With the retirement of longtime Executive Director Johnny Baier effective, the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, OK has announced that Lucas Ross has been named to assume the Director’s position.
The Museum has been in operation since 1998, starting out in Guthrie, OK, known at the time as The National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum, limited to the preservation of instruments, music, and lore about tenor and plectrum banjos. In 2009 they moved to a 21,000 square foot facility in OKC, and switched to incorporating all banjos and styles in 2013. The next year Earl Scruggs was added as the first five-string member of the ABM Hall of Fame.
Baier, who departed on November 1, had spent the past 22 years in service to the Museum and the banjo community. A noted tenor banjoist aside from his administrative role, Johnny was himself inducted into the ABM Hall of Fame in 2019. Originally from Oshkosh, WI, he toured the US extensively before settling in Orlando, FL, where he established records as a solo performer with a 15,000 show run at Rosie O’Grady’s in Church Street Station, downtown Orlando, starting in 1988.
He plans to retire in Oklahoma City, continue to play his banjo professionally, and be available as he might be needed to help to the Museum.
Though they play different banjos, Johnny and Lucas share the same passion for entertaining. Ross is an actor and comedian as well as a five string banjo picker, who has appeared on The Tonight Show, SyFy Network, Reelz, Nat Geo and The Disney Channel. Since 2020 he has been the banjo player for Disney’s The Muppets, and has written original material for the show as well.
The American Banjo Museum brags of an astounding collection of banjos, with more than 400 instruments from every era, most on display, as well as every sort of recording, film, video, printed music, and instructional material, plus ephemera and memorabilia associated with the banjo, both four and five string.
The Museum is open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and on Sundays from noon to 5:00 p.m. They are closed on Mondays and major holidays. Admission is $8 for adults, with discounts offered to seniors, military, families, and children. Under five are free.
Congratulations to Lucas Ross, and long live the American Banjo Museum!
