Bishline Banjos

Filling the Gap Between the Traditional and the Progressive Photos by Mark Torrence Although Tulsa, Oklahoma native Rob Bishline did not grow up listening to bluegrass music, the acoustic music of early 1970s performers like Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot did grab his ear.  It wasn’t until about 1974, when he was 13 years old and heard “Dueling Banjos,” that he began his quest to discover that sound.  His grandfather had a banjo uke, but that was not exactly the sound that he was hearing when he watched the Beverly Hillbillies or the Andy Griffith Show.  He said that in that era it was a sound that he was even hearing on some TV commercials.  He was very interested in finding out how he could produce it. Rob knew that the sound he sought was coming from a banjo.  He mowed lawns so that he could afford to buy a banjo that he spotted behind the counter at a local Service Merchandise store.  Once he got the banjo in his hands, it still took a while before he w