to it's carrying power. The four string "Tango Banjo" became the "Tenor Banjo". Many of the original players were string players of the violin or viola and the tuning was adapted to suit the tuning they knew. It was tuned in fifths and called the "Tenor Banjo". The earlier five-string banjo dropped the fifth string and was used also as a rhythm instrument in jazz bands called the "Plectrum Banjo". These banjos, unlike the earlier five-string classical or minstrel banjos, had resonators for more volume to compete in horn playing jazz bands. When recording techniques improved, the tenor and plectrum banjo was replaced by the more versatile guitar. Eddie Lang was largely responsible for this.

The dormant five-string banjo with it's minstrel roots made an adaptation into the Southern Mountains. The frailing style of the mountain folk style banjo was an offshoot of the minstrel technique. Many of the performers in early country music such as Uncle Dave Macon retained the minstrel show tradition it their performances. The gourd banjos and fretless banjos were used to accompany local big circle dances and fiddlers as well as folk songs. Most of the players were men. Women were not permitted to use them in that culture earlier. Later, Cousin Emmy, Aunt Semantha Baumgartner, Lily Mae Ledford and other famous women country entertainers would turn this around.

Bluegrass banjo Scruggs style was adapted from ealier players who used a three-finger style to accompany folk music such as Obray Ramsay from North Carolina.

Bluegrass music has been covered to it's present day. The resonator which had been dropped in the primitive folk cultures returned when bluegrass employed them.

You are welcome. :.))))))))))))))

Frank