Lawrence, Kans. — The Mandolin Cafe is proud to announce the launch of the Banjo Cafe at banjocafe.net, its companion web site for banjo.
The Banjo Cafe will be administered by Charlie Schwartz of Lawrence, Kans., a long-time friend of the Mandolin Cafe.
Under construction for the past 15 months the site includes a community Forum (blogs, events calendar, social groups, content management tools and more), a mirror of the Mandolin Cafe Classifieds (ads posted on either site appear simultaneously on both), a News area with a wealth of articles containing industry news and interviews, a comprehensive database of banjo builders with 280 entries, a historical database with over 1,100 entries, comprehensive lists of banjo camps & workshops, and many more resources.
Charlie shared with us in his own words, "In 1978 as a high school student my parents allowed me to drive from our home in Great Bend, Kansas to the Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival in Colorado. I spent the weekend playing banjo alongside a musician about my age. It wasn't until the end of the festival that I found his name was Scott Tichenor and he lived about an hour from where I lived.
"We immediately started hanging out and playing music and have been friends since. I watched with interest from day one when the Mandolin Cafe launched. It took me a year to talk him into agreeing to build the site. He told me I was nuts and had no idea what I was getting myself into. He was right.
"We worked on content for a year and held a silent launch behind password protection January 1, 2016, operating the site full-time as if open to the public. We've been gathering and publishing news, building industry and artist relationships, attending festivals and banjo related events and involving a few select people in our plans. We're three months along operating the site with a significant amount of content that's growing daily. Anyone familiar with the reliable stream of information that emanates from the Mandolin Cafe will know what to expect from us.
"Although there are similarities between the two sites, the Banjo Cafe has its own identity and I'm really excited about it. The main common theme is, like the Mandolin Cafe does for mandolins, we honor and will promote equally all kinds of music, musicians, builders and instruments.
"I'm sure my interest in the banjo was planted early on, since my grandpa played the 5-string. Some of my earliest memories are of him playing his banjo and his records of Uncle Dave Macon, whom he greatly admired and even got to see once. I didn't think much about it as a kid, although I did think it was kind of cool, since I was a city kid and I was the only one I knew who had a grandpa who lived in the Ozarks and was a "hillbilly." I didn't actually start to get interested in playing the banjo until I heard my uncle, who was a guitar player, pick with a Bluegrass banjo player at a music shop in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A few months later my dad gave me my first banjo for my 15th birthday, and from then on I was hooked."
Visitors to the Banjo Cafe can immediately enjoy the first two parts of an original three-part series on Earl Scruggs' banjos authored by Joe Spann and Steve Huber, an interview with Irish supergroup We Banjo 3 and dozens of news releases about upcoming events, new recordings and new publications. Expect a feature interview with rising Canadian clawhammer player Kaia Kater some time in a few weeks, and information on J.D. Crowe's induction into the American Banjo Hall of Fame in September. And of course you'll want to pick up some Banjo Cafe case stickers — they're free.
The Banjo Cafe has partnered with Gold Tone and D'Addario to give away a Gold Tone WL-250 banjo with registration beginning April 15. A detailed announcement will be published Monday, April 4. There's much more in store waiting to be published, but we'll save those announcements for later.
Don't miss a special feature article with pictures of a very young Jens Kruger photographed playing bluegrass in the streets of Lucerne, Switzerland in 1983. The photos were taken by a college graduate student named Charlie Schwartz, in Europe on a study abroad program.
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