by Jill Forman
Banjo player, songwriter and singer Donna Lynn Caskey isn’t sure where the nickname “Banjo Gal” came from, but it suits her. “It just kind of stuck,” she says; “people forget my name.”
Growing up in Virginia, and at college in the Blue Ridge Mountains, she dreamed about banjos and got “weepy” when she heard them. “It had my name on it.” She loves music and the power of songs, “…spooky things that move me emotionally.”
Although she came from a musical family and actually had a banjo for a couple of years, she didn’t start playing until she was in her 20’s. She got a scholarship to the Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, an intensive week-long banjo class that left her with “bloody cuticles and shredded fingernails.” Immersing oneself into a new instrument is “…a good way to start…by the third day, it clicked.”
After working a variety of jobs in Virginia and a stint in Peru taking care of sick kids, she decided to come to Santa Barbara for grad school. She had just started with the banjo, so she brought her instrument, a backpack, and a suitcase. Within three months she had written her first song, “Gold in the Mud,” which has been used in several church services, talking about the worthiness of every person. She is passionate about the creative process. “Making things and sharing them is service. Encouraging people is also service.” Another of her songs includes the line, “Everyone is worthy…all are welcome at the table.”
Speaking of service, Donna Lynn works full-time as a social worker for the county. She sees creativity and service as the themes of her life and finds that the stability of a consistent job fuels her own creativity. Phrases and melodies come to her in dreams at times. As a child she would sing to herself “…when nobody could hear me.”
Folk music is “…the music of the people.” The first banjos, for instance, were made by enslaved peoples trying to recreate the instruments of West Africa in the mountains and flatlands of the American South. “Anybody can write a song…sing it to your dog. It’s a human birthright to be creative and do it your own way.”
In addition to songs, she makes art: drawing, painting and mixed media. Her college degree is in Art, and her home displays her work. Plus a large collection of banjos, a couple of guitars, and a fiddle!
Donna Lynn has two CD’s, “Nameless Heart” and “The Love Still Shows.” Both are entirely songs she wrote herself, in varied styles, “…not stereotyped.” Something has to strike her emotionally in order to make a song out of it. She performs in the L.A. area at times and is part of that music scene, but it is not financially rewarding. There are a few singer-songwriter showcases she is part of, a house concert in Oakland, some benefit concerts, churches and art spaces.
CD’s can be purchased directly, and her events calendar viewed, at http://www.donnalynncaskey.com or at shows. Another alternative to download or buy CD’s is https://store.cdbaby.com.
She doesn’t do a lot of local shows, but will be performing at NAMBA Performing Arts Space in Downtown Ventura on March 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets will be $20 at the door or can be bought at http://www.nambaarts.com.
