In the 1980s, I began doing socio-humanitarian work in the major refugee situations around the world. I ultimately left my stateside rural practice to do full-time work overseas. This work included disaster response and refugee camps, as a result of famine and wars. I have played banjo for over 26 years, started with 3-finger picking and a few years later, old-time frailing music. I have a passion for all of the banjo styles of music.
Then I met Florisel…the love of my life! We met while serving in Honduras, doing medical relief work after hurricane Mitch nearly wiped out her country! We married in 1999, ready to go back out into the world.

We moved to England in 2000. I studied and receive a degree in Tropical Medicine at the University of London, then we moved “back out” into the world, as a family, full-time, over a 10-year period, doing socio-humanitarian work and tropical medicine and disaster response. Over this 10-year period, I was “cutting my teeth” making banjos part-time.

In 2009, we returned home from West Africa to build banjos full time—a much safer passion.

Florisel is an integral part of the business. She brings creative talent, quality control, and most importantly support and a passion for what we are producing. Natalia is learning the fiddle and banjo and accompanies me at most of the music festivals we attend. Warner and Jasper both have traveling banjos, and both are learning the fiddle. All of them enjoy coming to the shop to help out, create, and to look for choice cut-offs. They have a great eye for beautiful wood to make things from.

Patrick Huff's work is stellar; the man's dedication to carving, intonation, and innovation is astounding. These banjos are a category unto themselves, and his family business model is a successful, if sadly rare these days, example of down to earth woodworking.