If you travel down the winding road that follows the New River to the small community of Todd, North Carolina, surrounded by animals grazing in green pastures and rolling hills, you will come across the workshop of a man keeping the traditional music of southern Appalachia alive.

John Peterson opens the thick, green wooden door to his workshop as a group of sheep look on from a pasture in the distance. Sawdust covers the floor, and a florescent orange vice draws your eye to the center of the room. A cardboard box on the floor is filled to the top with scrap wood in abstract shapes and colors. On the table are two wooden necks for future banjos, a saw rasp composed of hacksaw blades contortioned in the shape of the rasp itself and a dragon rasp that contains little “teeth.” 

The fretless banjo is called the mountain banjo. Some also know the instrument as the Proffitt banjo, after traditional musician Frank Proffitt Sr. who popularized the instrument. The instrument also gained popularity through mountain instrument makers such as Stanley Hicks, Leonard Glenn and Clifford Glenn. Peterson names Hicks and the Glenns as influences for his instrument making. 

The fretless banjo is composed of a plain, wooden neck without frets fastened to a circular base and a center cavity covered with animal skin.

“I use calf skin,” Peterson says. Peterson buys the calf skins in bulks of 50 from a man in New Jersey. “The disadvantage of a natural skin head is that it’s affected by humidity changes and when it gets humid out it can loosen up,” says Peterson, explaining that he has found calf skin has proved to be more resistant. 

The skin is tightly stretched over a form made with a commercial No. 10 metal can that fits the center diameter for the banjo perfectly. 

“For years and years, I just used unbleached calf skin,” Peterson says. 

In addition to the unbleached skins, Peterson uses pure bleached white skins, skins stained with coffee and Peterson’s newest experiment in the process, tie-dye. 

Peterson purchases most of the wood locally from Willie Trivett. Among the woods are walnut, cherry, wormy chestnut and maple. Peterson orders the more exotic woods that customers might request.

Carl Tyrie, who has two of Peterson’s banjos, explained that one of his banjos is made with Civil War-era hardwood that came from Willie Trivett’s place.

“He’s keeping the music alive,” Tyrie says of Peterson. 

A chance encounter in a coffee shop would alter Peterson’s life. Peterson was playing a fretless banjo, which was built for him by a friend years before, at a local coffee shop in North Dakota. A man approached Peterson after his show, intrigued by the instrument. The man inquired if Peterson could build the man a banjo like the one Peterson was playing. 

“I said sure, I’ll do it,” said Peterson says, adding that he had never built one before in his life. 

Peterson says the first fretless banjo he made was really rough, using plywood for the instrument. 

After leaving his position as the tour and technology director at a museum in North Dakota, Peterson decided to “try and do this banjo thing.” Peterson created a website with the picture of the banjo on it.

“Slightly out of focus so you couldn’t see the details,” admits Peterson. Two weeks later, a man from Seattle called Peterson, requesting a banjo. 

To keep customers updated on the creation of their instrument, Peterson takes photographs of the instrument construction and sends emails. When Peterson finishes the instrument, he shoots a little video of himself playing the instrument and posts the video to YouTube. Once the instrument is shipped, Peterson asks the buyer to send a video of them playing the instrument. The man from Seattle sent his video performance by email a month later. 

“This guy was just a phenomenal player and within a week I had six orders,” Peterson says. 

Peterson has been making mountain banjos ever since. Peterson is now on his banjo No. 620. “So, I think it’s been about 9 or 10 years I’ve been building now,” Peterson explains. Peterson also added that No. 700 has already been spoken for. 

Today, Peterson’s YouTube profile boasts over 500 videos. Most are of the finished banjos Peterson has created. The descriptions sometimes detail where the banjos are being shipped. From the United Kingdom to Texas and places in between, people of all ages are enjoying Peterson’s banjos. In a video posted by YouTube user charliessuperchannel, a 5-year-old named Charlie sits on a sofa and sings the traditional song, “John Hardy,” on a Peterson banjo. 

Peterson is as much a champion for Appalachian music and culture, as he is a luthier. Having a degree in Appalachian studies from Appalachian State University, his work is about much more than just building instruments.

Willow Dillon, 17, built a banjo in Peterson’s shop.

“Mr. Peterson basically let me do the entire thing myself, which was a great experience,” Dillon says. 

Dillon explained that Peterson’s banjos are very similar to old gourd banjos, which is reflected in the distinct old-time sound.

“Mr. Peterson’s Banjos really envelop the old style of banjos and the way they were made,” Dillon says. 

Mark Freed, an adjunct instructor who teaches Appalachian music at Appalachian State University, acknowledges Peterson’s enthusiasm for these traditional instruments. Freed says that Peterson’s modest pricing of these handmade instruments “has made it accessible to have an instrument that has a deeper historical significance.” 

You can catch Peterson playing his instruments at several locations in Watauga County, from the Mast General Store Annex in Valle Crucis to Sunrise Grill in Boone. 

Peterson shows no signs of slowing down with his craft. While he hopes to expand his business to include dulcimers and possibly ukuleles, the banjos are still his central focus.

“If I keep getting orders you know, I’ll keep doing,” Peterson says. “When I get to 1,000, I’ll see how I’ll feel” says Peterson with a laugh. 

SOURCE LIST

1.     John Peterson- Interviewed March 27, 2018 at his workshop. 

2.     http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_605678

3.     https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152683/

4.     https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/proffitt-frank-noah

5.     http://www.blueridgemusicnc.com/about/appalachian-music

6.     Carl Tyrie- Interviewed on April 7, 2018 at Kudzu Music

7.     Mark Freed- Interviewed by Phone on April 6, 2018

8.     Willow Dillon- Built an original Mountain Banjo with Peterson

9.     Long, Lucy Margaret. Stanley Hicks, Appalachian Dulcimer Player: Individual Creativity and Community Tradition. 1985. University of Maryland Requirement for a Master of Arts in 1985. Lucy Margaret Long's Thesis

10.  Kenkel, Kenneth Russell. Frank Proffitt, Jr., And Bobby McMillon: Traditional Artists In the Public Eye. 1986. This was a requirement for a Degree of Master of Arts in the Curriculum of Folklore for UNC Chapel Hill. This was Kenneth Russell Kenkel's Thesis.

11.  Foxfire 3: Animal Care, Banjos and Dulcimers, Hide Tanning, Summer and Fall Wild Plant Foods, Butter Churns, Ginseng, and Still Mor. Anchor/Doubleday, 1975. My focus was on the Banjos and Dulcimer section. Starts on Pg. 122.

12.  Charlie’s Video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8iLLZbrA7o