Daddy Banjo Genesis

Photo source: Freeman Mendell

"Daddy Banjo. Made using a snare drum from the drum set of one of our mutual cousins, Billy Branson. He was 19 or so I think. The first time I saw the Banjo, he played it. I asked him where that came from. He said it was the snare drum from Billy's drum set. His mother and my mother and her sister Eva had always been close since childhood. Eva was always helping out someone. I am sure she gave Billy's entire drumset to Frank. Those women talked on the phone almost every day. Billy was 9 years older than Frank. Billy went to the Marines early. So the drumset was gathering dust."

[Freeman Mendell, Facebook, Friends of Frank Davis.]