At first, walking into Dick Drevo’s Lewes home is like entering the realm of a perfect country gentleman.
The house is large, three stories, with hardwood floors, the smell of fresh cooking in the air and the energetic begging of his Shih Tzu, Choo-Choo. A short man with kindly features and a schoolteacher’s air, Drevo sits down and pulls out his 1923 five-string banjo, puts finger-picks on his thumb, index finger and middle finger and begins to play.
Drevo, a native of Takoma Park, Md., first taught himself to play banjo in 1959 and has been playing and teaching the instrument ever since. Drevo said he was first inspired to learn the banjo after hearing legendary bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs on the radio.
“My father was a very accomplished pianist and had played a lot of activities in Baltimore, so I of course followed in his footsteps and played classical piano,” Drevo said. “One morning I was listening to my little shortwave radio and was listening to WMAL in Washington and WSM in Nashville. Flatt and Scruggs had a show on between 6:45 and 7 in the morning, just before the signal faded out. Well, I heard Earl Scruggs playing the banjo and I said ‘That is really neat and how does anyone possibly do that?’ And it really got my curiosity and interest up.”
Drevo bought his first banjo from Sears and Roebuck before trading up and getting a better one, purchased on layaway.
“I got home and my mother and father said, ‘How are you going to pay for that?’ I said, ‘Well, I have one newspaper route, and if necessary, I’ll get two.’ And they looked at me and said, ‘No, you’re not a straight-A student, you’re not going to do that.’”
Drevo said he picked up on bluegrass music and since there weren’t many banjo teachers available at the time, he taught himself with some help from his mentor, Bill Emerson.
Playing a banjo, which believe it or not can weigh anywhere from 20 to 30 pounds, is not nearly as easy at it may appear. The instrument utilizes three basic finger roll patterns: forward, backward and alternating. Drevo showcases the complex roll patterns with smooth dexterity and the confidence of a seasoned pro. While individually picked, the notes do not sound like much, until the player adds the left hand to the fretboard to give the banjo its recognizable sound.
“Once I had it sorted out that it was three rolls, which is the traditional way that Earl Scruggs played, I was well on my way,” he said.
Drevo said he teaches his students, whose ages range from 8 to 80, the three basic roll patterns first and then moves on to more sophisticated compositions.
When asked how he got into teaching the banjo, Drevo said, “I’d written out a lot of the music in tablature to help my learning process and it just evolved from that.”
On how the banjo differs from the guitar, Drevo said, “It’s tuned differently. A banjo is tuned primarily in thirds and a guitar is generally tuned in fifths.”
Drevo said it usually takes students 12 to 14 months of teaching before they are able to go out and play on their own.
In addition to his teaching experience, Drevo was the musical director and banjo player for The Eastern Heritage bluegrass band, based out of Washington, D.C. The group lasted from 1962 to 1977 and put out one album called “No Cash…3 Tickets,” recorded Portrait
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at Drevo’s own recording studio, Urban Recordings. The studio provided on-site and studio recordings for operatic performances at Catholic University and remastered recordings for Rounder Records.
The studio, which Drevo owned and operated himself, with some help from his wife, reflects Drevo’s other passion in life: electrical engineering.
Drevo had been touring with a bluegrass band before deciding to leave the road behind and go into engineering full-time.
“I went on tour with another group, Bill Monroe was also on tour. But I was also offered an engineering job designing telemetry receivers for the Apollo space program for $275 a week with insurance,” Drevo said. “And I’d been on the road with the band for about three or four months and I decided, this isn’t my lifestyle. So I elected for the more money and the insurance.”
Since he was 12 years old, Drevo has been an amateur radio operator and currently has his own station, W3GNQ, which he operates out of his home. Now retired, he moved to Lewes five years ago with his wife, who is originally from the Cape Region.
He teaches music two nights a week while devoting the rest of his time to amateur radio. Drevo serves as president of the Lewes Amateur Radio Society.
For more information on banjo and acoustic guitar lessons with Dick Drevo, call 302-645-5664.
Contact Ryan Mavity at ryanm@capegazette.com
