Don Reno (1926 to 1984) was the first great banjo player after Earl Scruggs to build a style of his own. He took Scruggs’s chair in Bill Monroe’s band in 1948, then co-led Reno and Smiley and the Tennessee Cut-Ups with Red Smiley for 14 years. His single-string picking let the banjo play scales and fiddle tunes note for note. He also played the five-string on the first recording of the tune that became Dueling Banjos.
Why Reno matters
Reno proved there was more than one way to play bluegrass banjo. He came home from World War II to hear that he sounded like Scruggs, and he did not like it. So he worked out a single-string style that picks one string with the thumb and a finger in turn. That let him play full scales, jazz-tinged runs, and fiddle tunes without the roll. Every melodic and single-string banjo player since, from Bill Keith to Béla Fleck, works in territory Reno opened.
Life and career
Reno was born on February 21, 1926, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and grew up on a farm in Haywood County, North Carolina. He started guitar at five on a borrowed instrument and took up banjo soon after. In 1939, at 13, he joined the Morris Brothers on local radio. A year later he went to work with Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith. He learned three-finger picking from the playing of Snuffy Jenkins.
In 1943 Bill Monroe offered him a job in the Blue Grass Boys. Reno joined the Army instead. He served in Merrill’s Marauders in the Pacific and was wounded in action. Monroe hired Earl Scruggs. In 1948, back home, Reno took the banjo chair Scruggs had just left.
Soon after, Reno teamed up with guitarist and singer Red Smiley. Reno and Smiley and the Tennessee Cut-Ups lasted 14 years and scored hits with I’m Using My Bible for a Road Map, I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could, and Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die. His son Ronnie Reno played mandolin in the band. When Smiley retired in 1964, Reno formed Reno and Harrell with guitarist Bill Harrell. Smiley came back in 1969 and stayed until his death in 1972. From 1964 to 1971 Reno also performed with fiddler Benny Martin. In the 1970s he played in the Good Ol’ Boys with Frank Wakefield, David Nelson, and Chubby Wise. In his last years he played with his sons Don Wayne and Dale. He died in Charlottesville, Virginia, on October 16, 1984, at 58.
Playing style
Reno’s banjo has three tools beside the Scruggs roll. The first is single-string picking, with the thumb and index or middle finger trading on one string, so scales come out clean. The second is double stops, two-note harmonies picked together. The third is fast triple pull-offs. Put together, his breaks jump from bluesy runs to chord melody to rolls, often in one chorus. That mix is how you spot him in a few bars.
He was also a pioneer of lead guitar. By 1946 he was playing lead guitar on WSPA in Spartanburg, and he gave lessons to a young Hank Garland. In Reno and Smiley he often switched to guitar for gospel songs and fiddle tunes. His Country Boy Rock and Roll is called the first bluegrass song built around lead guitar.
Influences and legacy
Reno learned from Snuffy Jenkins and played beside Arthur Smith, Bill Monroe, and Red Smiley. With Smith he recorded Feudin’ Banjos, Smith on tenor banjo and Reno on five-string. The Dillards later renamed it Duelin’ Banjos, and the film Deliverance made it a hit. Doc Watson said Reno was the first player he heard pick fiddle tunes on a guitar, and Clarence White also learned from his guitar. He cut a twin-banjo album with Eddie Adcock in 1968. He wrote 457 songs, though most were never recorded.
Signature tunes and songs
Feudin’ Banjos Dixie Breakdown Chokin’ the Strings I’m Using My Bible for a Road Map I Know You’re Married, But I Love You Still Arkansas Traveler.
Essential recordings
Mr. 5-String (1965) The Sensational Twin Banjos of Eddie Adcock and Don Reno (1968) Fastest Five Strings Alive (1969) All the Way to Reno, with Bill Harrell (1969)
Awards and honors
International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, with Red Smiley (1992) American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame, historical category (2020)
Watch and listen
This clip collects Reno’s breaks on Arkansas Traveler. Listen for the single-string runs mixed with rolls.
What to learn from Reno
Learn Arkansas Traveler and play the A part single-string, the Reno way: thumb and index finger trading on one string. It feels slow at first. Stick with it. The technique to steal is the scale. Once you can play a G major scale single-string up the neck, fiddle tunes stop being a fight, and you can mix those runs into your Scruggs breaks the way Reno did.
Sources
Don Reno, Wikipedia Don Reno, BluegrassBios.com
Related players
See the banjo players hub and the bluegrass banjo guide for more pickers. Reno learned from Snuffy Jenkins, followed Earl Scruggs in Monroe’s band, and partnered with Red Smiley. Eddie Adcock cut a twin-banjo album with him.