Carroll Best

"Carroll Best is among the most interesting of American banjoists. He performs in an elegant, flowing style that has been in his family for at least three generations. Through Carroll this melodic approach to the instrument has spread to accomplished musicians all over the country." Joe Wilson , Director National Council for the Traditional Arts.

The area around Haywood, Buncombe and Madison counties in Western North Carolina has always been rich with fiddlers. Carroll was a banjo player who was not satisfied playing backup for the local fiddlers. He wanted to play exactly what the fiddler was playing.

Carroll began playing banjo when he was around 10 years old, later worked awhile as a professional musician and went on to earn the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1994. A faculty member of the Tennessee Banjo Institute, as well as a featured performer on the "Masters of the Banjo" tour in the fall of 1994 and early 1995, Carroll had a unique three finger picking style not to be confused with the Bluegrass style most familiar nowadays. His playing is soft and smooth, very melodic, much like a fiddler playing hornpipes.

Carroll died at home May 8,1995.

Media by Carroll Best:

Say Old Man Can You Play The Banjo?