Although it is similar to a guitar or a mandolin, the banjo doesn't have the same level of street-cred as it's more image-worthy stringed brothers.
Like train-spotting, bell ringing and morris dancing, the pastime of playing the Banjo is still looked down up in our image-obsessed society.
Banjo-playing local Tim McWhirter said 'I hear that the definition of a gentleman is of a man who can play the banjo, but doesn't. I have been a gentleman since I met my wife and raised our three children, Earl, Scruggs and Bela, but there are times when I miss it all... The three-finger rolls, the fiddle tags, the tunings, playing Dueling Banjos to shut the bloke at the back up.....Does anyone know a bluegrass band I could join?'
