Dave Johnston from Yonder Mountain String Band asks:
Who was your first banjo teacher and what was the stuff you worked on the most?
My first banjo teacher was Maxie Roessler in Temple Texas. He played Telecaster and Pedal Steel and Banjo in a regionally popular dance band in the Central Texas area.
He was a really good guy. I was ten at the time. He mainly showed me songs. We learned about a dozen of them. He had a funky roll thing happening, that didn't sound like Earl and it took me a few years to get the forward roll business going on. But he helped me to understand that I could learn to play and that it was fun to do so.
One of the things I worked on a whole lot was just rolling along to records and acting like I was in the band.

Adam Aijala from YMSB asks:
I'm sure you have many different approaches when writing a new song
(whether it's an instrumental or lyrical), but do you have a more
common method or protocol that you use more often than others? No I'm
not trying to steal your ideas...or am I?

My main thing is I carry a little notebook with me and jot down ideas as they come to me and then edit them together later.
I found one of those little notebooks that has blank staff paper in it.
When reading novels, I circle words and phrases that sound musical to me. I pull them out later and use them.
Inspiration also comes from hearing people talk in cafes and on trains and airplanes and stuff. Sometimes people say interesting things when they don't know they are being observed.
Sometimes words will appear to me and I will build a song around that.
I think, after writing hundreds of songs, one learns to finish an idea, and even if it's kinda weak, you can still massage it into something.
Terry Allen told Robert Earl Keen and REK told me, the idea will come, but you have to be sitting there and waiting for it.

Lanelle Hopson asks:
When you start writing music, what comes first... lyrics or melody? Does
it just come to you @ odd times, or do you set aside specific time to
write and it all comes together?

Both. Usually I ignore the voices and music in my head unless there is a record I'm working on. When there's an upcoming project I try to write everything down that pops up in my brain, to edit together later.
I also set aside times to write as well. When not writing I'm usually afraid that I won't be able to come up with anything. It's probably time for me to start writing everything down.

Jon Vaughn asks:
Hello danny, been a big fan for a number of years...was wondering how was "horses in the mines" recorded, any interesting techniques or stories? it's got such a "live" one take feel to it and i've always loved that approach and that record!

That record is constructed that way, but it took a lot of time and work. Although it sounds loose, it was actually built from the ground up to sound like that.

It was my first national level production, as an engineer, writer and producer, so it took a while for me to get things right. You know what they say about the first pancake. One thing interesting, it's an analog recording. Also, I used the old "distance equals depth" technique for reverb so the room sound is used as a reverb, rather than having that come from an effect. Tape sounds so good at 15ips.

Zack asks:
When are you coming back to Georgia?
What is your favorite guitar tuning (standard, open, etc.)?

Well, if you ask that question, my hope is that you will attend the show when I do get back to Georgia. There should be a Southeast tour before the end of 2006. Watch my site.

I don't really have a fave, the tunings are like tools to me, a certain wrench has no more value than me to another, they just have to be used on the right bolt.
Tunings I have used on my records are Standard, open G, open D, drop D, and the whole thing tuned down in various half and whole steps, and of course, liberal use of the capo.

La Mere B asks:
Who or what is Lunchmeat? and will I be sorry I asked? Also, I sometimes wonder what you were saying when those photos were snapped (the ones where your mouth's open!) HA!

Lunchmeat is an old Texas school chum of mine. We go way back.
His dad had the first decent banjo I ever got to play, and was also the first person in my life that owned lots of banjo records.

Most of the time, I would guess I am grimacing over a missed note, or just trying to play and sing in tune and in time or laughing in general.
Mick Sullivan asks:
Obviously you feel being musically diverse is important as a picker/sideman, band leader, songwriter with out boundaries and all around amazing dude ( or so it seems........... hmmm)
What was the impetus for this diversity? How come you're not just a songwriter, or some dude who picks hard and fast. What situations, and people contributed to your great versatility?

I don't really have a very good answer. I'm not trying to be a certain way, just paying attention to my own Muse. Different things inspire me. Books, paintings, poems, certain people, events, dreams, ideas.

