Just yesterday I learned that the Maryland Banjo Academy is no more. The folks at Banjo Newsletter have announced they will not continue to run it.

Then today I got emails via two different banjo distribution lists from Jack Hatfield, the banjoist/teacher/banjo text author/music store proprietor in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, that he is picking up the torch and running the Smokey Mountain Banjo Academy, starting in April of 2004. He says plans are not yet finalized (no surprise, with the little time that's passed since the demise of MBA), but he sings a nice song about the plans so far, and the attractions of the area.

Stay tuned.

Dave Oesterreich