Back in May, I was down at KDHX prerecording an edition of Literature for the Halibut when Paul Stark, otherwise known as "Grandpa Stark" of Musical Merry-Go-Round, brought the St. Louis Banjo Club into the studio. They were prerecording, too, but of course needed the big room with the mics and amps and the carpeted walls. It was a group of mostly older gents (though I did spot a lady in their ranks) and i guessed their repertoire revolved around corny old tunes like "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," or "Turkey in the Straw," two songs I have heard so often I just cannot abide them anymore. I love the banjo, but my tastes run more towards the free-jazz spazzing out of Eugene Chadbourne, the spooky Appalachian chords of Roscoe Holcomb,the neo-traditionalist twanging of Margaret Kilgallen, or the Blakean sounds of my pal Russell McCullers Hoke. But as I sat in tiny Studio B, I cracked the door a little, and noted that even though they were playing some old chestnut (it might've been "Jimmy Crack Corn," another song I never care to hear unless it's from the jumping-off-the-train scene in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure) it sounded amazing.
The STLBC performs for free about every other Tuesday at the Concordia Turner Hall, 6432 Gravois (though check their website before you go, though, because they do occassionally switch dates or locations; the starting time seems to stick pretty close to 8 p.m.). STLBC currently has more than 50 members, aged 40 to 96, and and 15 to 20 of these guys show up at these monthly gigs, where the audience is "encouraged to sing-a-long to the songs and the lyrics to those songs are projected on the wall, not unlike the old 'Shakey Pizza' days." Their next concert is this Thursday, July 23, and based on my little homeopathic taste of the Banjo Club's sound, I'd advise anyone with a fondness for Tin Pan Alley or old-timey music of any sort to get yourself down to the Turner Hall for that show. --Stefene Russell
