On this day (October 9) in 2023, legendary banjo player Buck Trent died at the age of 85. Before he passed away, Trent built a lasting legacy with his versatile musical talent and innovative thinking.

Roni Stoneman, banjo player and beloved "Hee Haw" star has died at the age of 85. Born in 1938 to Ernest V. "Pop" and Hattie Stoneman, Roni was the second-youngest of her father's 23 children. She ...

Béla Fleck, a 17-time Grammy award winner who has spent decades perfecting his skills on the banjo, is on a quest to make the banjo beloved. “If I had a mission statement,” Fleck said, “it would be to ...

The opening notes of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” are quintessentially cinematic. The lilt of a seductive clarinet begins a recognizable birdsong. A brassy, deep trombone responds. The two ...

FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama has played a role in some of the most iconic recordings in American popular music history. Today it hosts From the Top and the next generation of classical ...

Clawhammer banjo is differentiated from bluegrass banjo by its downstroke style. In bluegrass, the player up-picks notes using a pattern called a roll. These players also use fingerpicks to enhance ...

There’s no question that Tony Trischka stands as one of the most preeminent banjo artists of our time. For more than 50 years, his innovative style, dazzling speed, and musical ingenuity have shaped ...

Beyonce’s hit “Texas Hold ’Em” opens with a beat seldom heard on hip-hop tracks: the unmistakable clip-clop of a four-stringed clawhammer banjo. It comes via folk icon Rhiannon Giddens, who was ...

Mumford & Sons banjo player Winston Marshall says he is leaving the folk-rock group so he can speak his mind without the other members of the band "suffering the consequences." The musician announced ...