How Marketing has Kept the Banjo Around
In the music industry, marketing is a very important tool in getting music to sell. One part of marketing in music is branding for your genre. The banjo has a certain sound that immediately associates it with country and bluegrass music which is one of the reasons why its sound is still so prevalent today.
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One reason that the banjo did so well early on is that it could easily be made from natural materials; this allowed those without money to still enjoy the instrument. Many of these early "banjars" were made from gourds and played with a fret-less neck. We have no idea how these sounded, but surviving illustrations suggest they used heavy strings and probably had a deep, mellow sound.
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Bela Fleck had moved the banjo well into the arena of jazz and even formal music. This allowed for more expansion for the instrument giving it a broader range of use.
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By the 1930’s country music could be heard on the radio from coast to coast. The radio helped the banjo become a popular instrument nationwide.
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Earl Scruggs style landed him in Carnegie hall and bluegrass music in popular mind.
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Festivals are held nationwide celebrating bluegrass styles and the fiddle and banjo. These festivals encourage professionals to stay at the top of their game as some of the festival even award money.
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Throughout most of the twentieth century, Appalachian music, having evolved in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a regional musical blend combining various ethnic and popular music, was Appalachia’s most effective cultural ambassador and the region’s chief cultural export, transported via the media—especially radio.
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With the string bands gaining popularity, new shows like Hee-Haw gained popularity which helped broaden the horizon for Appalachian music. Like the radio, as these shows gained popularity, people associated the banjo and music incorporating it with a certain sound such as country and bluegrass.
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Pictures:
http://www.hangoutstorage.com/banjohangout.org/storage/cphotos/large/87/87675-43180-5-5515729.jpg (accessed on 12/13/2017)
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Background:
http://flashlarevista.com/content/vintage-radio-wallpaper.html (accessed on 12/13/2017)