I'm a music fan and I try to make music that I would like to listen to, if that makes any sense.

Riding around in vans for years and listening to lots of different musics, and having great music teachers, and friends that turn you onto various things can influence you. The frustration of not being able to do what your hero does can cause you to create your own lexicon or vocabulary of music. It still hurts to not be able to play the way you originally intended, and the people that are not impressed remain unimpressed, but you can end up with your own little bag. Some people just won't dig your trip no matter what you do.

I have a sneaking suspicion that in learning a "style" of music, eventually, you get to where you can just play music in general.

2) As an admirer and songwriter/picker on his pathway to somewhere I would like to know what you would point to as a flaw artistically or other wise in yourself?

I can't write songs like the real "songwriter" guys that I know and admire. I need to work on my reading and my timing. And my tone. My handwritten music is a little hard to read. Certain types of chord changes baffle me. I don't think I can sing. I tend to use too much compression on my recordings. As I get older, I think some of my high end is going in my hearing which might be causing my mixes to get brighter. It's hard for me to keep coming up with good songs. There's loads more, but that's enough for now.

3) why don't you ever come to Louisville?
I don't know where to play where an audience could find me. Where would I play?
It's not a conscious decision or anything, just that there are no offers for me to come there at this time.

4) how cool was Hartford?

The coolest. Though nobody is perfect.

Morst asks:
What's your favorite chicken song?
The Chicken Reel is tough to beat.

Steve Schwelling:
Does it help to scrunch up one's face when playing difficult passages on the banjo? I notice a lot of good players do this.
My best guess is that this is related to some advanced breathing technique that helps the player relax and concentrate.

It doesn't help me at all. Scrunch or no scrunch.
My scrunching comes from missing things probably!
I wish scrunching would help me, then i wouldn't have to practice and take lessons!

Simon Boeger:
How did you think up the song ghost train?
That came from my friend Richie Turner. He had the first Verse and Chorus, and then I wrote the second verse and put the music to it.
He is a talented lyricist. He was the singer for a very cool band called Agony Column.

Joe Jackson:
Who are some artists that you haven't yet worked with, but would like to? (I was listening to some Ani DiFranco and thought the two of you would make an interesting combination - any thoughts on that?)

She sounds like a whole band by herself so my guess is she doesn't really need me.
There are many artists I want to play with, but can't really mention anything here for fear of jinxing it.
The folks I work with now, it never entered my mind that I would be lucky enough to play with them. There's so many I would love to play alongside of.
It reads like the cast to a Dickens novel.

Mike McKeon:
Most banjo players I know spend an awful lot of time trying to sound like Earl and as such they all sound pretty much the same. But when I hear you play it is clear that you've developed a style that is unique to you(and great). What influenced your style and what can I do to sound more like you?

I appreciate your comments, but you don't want to sound like me.
Best to imitate one of the legendary musicians until you can get around on the banjo.

In my world-view, traditional music is a good thing to study to learn to play and to develop a foundation, but then .....jump off of it.
What it "means" is more important to me than going through the motions of doing it, but that's just me.

In other words, I think a traditional music repertoire is pointing you to something else. It's like the finger that points at the moon, it's not the moon.
A literal rendering of it doesn't really interest me, in my own work.
What has influenced me is the modern world. All the information that's out there. I don't buy into this idea that all the good music has already been done, or that music isn't as good as it used to be. I use banjos and acoustic guitars and stuff like that as a medium, as a painter would choose pastels or pencil or whatever, but I consider myself a modern artist, with modern poetry and harmony in the songs.

Something that really influenced me was when John Hartford told me if you really wanted to be like Bill Monroe, you would need to go and start your own style of music.

Mick Sullivan asks:

What's one of your favorite records/CD's from your collection that might surprise some of your fans?

I like the White Stripes.

And Queens of the Stone Age.

Mike Terry asks:

Is your banjo in standard tuning on the song " Saludamas a Tejas " from "Hogs on the Hiway" ? Do you have a tab available for it? I can't get it on my own & i love that song.

Yes, standard G.

