by Donald Nitchie, BNL Editor
Over 200 participants arrived at the Claggett Center in Buckeystown for the Maryland Banjo
Academy on April 18, 1997 -- all determined to have a good time, and all succeeding better than
the organizers had dared hope. Banjo players from 28 states, Canada, and Sweden took part in
sixty-five workshops of all types, and with a student-teacher ratio of five to one, intimacy prevailed.
As Tony Trischka wrote afterwards, "While the Tennessee Banjo Institute was perhaps a more
far-reaching event (but because of that was very intense with so much going on), MBA had a more
manageable atmosphere -- relaxing, but informative."
Nancy Nitchie, who worked for eighteen months organizing the event, remembers that after the
last TBI, in 1992, Pete Seeger had said to her, "This is such a good idea, someone should do it on
a smaller scale." The smaller scale of MBA meant that the often segregated camps of bluegrass and
old-time pickers had no choice but to mingle. One suggestion that Tony Trischka offered was that,
next time, there could be either a fiddle tune, and/or an improvising workshop, featuring both
clawhammer and picking stylists.
Buckeystown, with its nineteenth century homes surrounded by the foothills of the Cumberland
mountains, was a perfect early-spring locale for the weekend's events. And with two gourd banjo
makers in attendance, and with luthiers Mike Ramsey, Kevin Enoch, E. Lowell Jacobs, George
Wunderlich, and Geoff Stelling, along with the House of Musical Tradition, Picker's Supply, and
Music Emporium's Jim Bollman's collection of actual vintage instruments -- it was probably the
finest collection of banjos in one place that weekend. The Claggett Center itself, with its sweeping
views of the countryside for miles around, was the perfect backdrop for the small groups of
pickers that dotted the "campus."
Ken Perlman, along with Bruce Molsky and Mike Seeger, developed an old-time program that
had something for everyone, while Murphy Henry and Spencer Nitchie handled the scheduling for
the Bluegrass workshops. Workshops ranged from Mike Seeger's "Blues on the 5-String" and
"The Role of the Banjo in Rural Southern Communities" to Pete Seeger's "Beginning Jazz and Latin
Accompaniment" to Tony Trischka's "The Role of the Rolls" and Bill Emerson and Eddie Adcock's
"Tone, Taste and Timing" session.
Jamming, of course, went on late into each night, with some jams containing upwards of twenty-
five banjos. I wandered down to the kitchen at one point to hear Roni Stoneman playing Duelin'
Banjos to the Claggett Center's kitchen staff. "I'm the only one not too stuck up to play it for 'em,"
she explained.
With so many banjo players, anyone with a guitar, mandolin or fiddle was in constant demand.
Bruce Molsky impressed everyone with the exuberance of both his banjo and fiddle playing --
"I turn everything I play into a square dance," he confessed.
My second favorite LeRoy Troy moment of the weekend happened when Troy pulled out a fiddle
and proved himself to be a quite capable fiddler, in a raw-boned old-timey style. Spencer went up
to LeRoy after a tune or two and asked the banjo-twirler if he knew any "fiddle tricks." LeRoy's
response was, "Well, I'm playing it, ain't I?"
On Saturday night, Bluegrass Unlimited's Pete and Kitsy Kuykendall did an excellent job
organizing and presenting several awards from Maryland's Governor Parris Glendening, and the
accompanying tributes. Ola Belle Reed, Roni Stoneman, Andy Boarman, Lamar Grier, and the
families of Ted Lundy, Don Stover and Don Reno all received tributes. Tony Trischka, in
presenting the award to Lamar Grier, performed one of Lamar's breaks from his stint with the
Bluegrass Boys -- sight-reading it from tablature. (Lamar, who was standing next to Tony, peered
down at the tablature and said, "Don't mean a thing to me"). Reed Martin offered a tribute to Don
Stover, and Cathy Fink spoke movingly about Ola Belle Reed.
Roni Stoneman (the first woman every recorded playing Scruggs-style banjo, on the Mike Seeger-
produced "Scruggs-Style and Three-Finger Banjo" recording) played Foggy Mountain Breakdown
faster than seemed possible. She also pretty much stole the show whenever she got up to speak --
definitely tying with LeRoy Troy in the Best Banjo Comedian category. She had the whole
"academy" rolling in the aisles with her reminiscenses of the Stoneman Family.
The concluding concert on Sunday was a taste of the weekend's diversity and eclecticity -- and
also a demonstration of the five-string's range of styles and musical dynamics. Mike and Pete
Seeger each performed on gourd banjos that they had just purchased from Bob Thornburg the day
before. Red and Murphy Henry and family did a powerful bluegrass set, followed by Cathy Fink
and Marcy Marxer's performance of Ruby (done with clawhammer backup) and with Marcy
playing congas.
Michael Miles impressed everyone with a Bach arrangement, and an original jig that sounded
somehow African -- also played clawhammer style. Ray Hesson's ragtime was followed by a lush
performance by Bill Keith of Night in Tunisia. LeRoy Troy ending the first half with his eye-
popping banjo-calisthenic rendition of Grandfather's Clock.
After a brief intermission, Eddie Adcock, Dwight Diller, Bruce Molsky, Reed Martin, Jane Keefer,
Rik Barron (down from Prince Edward Island), Ken Perlman, Fred Geiger (whose performance
of The Entertainer enlivened the audience), Mark Schatz, Roni Stoneman, Dean Sapp and Tommy
Neal and Bluestone all performed. The afternoon was a cornucopia of banjo styles and moods --
from classic Maryland bluegrass to lonesome West Virginia solo clawhammer, Reed Martin's
intricate melodics, Roni Stoneman's flamboyant Hee Haw comedy, energetic Adcock single-string
pyrotechnics, Mark Schatz's "New Old Tyme", jazz, sing-alongs, calypso, Ken Perlman's
Maritime-Celtic fiddle tunes...
My favorite LeRoy Troy moment of the weekend came during the Duelin' Dave workshop (with
Jimmy Costa -- see Ken Perlman's column). Troy had just finished playing a number, and one of
the attendees said, "I just can't get over how intense your performances are, LeRoy. You get so
into them -- it's almost like an idiot savant kind of thing." LeRoy leaned back, eying the speaker
from the side, as if staring down a household pet. Finally he responded, "I don't think I like that
savant part."
Bob Pliskin of White Plains wrote, "I had a terrific time at MBA...I made a couple of new friends,
and was very pleased to meet up with Bates Littlehales, who I haven't seen since July or August
1967, when he treated me, my wife, and Tom Paley to a very good Chinese dinner in London's
East End."
Donald Zepp, who hosts the Banjo-L list serve, had this story to relate: "I was playing in a jam
Friday night when Bill Bowman walked over and asked if my banjo was an Electric. I allowed as
how it wasn't just an Electric,' but "an Imperial Electric no. 0," to which he said, "Well, so's mine."
He then showed me what looked to be my banjo -- but cleaner. Says I, "whatcher serial number?"
Says he, dunno...uh...25034," Says I: "Neat, mine's 25035!"
Wayne Morrison summed up the weekend by recounting what Béla Fleck said at the end of his
workshop on Friday: "Well, I'm still here and still playing the coolest instrument in the world."
Plans are already underway for another event, to be held at some time in the future, at an as yet
undecided location. As Murphy Henry summed up: "Congratulations for a wonderful weekend.
You done yourselves, and Hub [Nitchie], proud."
