Episode 25 Lindale Banjos

October 1, 2025

Lindale Banjos (with David Getman)

A revival of beautiful Appalachian banjos

📍 Houston, Texas

His website: https://www.lindalebanjos.com/ 

Thoughts and Reflections

Releasing this video marks exactly One Year of releasing videos. Twice a month. 24 Episodes!

One of the big changes you'll notice in this episode is a new intro card. Sourcing all of these clips to make an intro was a full days of work. I've not looked at most of this footage either yet, because the videos have not been edited at all. But they will give you a sneak preview of some of the instrument makers in this upcoming seasons!

Anyways, visiting David Getman was such a great visit. He was incredible welcoming and engaging to talk to. Case in point: he also was the first instrument maker to encourage me to take part in the building process*, in a way that awas both rewarding and accessible for me to not royally mess up. 

*In Ep 4 about Cedar Mountain Mandolins, Gary invited me to bend wood, but I passed that opportunity to Josh, who was guest-host with me. 

Additionally, I was initally hesitant about going to visit, primarily because of my own lack of confidence about playing a 5-string banjo and my knowledge about 5-string banjos. If you've seen these videos, you'll know that I play a variety of instrumetns (to a variety of levels), and the 5-string banjo is one that I historically failed at picking up. My first and last earnest attempt was about 12 years ago after borrowing a school instrument. Additionally, banjo music is one that had always interested me but I had never really dove into it like I had meant to. 

All this to say, visiting David Getman made these anxieties erode a bit, as he made me feel incredibly welcomed. Thank you!

Ironically, my FOUR-string tenor banjo (which is tuned and played very differently) is one of my favorite instruments to play, and it is the only instrument that has travelled with me as I moved internationally (from the US to Kyrgyzstan and now to Japan). It also holds a lot of fond memories; at the height of Covid, my full-time job responsibility dropped to 1-2 hours per day. I spent the rest of my time pursuing creative projects (it's also when I first started making videos for fun), walking in the in the woods, and at sunset everyday, climbing out my window and sitting on my slanted roof, and playing Bach on my banjo. It was probably the height of my mental health as well.

Unrelated, but notably, immediately after visiting David Getman, I took my wife to Little Ceasars for their famous ready-to-go $6 pizza. It had been at least a decade for me, and her first time! It was also a delicious and nostaglic experience.