Hey, Old Roger: I play and love banjo too. I play it strictly for accompaniment. I play mostly old-time finger-picked style and love Charlie Poole's style of playing. I find that the banjo can work on everything from Poole's material to Oh Come, Oh Come Immanuel. I works nicely on Lost Jimmy Whalen and can have a spare, mournful sound. The one thing that I find over here in more recent days is that the banjo is not used nearly as commonly for solo accompaniment as it was in the southern Appalachians in the early 1900's. It's primarily a string or bluegrass band instrument (or in vocal groups, with other instruments.) Someone told me once that I was one of their favorite banjo players who sing, and I answered... you mean there are more than Howie Bursen and me? I realize that there are more, and I am no great banjo player. Cathy Barton is without peer as a banjo player who accompanies herself singing, over here.

Jerry