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Gordon Lawrie

The Williams Family And The Twin-Knecked Fourteen-Stringed Banjo

24/8/2014

 
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Kentucky's Williams family had a unique claim to fame: only they could play the extraordinary twin-necked fourteen-string banjo. Essentially, it was two five-stringers, with two extra drone strings in cavities in each neck's back – one neck tuned in fourths F-B-E-A-D-G-C, the other in fifths, G-D-A-E-B-F-C. 

Famous tunes included "Kentucky 14-String Hoe-Down" and "Kentucky Williams Blues", playable only by family members with unusually long fingers. Some experts think they had Marfans Syndrome, but it might have been in-breeding: they always married cousins. 

In the 1960s the Williams family started to marry out; nowadays this extraordinary music is limited to old recordings.


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    Flash Fiction

    Flash fiction is very, very short fiction indeed - short stories of any sort of length from a Haiku to ten minutes' reading. Good for when you're in a hurry. This series is a selection of contributions to Friday Flash Fiction, where there's a limit of 100 words. I try to make all mine exactly 100 words.

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