I had the chance to watch and listen to J.D. Crowe pick some mighty fine banjo down at the IBMA Fan Fest. Crowe was picking the mortal soul out of the 5-string, and what is great about this man is that he is not flogging or beating the banjo to death. This proves the point that you can play with timing and punch without flogging the darn thing the death. It's mostly in the right hand, and making sure to have proper spacing between notes. Barry Abernathy (Doyle Lawson's banjo player) is living proof that it's mostly in the right hand. He only has one finger on his left hand. What an inspiration to watch and learn from these guys.

Barry is an inspiration to watch, even for non-musicians, just to show that a handicap is no deterrent to wanting to succeed. BTW, Barry is now banjoing for Mountain Heart.

Matt Merta
Boomba Records
Member of the Americana Music Association
Member of SPBGMA

LOL! I must have been off in lala land or somewhere like it to say he was with Doyle Lawson. I did know he was with Mountain Heart but at the time of writing the post I was thinking about Doyle. Thanks