CanJoe*John's Page

Hello CBG Folks, I have been building stringed instruments for over 20 years, mostly cool one-stringed canjoes and have personally made well over 10K of them. I was introduced to the canjoe by the instrument's creator and dear friend, Hershel R. Brown, back when he first conceived of them. He and I remained close friends and collaborators of canjoe instrument construction until he passed away at the age of 87 last year. Herschel got me started and I officially established the CanJoe Company in 1994. I also am a professional musician playing old time fiddle, the McNally Strum Stick and, of course, the authentic one-stringed canjoe. I'm the first in the history of the Grand Ole Opry to have performed on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium with my canjoe instrument, making my Opry debut on November 4, 2006. I also build cookie tin banjos and now have been commissioned to build a cigar box guitar of which I'm currently working on. For the past three years I have been on the "Tour of Smiles", a tour of specialty children's hospitals where I give away 100's of my canjoe instruments to patients for use as music therapy. More info about my instruments and performances can be found at www.canjoe.com.