If there's any instrument in the quiver of American music that can simultaneously summon heartbreak, salvation and joy, it just might be the banjo. It's a simple mechanism of hoop, animal skin, neck ...

When Susanna’s true love sang, “I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee,” in Stephen Foster’s 1847 ballad, he was probably strumming a five-stringer made in Baltimore. Between 1845 and 1870, ...

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. There is no way to achieve that old-fashioned Appalachian ...