Author Archives: Bishline Banjos

Arch Top Gold Orpheum

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We built this custom Gold Orpheum model from our limited series for Morris in PA. It has a laminated, walnut neck with a burl walnut resonator.It has an arch top tone ring and a clear head. The neck and back of the headstock feature original carving by Bruce Kunkel and the hardware was engraved by Steve Caddick. The Flange is a Bishline “Ultra-Light” flange and all hardware is gold plated. Thanks for letting us build this beauty Morris!

IBMA 2016

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We had a great time at this years IBMA in Raleigh. We met a lot of nice people and great pickers. Thanks Y’all!

Jammin’ on Bishline Banjos with Gabe Hirshfeld and Wes Corbett.

Ned Luberecki checking out the Bishline 10th Anniversary Banjo.

Trey is 17 and gets after it!

It’s our 10th Anniversary!

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Late one night, almost 10 and half years ago, I had a meeting with my friends Frank and Andy at Franks heating and air store.

The purpose of the meeting was to find out if I was interested in starting my own banjo company. At the time I was teaching banjo and doing repair work for guitar house of Tulsa and had been building banjos and guitars for my students out of my garage for 20 years.

Over the next six months I built five banjo models and in September of 2006 we launched our web site and went to our first NAMM show in Nashville. While we were there, Stan Werbin of Elderly instruments took a chance on us and made an order. It was official.  Bishline Banjos was off an running!
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Since then I’ve been lucky enough to build hundreds of banjos for people all over the world. I must tell you that the level of satisfaction that I get from building a banjo that brings someone years of happiness is the best part of my job!

Now that we’ve reached the ten year mark, there are a lot of people that I want to thank for making it possible First of all Andy and Frank for helping me get started and for their continued work.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with a couple of awesome luthiers whose time and talents have helped make this company what it is.
David Haddock and Ben Liggett. Not only are they great luthiers but great friends.
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Another guy that took a chance on us in the early days was Danny Barnes. Over the years Danny has played our banjos on hundreds if not thousands of live shows and recordings and helped introduce our banjos to the world. He has also become a great friend and a talent I greatly admire.
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Finally I want to thank our dealers and customers who have also enabled me to to do what I love for a living for the past ten years.
Lord willing we’ll keep building the best quality, easiest playing banjos we can for at least another 10 years!

Happy Pickin’

Rob

Danny Barnes Wins Steve Martin Award!

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Danny_Barnes___Dave_MatthewsI am so proud of my friend, Danny Barnes for winning of this most prestigious of banjo awards. Danny has played our banjos for over 7 years now and even has his own Bishline Danny Barnes model. We’ve always thought Danny was a banjo genius and now the whole world knows!
Congratulations Danny, you deserve it!
Rob
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Danny Barnes Wins Sixth Annual Steve Martin Prize For Excellence In Banjo And Bluegrass
Set to Release Got Myself Together November 2015 Through Eight 30 Records

“As if dedicating your life to an instrument like the banjo wasn’t sufficiently avant-garde, the winner of this year’s Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass is a musician recognized for his experimental approach to that seemingly quaint stringed instrument.” –New York Times, Dave Itzkoff

“Saying that Danny Barnes plays the banjo is like saying Lionel Messi kicks a soccer ball. Barnes doesn’t just play the banjo—he plucks it, thrums it, claws it, bashes it, runs it through processors, plays it backward, drenches it in reverb, and layers it over computerized drums, distorted guitars, and weird chicken sounds. His prowess with the instrument makes him a deserving winner…” –Texas Monthly, Michael Hall

ASHEVILLE, NC — Banjo player extraordinaire Danny Barnes is the 2015 recipient of the 6th annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. Described as “one of a kind” and widely acknowledged as “one of the best banjo players in America,” Barnes is recognized for his experimental sound. The raw and unpolished musical breadth of his compositions has propelled him across the industry today. Barnes will be releasing a new solo record, a ten year anniversary re-recording of an earlier album called Get Myself Together [2005]. The new release,Got Myself Together, comes out in November on Eight 30 Records. He will be on the road solo this fall and winter; stay tuned for dates to be announced.
A Texas native now living northwest of Seattle, Barnes is one of bluegrass music’s most distinctive and innovative performers. He is known for blending together different sounds which defy labeling while redefining the banjo’s perceived image in a wide-ranging and four-decade long career. From his early days as the driving force behind the impressive Austin-based Bad Livers, a band of pioneering Americana missionaries, through a prolific solo career and the development of his trademark approach he calls “Barnyard Electronics” (which is also the name of his 2007 album) that incorporates digital technology and various effect pedals to stretch the tonal range of the instrument, Barnes has always listened to his proudly offbeat inner voice. His live shows involve a computer program he built in max/msp and a banjo.
Recently, he was recording in his home lab when a package arrived from Steve Martin with a letter notifying him that he was the recipient of 2015 recipient of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

“The day that package came from Steve, I had gotten up at like 4am when it’s real quiet and I can get recording done. When FedEx came, I was kind of preoccupied. I saw that it was from Steve and thought, ‘Oh cool… he’s sent me one of his records.’” says Barnes in aninterview with John Lawless in Bluegrass Today. “But then I thought… ‘Hey, I never gave him my address.’ I had met Steve earlier this year at a show with the Steep Canyon Rangers, and we got to talk a little bit, but I didn’t remember giving him my address. When I opened it up and saw what it was, I was completely stunned. I was speechless. I’ve never won anything, and it amazes me that anyone knows what I am doing.”
Previous winners have included Noam Pikelny (2010), Sammy Shelor (2011), Mark Johnson (2012), Jens Kruger (2013), and Eddie Adcock (2014).
When asked by Bluegrass Today what he would be doing with the honorarium from his Steve Martin Prize, Danny says, “I’m going to invest it back into the art, back into the banjo community. I have a new record coming out in November, and then I’m thinking of doing a straight up banjo record. I’ve never done that, and I’ve started talking to some of the guys I’d like to have play on there with me. I also have an idea for a contemporary piece for banjo, and I hope to finally get to work on that.”
Got Myself Together hits the streets this fall with another in the works this winter for a straight up banjo record, and he’s also working on a suite of contemporary music for banjo and tuba. Barnes has released over ten albums and has been featured on over 50 others. His most recent album, Junior Sampled [June 2014], is available to stream athttp://dannybarnes.bandcamp.com/album/junior-sampled.

His skills as an instrumentalist and his open embrace and infectious love of music for music’s sake, have brought him to share the stage and record with a wide array of marquee artists that reads like a who’s who among broad musical landscapes, ranging from bluegrass greats Bela Fleck, Del McCoury, and Sam Bush, newgrass stars Yonder Mountain String band, to Americana artists Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, and Nickel Creek, to Jam friendly Gov’t Mule, Leftover Salmon, and Keller Williams, to jazz and blues instrumentalists Bill Frisell, Chuck Leavell, and John Popper, to members of the punk and metal Butthole Surfers, Dead Kennedys, and Ministry. He’s collaborated and shared stages with the likes of Bill Frisell, Yonder Mountain String Band, Robert Earl Keen and Dave Matthews, as well as wailed on a flying V guitar with members of the Butthole Surfers.

Here Comes the Sun

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In this lesson Rob teaches his arrangement of the George Harrison classic “Here Comes The Sun”. The tab was edited by Wes Brown and Rob Bishline with harmony guitar, keyboard & percussion added by BanjoTom2.


Download the tab for this lesson by clicking your preferred format
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