Hand the banjo man a stringed instrument, and he'll pick you a tune fine enough to make Bill Monroe, the so-called father of bluegrass, perk up his ears. Hand him a cigar box, a car tag and a guitar ...

The loss in Aug. 2007 of the famed transplanted NH resident, Irish singer/songwriter and national folk hero of the Emerald Isle at 74, Tommy Makem, alerted me recently to a news photo of Tommy with ...

Pop superstar Beyoncé released "Texas Hold 'Em" a few weeks ago and it features an instrument that she had never emphasized before. This hit song, on her new (and hugely popular) Cowboy Carter album, ...

The banjo gets a bum rap. A staple of American country music, its bright tone and rhythmic clangor threaten to overwhelm musical gatherings of other, milder string-band instruments, such as guitar, ...

Bob Carlin first played a banjo at age 15. Having already learned his way around other string instruments, it seemed like a natural fit. Nearly five decades later, he’s still picking and wants to ...

The stringed instrument type list includes over a dozen defaults, including electric and acoustic guitars, ukuleles, mandolin, banjo and lap steel. The motor here isn't designed to tackle bass guitars ...

Musician Rhiannon Giddens is a modern-day Renaissance woman who trained as an opera singer before veering into folk music. She's an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist. But she is first ...