Five-string banjo, “Derroll Adams” model

An instrument associated with a key figure of the folk revival

This five-string banjo was donated to the MIM in 2019. The production of this instrument was supervised by Derroll Adams, to whom an exhibition presented in November 2025 in the Saintenoy Building was dedicated.

Derroll Adams (fig. 1), an American singer and banjo player, was born in 1925 in Portland, Oregon. He arrived in England in 1957, then travelled through France and Italy with Jack Elliott (°1931), whom he had come to join in London, before settling permanently in Belgium¹, where he died in February 2000. From Brussels, and later from Antwerp – his strategic hub – the artist radiated across Europe. Armed with a solid musical heritage, enhanced by exceptional talent and charisma, he left a lasting mark on the folk revival of the 1960s and 1970s, both in England and on the European continent.

The year 2025 marks the centenary of the birth of this legendary figure, born one year after Earl Scruggs (1924–2012) and six years after Pete Seeger (1919–2014), his illustrious contemporary banjoists², who revived, after the Second World War, an instrument that was on the verge of disappearing.

The five-string banjo: form, use and tradition

The banjo is characterised by its head – a membrane of animal or synthetic origin – and by its round body, while four-, five- and six-string versions are still too often confused by the general public (fig. 2). Despite their similarities, these instruments belong to distinct musical worlds. With its short fifth string, attached laterally directly to the neck, the configuration of the five-string banjo points clearly to its African origins³.

Although the sound of banjos played with a plectrum (such as tenor and plectrum banjos in the early days of jazz) made a profound impression during the interwar period, it is this original five-string version that historically represents the instrument’s most enduring form. Today it is associated with the rich repertoire of traditional American music (old-time music and bluegrass). In the nineteenth century, the banjo occupied a central place on the minstrel show stage, later evolving towards fingerstyle, a playing technique now referred to as classic style⁴.

Derroll Adams and the spread of the banjo in Europe

Although minstrel stroke style and classic style also enjoyed considerable success in England as early as the nineteenth century⁵, it was not until the great folk revival of the 1960s and 1970s that the five-string banjo reappeared in a significant way on the European continent. When Derroll Adams arrived in Belgium, the instrument was still largely absent.

In addition to an unfavourable exchange rate, high import costs made importing banjos from the United States difficult. Those who could not travel to London in search of a vintage banjo had to make do with a Framus or a Marma – brands from Germany and Eastern Europe, then the only manufacturers offering banjos on our market.

By that time, Derroll Adams had become a key figure and had built a solid reputation within folk music circles, mainly in Europe. It was in this context that he was approached in 1972 by Fred Wilfer, director of the Framus company – made famous, among other things, by the Zenith 17 acoustic guitar played by Paul McCartney – with a view to distributing in Europe an instrument that was both affordable⁶ and of good quality. The model remained on sale until the company closed, under pressure from Japanese competition, in the late 1970s (figs. 3 and 4).

This five-string banjo, with a three-star motif on its peghead (fig. 5), represents the first version of the model. Derroll Adams later introduced various modifications to its design⁷.

Text: Gérard De Smaele

Footnotes

1. https://www.derrolladams.org/index.html [official website managed by Jean Leroy until February 2025]

2. G De Smaele. Derroll Adams, an ambassador for the United States in Europe.’ Cinq Planètes / Le Canard Folk, June and September 2025 - still to be translated
See also: https://www.desmaele5str.be/pdf/archives/remembering_derroll_adams.pdf

3. G. De Smaele. Voici le banjo !, La Médiathèque Nouvelle / Cinq Planètes / Le Canard Folk, 2019, 2025, 2025 - give preference to the latest version of the Portfolio, with a full transcription of the text shown on the first image: https://archive.org/details/bat-portfolio-web-ep-1/page/n7/mode/2up, see p.5.

4. G. De Smaele. The Wayne Adams’ Old ‘Classic’ Banjo: 1897-1952. Frémeaux & Associés, 2022

5. G. De Smaele. Banjo à cinq cordes Projet d’inventaire du don de Mme Saro Hewitt au MiM en juillet 2023. March 2024

Web links

• Descriptions of the banjos in the MIM collection
• A collection of old catalogues held at the MIM
• The American Banjo Museum
• The collection of James Bollman