There was a time when the world was lousy with banjo jokes (that, of course, was when the world felt like laughing). That's the punchline to a famous example of banjo humor is up there in the title to this post. Now the banjo has a new-found respectability, again. That's Rhiannon Giddens playing banjo, and black banjo at that, on Beyoncé's number one Grammy winning Texas Hold 'Em. A banjo revival is afoot. It was good to spend an hour with Max Wareham, banjo player, whose new record, Daggomit, is just out, and whose book Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five String Banjo, is a must read for banjo fanatics. The interview will be broadcast later in February. In the meantime, find Daggomit (Wareham suggests stubbing your toe to get the correct pronunciation), and listen to where the banjo is going. The joke: A banjo player stops at a highway rest stop for lunch and leaves his banjo on the front seat. When he comes out he see, tragically, that the driver-side window is broken. He rushes over to the car and finds... (see post title for punch line).
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