The way the world often imagines banjo music isn't exactly what happens at the Banjo Rally, which celebrates its 40th year in Eureka Springs this weekend.
It isn't bluegrass music, for one thing.
FAQ
Banjo Rally
WHEN — Through Saturday
WHERE — Best Western Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs
COST — $10 headlining show today and Saturday; rates vary for conference attendance
INFO — banjorally.org
"It's not that at all," says Kathy Overstreet of Morton, Ill., one of the festival organizers. Instead, the Banjo Rally focuses on the music of the 1920s and 1930s made by four-string plectrum and tenor banjos -- not the five-string instruments common in bluegrass.
This weekend's rally/convention features workshops for dedicated players and a series of jam sessions. The public is invited to hear the headlining concerts at a cost of $10 each evening.
This year's headliner is Sean Moyses, a banjo player born in England and regarded as one of the best in Europe. He performs in the style of Eddie Peabody, "The King of the Banjo."
During its 40-year run, the festival has drawn many of the top four-string banjo players in the world, with names such as Buddy Wachter, Maurice Bolyer and Don Van Palta among them, says Glenn Parks, who ran the event from 1998 to 2011.
The festival started at the Crescent Hotel before outgrowing those confines and moving to the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks, where it has been for many years. Parks hasn't missed a banjo rally since first coming to one nearly 25 years ago. The only thing that's changed about the festival is the attendance, he says. Numbers have fallen in recent years due to the reduced number of banjo bands that previously attended in bulk.
Still, banjo lovers from across the nation come to Eureka Springs for the event. Among the planning committee members, for instance, are residents of Idaho, Kansas, Illinois and Texas, but none from Arkansas.
"For the banjo community, this is like a family reunion," Overstreet says.
-- Kevin Kinder
kkinder@nwadg.com
NAN What's Up on 09/04/2015