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My older brother and sister had both played the accordion. Polka music was our family tradition and Dan and Judy played the heck out of it. I had always liked the background sound of the banjo in the polka style, and when I first heard it brought to the foreground by the Kingston Trio, it really caught my attention. So at the age of 42, I borrowed a 5-string banjo that my sister-in-law Judi had stopped playing, and looked in the yellow pages for banjo instruction. As luck would have it, I chose Adam Speth. Adam is a truly gifted musician, great teacher and really nice guy. At the same time I reconnected with Larry Mack. I had known Larry since grade school, but I did not know that he played guitar. He graciously let me play along with him. Larry was always on key and helped me in too many ways to mention to become a better musician. What a real benefit for a beginning player! In 1986, Larry phoned one August evening, a Thursday, and asked if I had the music in me. When I got to his house, I heard this great voice ringing out - enter Tom Steele. I had heard Tom perform at different festivals and pounded on many tables listening to him. We sat around trying to decide on what to play and ended up doing Kingston Trio music, which was for me the beginning of an amazing journey. We put the group together, but knew we needed that certain bottom end which was so nicely provided by Jim Miles in 1989. Jim kept us in time and the sound we wanted was suddenly there. The rest is history. EQUIPMENT: Banjo: 1992 Deering Calico 5 string banjo with Fishman acoustic matrix pick-up Banjo: 1945 Gibson Mastertone Peghead 5 string banjo with Barcus-berry pick-up Banjo: 1955 Gariepy long neck 5 string banjo with Barcus-berry pick-up Guitar: 1959 Martin tenor 0-18 with Martin Thin-line pick-up (on loan from Tom Steele - owned by Tom's brother, Frank) Strings: Banjos - Ernie Ball Earthwood 80/20 Bronze light gauge Guitar - Martin Acoustic Phosphor Bronze light gauge Percussion: Bongos - Latin Percussion Conga - Classic Percussion Timbla - Classic Percussion Click here for Rich's E-Mail |
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