Word: banjoists
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Monroe's twice-a-day stage shows featured some of bluegrass's biggest names during the nine-day festival: the Osborne Brothers, Fiddlers Kenny Baker and Tex Logan, Banjoist Ralph Stanley and Guitarist Lester Flatt. Many of those present, however, were less interested in the stars onstage than in the chance to trade licks with fellow amateurs. Impromptu bluegrass bands sawed and plucked through the days and well into the nights. "Bluegrass is much more an amateur phenomenon than a professional one," noted Tom Adler, 30, an associate instructor at Indiana University's Folklore Institute...
...that doesn't smack of sin. The group that won the $25 prize as the best oldtime band, the Blue Ridge Boys of Winston-Salem, N.C., learned all of their music "from relatives" and are duly modest about their accomplishments: asked why he though the band had won, Banjoist Paul Idol replied Well, we all started on a tune exactly at the same time, and we stopped exactly at the same time...
...before the police arrive. Bass Ronnie Drew, 33, whose voice is like nothing so much as a bullfrog with a hangover, bestraddles the line with occasional forays a mile or so off pitch. Tenor Luke Kelly, 26, gives out what might be the mating call of a rusty file. Banjoist Barney McKenna, 27, Tin Whistler Ciaron Bourke, 32, and Fiddler John Sheahan, 28, round out the onslaught with glorious disregard for niceties such as time or tune...
...sense, they were. In Quincy, 111., she took a towboat down the Mississippi, preparing herself for a visit to Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Mo., by rereading his work. On the boat she ate Mississippi catfish and sang along with Bing Crosby's old banjoist. In Hannibal, she was met by youngsters costumed as Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher, plus virtually the whole town. The welcome was so hyper-American hearty that a White House aide wished Pollster Lou Harris were along, particularly when little girls at one gathering warbled...
...MAGIC OF BROADCASTING (CBS, 10-p.m.). Arthur Godfrey takes a long and nostalgic look at the early days of radio (he was "Red Godfrey, the Warbling Banjoist" in 1929) and the precocious but troubled babyhood of television. Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby and John Scott Trotter are among the guests. Old film clips and recordings extend the reach back; some current behind-the-scenes footage brings it up to date again...