Master of the Minstrel Banjo
At Mount Lubentia, the home of Andy and Sondra Wallace, Largo, MD
Attired in authentic period garb, Clarke Buehling transports his audiences back to an earlier time, when the banjo was America?s most popular instrument.
For well over thirty years Clarke Buehling has been a major force in the revival of interest in minstrel, old-time and parlor banjo styles of the nineteenth century. He has also been in the forefront of the movement to reconstruct the gourd banjo played by enslaved African Americans, who brought the knowledge of how to make and play the instrument from their native lands.
Clarke grew up in Illinois in a musical household. He developed an interest in traditional music after hearing the legendary player Hobart Smith at a performance at his school. He took up the five-string banjo in the mid-60s, studied music in San Francisco, and traveled around the country and to Europe, mastering the fiddle, guitar and mandolin along the way.
After seeing a gourd banjo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the late 70s he decided to try his hand at making one. He spent several years experimenting with designs, and eventually settled on a design based on measurements taken from a gourd banjo made by noted early 19th century maker William Boucher. Clarke?s gourd banjos are highly sought after, and have been played by a number of notable folk musicians, including Mike Seeger.
Buehling has extensively researched early styles of playing the banjo and mandolin, listening to early recordings and amassing a significant collection of instruction manuals from the period.
Clarke continues to build banjos and perform concerts around the United States and in Europe, working solo as well as with his group, the Skirtlifters, which he founded in 1985.
For reservations and directions, email Andy Wallace, or call 301-324-7311.
Suggested donation is $15.
