Leon Hunt was seventeen when he first became aware of the banjo. He could hardly have known then he would one day become Béla Fleck’s protege or the UK’s premier bluegrass banjo player. His mind wasn’t even on music. Instead, he was strolling leisurely with his girlfriend through the pretty Georgian streets of his hometown of Bath. Everything was to change, however, when he saw a group of street performers and was captivated immediately by the sound of the banjo. He stood there entranced for what seemed like ages, just watching and listening, until he was finally dragged off by his girlfriend.

Hardly half an hour had passed before he had bought a banjo of his very own investing the vast sum of £40 for, in his words, "a dodgy looking banjo with a brown marble effect head” which called to him from a shop window. He has never looked back although now the old brown banjo is replaced with a vintage Gibson, with a Snuffy Smith bridge, Presto tail piece, and a slack 5 star head.

Five years later Leon met Marty Lanham, a banjo player and luthier from Nashville. Leon explains, “We did some playing together and it transpired that he knew Béla quite well. Being in my early twenties, and fairly impetuous, I just asked if he could set me up with some lessons with him. I have to say, I never thought it would amount to anything.

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