It's just a big long G major scale in the first section.
I don't have any tab or music for it. I learned it from the original recording.
Try learning to sing the melody without an instrument, then work it out on the fingerboard. There's some pretty cool software out there that makes it easy to slow things down also.

LeeAnn Winkler asks:

It seems like a lot of your songs have a sense of life's struggles and some even hopelessness, but in person you also seem to have such a genuine excitement about life and radiate some sort of childlike joy. Maybe this question is too personal, but how have you found such a balance?

When I'm playing my weird music on the banjo, I feel like what you described, so it's a natural vibe there.
The hard part is when you stop and deal with the rest of life!

Loving one's job is a lot of help.
Trying to figure out what you can bring to the party instead of worrying about what you're going to get out of the deal helps too.
At one point I learned how to do the best I can and live with the result. That takes a lot of the heat off. (I'm actually still working on this.)

Research. There's answers to those existential questions, it just takes a lot of research. But then you get pretty excited about finding answers.
The subject matter of my songs is kind of dark as you mentioned, I just find that more interesting. In some ways, Rimbaud and Baudelaire are more interesting to me than James Whitcomb Riley.
Richard Hell, not John Tesh.
I like a little tension in my Art. And then when it's all going good it makes me laugh.

I can see your point. You never see me unless I'm working and I really dig this job of writing strange music and traveling around and playing shows and working on records and studying.
So if you see me, I'm happy. Even though some of my songs are about getting hit by a large rock called Fate.

Scott C. Hilliard asks:
Can't wait to see you when you come back down here to Tejas. My question is do you have any problems with fans audio and/or video taping your live events to trade with other fans? I know with the Bad Livers it was always cool. Just want to make sure before I lug all my gear out!!! Will you play Waterways Journal if requested?

Tape away, have fun. And yes.

Jeff Brocklebank from Vancouver BC asks:
Will you ever make it out to our neck of the woods? There's quite a few cool little places to play. And I know I for one would be in attendance!

I've played at the Vancouver Jazz Festival with Bill Frisell and Eyvind Kang. Certainly it would be nice to come back. I don't know of any offers at the moment in that regard. You should bug somebody in power about getting me up there to play.

Sean McVey asks:

To which, if any, magazines do you subscribe?

Guns and Ammo, Waterways Journal, American Rifleman, Banjo Newsletter, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association magazine, and Art in America.

Jay Robinson asks:
Would you be interested in visiting my family in the piney woods of Georgia?

Well, I'm old school and we'd have to be introduced first.
Sounds like fun. That's nice country down there. Though if I'm not working I like to tend to my own rat killing as it were. I'm not really very sociable.

Kelli asks:
Barnes, I'm a big fan of your music. I particularly like Oft Mended Raiment. I notice you tend to be a diy kinda guy. I'm new to all this recording stuff myself. I want to be more confident in my sub-optimal set-up. So far I'm surviving on the kindness of strangers and help files. Have you run across any books you can recommend about home recording? There's a ton out there. Got any suggestions?

I don't know of any books in particular, the main thing is to get going.
Get started. In the process of making recordings, you can figure out things. Forge ahead continually. Improving one's music outside of recording is a good idea also.
As far as confidence in your gear, there's tons of great records made on four track cassette machines. Even faulty ones. If you have good songs or good ideas, it will shine through whatever gear you have.

Mike Booth asks:

My son reminded me that I'd asked (at Grey Fox) for the names of some of the composers you were listening to now--and you suggested a send you an eMail.
My son and I I'm the guy who'd seen Monk & Coltrane at the 5-Spot)are familiar with some of the ones you mentioned, but not all.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, Anton Webern, John Cage and Charles Ives. There's tons more.

Alan asks:
Would you recommend any learning tools for the banjo? You have the coolest, cleanest licks ( even at high speed). Would appreciate it.
John Hartford had this thing about playing something really slow, with a metronome, and then really fast and alternating back and forth.
I know working it out slow is best and let the speed come from familiarity rather than attempting to go fast. I don't think there are short cuts, practice is the only thing that comes to mind.