World of Bluegrass has arrived in Raleigh, and everyone who cares is finding their own way into the action. At Quail Ridge Books on Sunday, for instance, I spied a window display that welcomed members ...

Beyonce’s hit “Texas Hold ’Em” opens with a beat seldom heard on hip-hop tracks: the unmistakable clip-clop of a four-stringed clawhammer banjo. It comes via folk icon Rhiannon Giddens, who was ...

Beyoncé's surprise new country album has kicked open the saloon doors to a new audience. While this may not be Beyoncé's first rodeo when it comes to country music, people are now exploring the genre ...

Early American banjo music is Black music. The banjo was created by enslaved African Americans, and according to the Smithsonian Institute, up until the 1830s, the banjo was exclusively an African ...

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, ...

Biographical and descriptive notes by Kenneth S. Goldstein on slipcase. Performer(s): Obray Ramsey, George Pegram, Harry West, "Aunt" Samantha Bumgarner, banjo ; with accompanying instrumentalists.

Rhiannon Giddens is down at the river, carrying a flame of heritage, and she’s inviting anyone who wants to join her to come down and light their own wicks. Rivers are traditionally sites of salvation ...

How do we reclaim something that has been lost? That is a question that artist Hannah Mayree is on a lifelong journey to answer through their work with the banjo. The banjo is seen as quintessentially ...

I took a break from the late-night gigs and got a job at Werlein's music store. There were a couple of banjos hanging up with the guitars and it was my job to take care of them. As I was cleaning one ...