Let's have the banjo.

We call ourselves the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys.

Abigail Washburn Building US China relations ... by banjo

And then I wrote a post about a banjo.

You could take that money and buy your banjo.

And play a little banjo. Let's do a little medley.

I wrote a post about wanting to buy a banjo a 300 banjo, which is a lot of money, and I don't play instruments I don't know anything about music.

And he played his bluegrass style of music, but near the end of the concert, he played the old timing style of banjo picking that came from Africa, along with the banjo.

This is my brother, Jonny. He's 10, and he plays the banjo.

I knew I had to take a banjo with me to China.

TED Fellow Abigail Washburn wanted to be a lawyer improving US China relations until she picked up a banjo. She tells a moving story of the remarkable connections she's formed touring across the United States and China while playing that banjo and singing in Chinese.

I had a plan, and I never ever thought it would have anything to do with the banjo.

So I picked up my banjo and I nervously played four songs that I actually knew with them.

And I said to my husband, I said, Ben, can I buy a banjo? And he's like, No.

And you know, I came back to school, I finished my degrees and told my parents I wanted to be a banjo player.

And my husband this is my husband, who is very hot he won an award for being hot he told me, You cannot buy a banjo.

And I wrote a post about how I was so mad at him he was such a tyrant because he would not let me buy this banjo.

Brothers Jonny, Robbie and Tommy Mizzone are The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, a trio of virtuoso bluegrass musicians who play with dazzling vivacity. Did we mention they're all under 16?

For almost three decades, John Francis has been a planetwalker, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility . A funny, thoughtful talk with occasional banjo.

Now during that time those 17 years I walked and I played the banjo and I painted and I wrote in my journal, and I tried to study the environment by reading books.

I put my banjo on and I walked all the way to the East Coast, put my foot in the Atlantic Ocean it was seven years and one day it took me to walk across the United States.

Folk musician and storyteller David Holt plays the banjo and shares photographs and old wisdom from the Appalachian Mountains. He also demonstrates some unusual instruments like the mouth bow and a surprising electric drum kit he calls thunderwear.

Shady Grove, my little love Shady Grove, my darlin' Shady Grove, my little love Going back to Harlan That sound was just so beautiful, the sound of Doc's voice and the rippling groove of the banjo.

So before going to law school in China I bought a banjo, I threw it in my little red truck and I traveled down through Appalachia and I learned a bunch of old American songs, and I ended up in Kentucky at the International Bluegrass Music Association Convention.