Bluegrass hadn’t penetrated the urban centers to any extent yet, and when we city-folksters imagined a banjo, we pictured the traditional Dixieland band of minstrels, pounding the rat-tat-tat rhythms of Stephen Foster and the riverboat era of high powered music. It was the late fifties and this didn’t sound like what I was used to hearing from a banjo. His fingers danced across the strings with an easy loping rhythm as he sang. I don’t think that I’m alone when I say that the very first time I was totally captivated by the 5-string banjo, was the day I watched and listened to a lanky fellow named Pete Seeger climb onto a stage with his roughhewn, long-necked 5-stringed instrument with a somewhat soiled circular drum. (Photo by Sam Falk/New York Times Co./Getty Images) Circa 1966: Portrait of American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger playing the banjo.
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