I’ve been coming back every couple of months and watching this video since it was released, and it’s still fairly unique among the banjo styles featured prominently on youtube
Very, very nice! Hearing my first gourd 12 years ago completely ruined me for the shrill sound of the modern steel string banjo. I do believe the African instrument got it right, though, by allowing the neck to come into contact with the membrane, which deadens the resonance a bit and give a clearer crisp more focused tone. I stick a towel in my gourds, between the dowel and head, and enjoy the wispy goodness of the strings. Yum.
Brad, where does this version of Black eyed Susie come from? It doesn’t quite sound like any of the old versions I can find, especially the B part that goes back and forth between the low and high note... but so many people play this version!
I'm not 100% sure if he was first to do this way but check Dan Gellert playing it. There's a video on here from the 90s and so far as I've seen he's the sort of guy to play with an old tune and do something like this with it, so would be no shock if he was the first.
Good question! A stand that has lots of clearance below the tailpiece. I hang mine on the wall behind me so I don’t have a dedicated floor stand for mine.