Banjo Spirits
featuring Don Stover and Stephen Wade
John's Films (1999); 30 minutes

Recent years have seen the appearance of videos on how to play the banjo and on banjo players in performance, including a few with Don Stover and Stephen Wade. Filmmaker John Paulson, however, takes a new approach. He attempts to offer the viewers a glimpse of banjo culture. He visits Stover at home and allows him to talk about his life and music, which Stover does optimistically, even though he was afflicted with a cancerous brain tumor at the time. The film also takes us to the Smithsonian Banjo Collection, which is not open to the public, where Wade offers his own perspective on fascinating instruments of historical interest. The film conjures up the spirit of banjo playing and the bond that banjo players share. It also features Stover performing five songs and Wade, two.
— Paul E. Comeau
(Comeauville, NS, Canada)