“I mean, it’s not a kazoo!” said Dan Walsh of his preferred instrument, the banjo.
Though often pigeonholed (and sometimes ridiculed, he notes) as exclusively an old-time and bluegrass instrument, the former electric guitarist was struck by the sweet twang of the banjo in his pre-teens.
“It’s just such an instantly identifiable and unique sound and has a character that I don’t think any other instrument has,” he said in an email to The NEWS.
But Walsh takes the banjo many places genre-wise it typically wouldn’t go, and will be bringing that eclectic sound to the Beaton residence in Qualicum Beach for a concert on Thursday, Sept. 13.
“I like to think I surprise people at my shows and… make them see the banjo in a bit of a different light,” he said.
Though nominated for the BBC Folk Awards Musician of the Years in 2016, Walsh said his sound comes from a variety of places, including Irish, Scottish, American bluegrass and funk, as well as his clawhammer style of banjo playing.
The technique is to pick downwards, as opposed to picking upwards with the fingers in traditional styles. “It’s very percussive, very rhythmic but also very melodic and picky,” said Walsh. “When I first (heard) clawhammer style, I was hooked — it sounds like four instruments at once!”
Walsh’s interest had first been piqued when hearing the banjo in Irish music. “I was a guitarist who fancied trying another fretted instrument… and thought let’s give that a go,” he said. “I never expected it to be the main thing but it quickly became that.”
Oddly enough, Walsh ended up with something other than the instrument he had heard and enjoyed in Irish jigs and reels, and instead got a five-string banjo that was available at the music store, and began learning from a five-string clawhammer player.
“Although it was four string I’d listened to in my early years, I didn’t realize this until I’d been playing five string for about a year-and-a-half.”
One of Walsh’s goals, musically, has become to “prove the banjo’s worth,” though he first picked it up without knowing its reputation.
“I simply saw no reason why the banjo couldn’t do just about anything,” he said. “I mean it’s not a kazoo! It’s got five strings and 22 frets and yet somehow it’s always typecast as only doing a specific thing (i.e. old time or bluegrass) and people struggle with the idea of a solo banjo show.”
Nonetheless, that’s what he delivers, adding his own vocals in with some of his songs.
Though the plan hadn’t been to sing to his work, he said a teacher and folk legend by the name of Sandra Kerr convinced him he’s a singer in his own right.
Having come to Vancouver Island last year for the first time, Walsh said he’s excited to be back, and said he hopes to provide an evening of honest stories and music.
The concert at the Beaton’s residents in Qualicum Beach begins with a potluck at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 13, and the show at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person, with all proceeds going to the musician.
For tickets and location, contact Joyce Beaton via beatonqualicum@gmail.com.