Dannie Blankenship, banjo and vocals
Dannie's photos
My Father bought my first banjo on Halloween night in 1969. I didn't go trick or treating that night, I stayed home and played with my new banjo. My Dad showed me the notes to Cripple Creek and I just took off from there. I have been around bluegrass music all my life, and I have always loved it. Nothing gets to me like tight harmonies and good pickin', Earl Scruggs, Sonny Osborne and J.D. Crowe are the three banjo pickers who have influenced me the most. My oldest son, Daniel has recently started playing guitar and he is doing very well at it, I hope he keeps it up.
The first band I played with was The Tennessee Valley Boys, which also included Ernie Pfiefer, Edsel Hall, Wayne Campbell, and my brother Teddie. I really looked forward to playing at Ilenes Restaurant in Ecorse, Michigan with them and a lot of other very good musicians every Friday and Saturday night. After 4 or 5 years with them I started playing with Wendy Smith, Gary Adams, Tom Paris and The Blue Velvet. I really learned a lot while playing with them. We played in a lot of places. Among my favorite memories was having the honor of playing at the Grand Ole Opry, and we had a lot of fun doing it.
I next played with Metro Grass with Kevin Thompson, Dwayne Estep, and Teddie Blankenship, another great bunch to pick with. I have also played with New Memphis Express. This band consisted of Jim Lapratt, Mike Kegley, and, Bo Kazy. I guess I have played with just about every musician in the Detroit metro area at one time or another. There are a lot of good pickers and singers around here, way too many to mention by name.
I have worked with Mike, Jeff, and John all separately at one time or another, but this is the first time we have all worked together as a band and I really, really like it. These guys can really pick and sing. They put their heart and soul into every song, and it shows.
