Building the perfect banjo: Pharis and Jason Romero inspired by B.C.'s Cariboo region
Couple explains their love of playing and building banjos for North by Northwest's Inside the Craft series
If you like the tinkle and twang of a banjo, a visit to Horsefly B.C may be in order.
Tucked between the Cariboo Mountains and Quesnel Lake, the small community is where Pharis and Jason Romero celebrate the instrument by playing and making them.
"I'm pretty obsessed about the instruments and the history and I love playing," said Jason Romero.
"I spend a lot of time thinking about banjo construction and what we can do to kind of push the envelope a little bit as far as the aesthetics."
The pair have won Junos for their music, they also take pride in the specific tone their banjos produce.
"I'm looking for the clear kind of bell-like mid-range that I want to hear," said Jason.
The couple make the banjos in their home workshop and credit their surroundings with providing inspiration.
"I feel very at peace here. I've always been drawn to being in the wilderness," said Jason.
Pharis says the nature around them often translates into the finished instruments.
"Inlays are often of flowers or leaves or plants, natural things, we both gravitate toward that," she said.
Rhythm of work
Pharis finds that working in the shop doing inlays and writing songs also go together.
"Doing inlay has this really unique rhythm all of its own that I can make use of," she said. "Each material has a different sound. Aluminum has one sound, brass has one sound.
"All of a sudden all these new rhythms have tapped my world that I've been writing songs to."
Tune in to North by Northwest on Sundays at 8:10 a.m. from February 24th to April 22 for the special series, Inside the Craft.