Peghead Nation Clawhammer Banjo instructor Evie Ladin had no idea that she was getting an instrument for life when she bought an open-back banjo with no visible name on it from her brother-in-law, musician Sam Bartlett, in the early ’90s for $150. “When I got this banjo from Sam, I thought, ‘When I get better, I’ll get a better banjo. But the better I got, the better it sounded,’ she says.

Evie referred to the banjo as a “no-name” instrument until a repair revealed a stamp inside that said “MC De Fosche.” “An internet search didn’t yield anything, so I put something on my website,” Evie recalls. “Mike De Fosche’s sister got in touch with me, and she said, ‘I think that might be my brother.’ Asking around, I found that Mike De Fosche is a luthier and guitar player, and that he played with Clyde Davenport, but that he doesn’t use the Internet.” Evie wrote Mike a letter, and he remembered the banjo, explaining that he only built the neck, which he attached to a pot that he’d gotten from someone, though he didn’t know who the maker was.

“My sound and playing and this banjo are intertwined,” Evie says. “Every now and then, I try other banjos, and I like the sound of other banjos, but somehow, we keep gravitating toward each other.”

To study banjo with Evie Ladin, enroll in her Clawhammer Banjo course now!

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