Press

December 2021 > Meet Banjoist Hank Smith -- It all started in 1994, when Hank Smith received a pawn shop banjo for Christmas. He didn’t play at the time—but he couldn’t put it down, either. “It was something of an anomaly. I don’t have a musical family,” says Smith, who grew up in...  Read More

December 04, 2019 > Banjo Masters Oral History Project: Hank Smith -- A few years ago just before the Carolina in the Fall festival (the third week in September), I stumbled upon some recordings by Hank Smith. I don’t remember how I found them, but I do remember sitting here listening to his tune Django’s Dream...  Read More

July 2017 > Raleigh, NC-based banjo player Hank Smith has accepted the banjo lecturer position with the Music Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He will be offering private lessons at the school beginning in the Fall 2017...  Read More

July 08, 2015 > Hank Smith, building a bluegrass community by banjo and committee -- The banjo rules everything around Hank Smithwell, almost. He's played it in multiple traditional outfits for almost a decade, added the banjo to area pop-rock acts, built the world's only tribute to Béla Fleck and taught frequent five-string...  Read More