Tackhead reception at Texas Independence

[Steve Jeter]

 I went to a event at Washington on the Brazos, where in 1836 delegates   voted on forming the "Republic of Texas"

  I took my tackhead & my openback.  Intending to play both.  I usually stroll & play, Ill find a place to sit and let folk come to me.

First off, I am not a good player. So any reaction was not due to my LOl "skills"

 I started off with the tackhead, I know precious few tunes, but hacked at them.  People  started coming up asking "what is that" and making very posite statements on its tone , saying it sounded a lot better than a "regular" banjo.

 I explained this is similiar to how a banjo would have looked and sounded in 1836.

 I had quite a few people want to take a pic w/ me & banjo.  I do dress period and that usually happens, just because of my clothes, but people seemed enamored with the banjo.  I had a couple of folks vid me playing.

  after taking a lunch break, I decided to play my openback,  boy no reaction at all from folk.  Changed back to my tackhead, and folk got interested again.

 

 All this to say, people are really interested in old old time banjo, they just dont know it till they get exposed to it.

 

 Also thanks to a couple of folks on this site,, my  head sagging problem has been cured with ,,, mink oil, and my peg sticking with soap.  Im back in bus. so to speak.

 Had a great time and intend to continue.

 Steve

[Dan Gibson]

Hi Steve,

I've had similar experiences when I've trotted out the real pre-war stuff.  I'm not a reenactor, but these old-looking banjos make terrific eye and ear candy and do attract crowds.  However, one Bluegrasser said that they don't even sound like banjos (even had a similar reaction once to my Chuck Lee open back).  I just told him that he needed to reverse the chronological order of his thought processes. He went away muttering about a pain in his back, or sunny beaches, or something.

[razyn]

Sounds as if that Bluegrass dude has some half vast ideas about the nature of reality.

Dan Gibson said:

He went away muttering about a pain in his back, or sunny beaches, or something.

[Derek R. Polzer]

sure he's got a pain in his back, those bluegrass "monster tones" weight a ton!