St. Louis Banjo Club

The St. Louis Banjo Club was founded in 1969 when the legendary banjo player, Eddie Peabody, came to town for a concert at Kiel Auditorium. Eddie asked his good friend Dan Bolt to find some banjo players for a jam session after the Kiel show. It was that jam at the Banjo Palace that Eddie convinced those players that St. Louis needed a banjo club. Dan and his friends reached out to every banjo player in the area and within the first year, 100 players joined the Club.

This year of 2022 is our 53rd year as a Club. The last couple of decades have seen our membership fluctuate between 50 and 60 members with a core of 30 devoted banjoists keeping the music and the instrument alive. We entertained audiences twice-a-month at Concordia Turner Hall for almost 50 years. A local Elk’s Club invited us to play once-a-month and we found a younger audience that was double the size at our former location and moved our sessions there.