Rural Hawley’s Newest Resident: World’s Fastest Banjo Player

Sitting in the living room of Johnny Butten’s quiet farmhouse, there is an air of relaxation, something that would seem unthinkable, as the award-winning multi-instrumentalist’s career seems to be making leaps and bounds.

Butten displays his banjo and stands in his faded blue jeans and Triumph Motorcycles t-shirt, and begins to blast through an up-tempo tune with the greatest of ease. With the entire family sitting on the floor, spread around the room, Butten’s energy is focused and concise.

Two things that he values more than anything are on display: the comfort of his family and the gift of playing bluegrass. Changing from the banjo to the guitar, he sits down on the couch next to me and strums away.

Outside there is a heat lightning storm lighting up an otherwise pitch-black landscape. At the request of his guest, and much coaxing by his wife Sammy, Johnny plays his fiddle while Sammy plays the upright bass in the middle of the living room.

Laughing can be heard and smiles all around as she follows his playful and affectionate directions. The world’s fastest banjo player has quietly made his home in rural Minnesota.

Johnny Butten, born in Somerset, England, has definitely taken some risks in his day, starting with him leaving home at 15, to develop his talent. As a husband and father, those decisions come with more responsibility than when he was a teenager, especially when it comes down to leaving England to fly across the pond to the United States.

“You are sitting there looking at your house and looking at your kids and thinking it’s a huge move. At the same time, I’ve always wanted to live in the States and pursue my music.”

Some of Johnny’s friends and acquaintances held a bluegrass festival in Cornwall, England in 2006. Johnny and Sammy checked it out in person, as it had been awhile since Johnny had been active in the bluegrass scene; the invite was of interest and little pressure. A banjo contest was held, and Johnny didn’t feel right entering, because he was a professional musician and all. But caving to his friends’ pressure, he entered and won.

The following year he was asked to put on a workshop and judge the picking competitions. Over a couple of phone conversations, a discussion about the new world record set by American Todd Taylor came about and the idea to try and break the record was born.

The record was set at 210 beats per minute, which according to the guidelines of The Guinness Book of World Records, had to be recorded playing the infamous “Duelling Banjos.”

After researching the footage of the record, Butten began playing 210 beats per minute. Soon after, he was comfortable at 250 beats per minute. He called a friend in New York, and sent him a recording of him playing 240 and then 250 beats per minute.

An event was set with other musicians playing a concert, the video camera on, and a live audience of about 900 to 1000 people packed into an auditorium.

The energy was high, and the record was set at 260 beats per minute. After 10 or 12 weeks, Guinness confirmed the record and issued a formal declaration: The fastest banjo player is Johnny Butten (UK) who played Duelling Banjos at a speed of 260 beats per minute at the Newquay Bluegrass Festival, Newquay, Cornwall, UK, on September 15, 2007.

Due to some misinformation that was spread throughout the bluegrass world by an unofficial source, there was some contesting Butten’s record.

In this information age, things can spread quickly on the Internet, whether they are true or false. So much was made of a few technical aspects of the record attempt from this one source, that a move to disqualify Johnny was attempted.

After much ado, The Guinness Book of World Records decided to retire the record with Johnny Butten’s name.

A new record is being designed by the folks at Guinness with very specific guidelines and rules to prevent any controversy in the future. When the next record is open to the public for competition in banjo picking, Johnny said he would be ready to give it another go.

Butten and Sammy came over to the U.S. in November of 2007 on something of a reconnaissance trip and met with his new manager, Gary Bitzer.

They considered moving to Hawley, Minn. They had always lived in towns and big cities, and space was at a premium in England. The house they ended up buying kept appearing when they were searching for real estate.

The house hadn’t been lived in for three years, which might sound like a deterrent to some, but what the community as a whole had to offer was more than they could turn down. “In England, everything is about what you see. It’s all a front, a status symbol of what you own. I was encouraged by the Midwest culture: hardworking and a little bit of hard drinking (laughter) but a sense of community. It is more like what England used to be thirty years ago.”

After returning to England, the time came to decide whether to make the dream a reality.

One evening as they were watching the local news, Russell Grant, famous in England for giving daily horoscopes on television and his website, started to give some insight into what the Buttens’ future would look like.

He began with discussing the move. “International travel looks good for you,” and then “You have to use the talents you were born with,” recalled Butten, and things started to click from there.

Not usually big believers in horoscopes, Johnny and Sammy continued to check Grant’s readings, and for the following three months, he seemed to confirm their hopes and goals.

The Buttens applied for a work visa for the United States. One of Grant’s readings said that something big was about to happen. They’d read that said they should expect to receive their visas in anywhere from sixteen weeks to a number of years.

In a matter of five days, something big did happen. They received their visas in the mail, thanks to some friends of friends who were willing to help out.

The Buttens were very thankful for the generosity and good luck that had come their way. On March 11, 2008, the family had their visas and had to get everything ready to fly to the U.S. two weeks later.

On March 27, the Buttens packed up their belongings, as well as five cats and two dogs and boarded a plane for Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport.

They landed and were met with very gracious service from the staff at the airport. They rented a truck. They stopped at Wal-Mart (stove, fridge, teapot ) and drove right up to their new home without getting lost once, and so ended their 27-hour journey from England to the quiet countryside of Western Minnesota.

Eight hours later, they drove to Fargo and signed the deed to their new home, and have been settling in ever since.

Butten’s new album, a compilation of traditional bluegrass tunes, is aptly titled, “Solo” because he played all of the instruments himself, banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and upright bass. He recorded the album at BAM Recording, the Bitzer Agency Studio in Moorhead, in seven days.

The tracks were recorded in the order that they appear on the album, in their entirety, not your standard process, for example, where the bass lines would be recorded for the entire album, say in one day.

Johnny’s mood or feeling each day dictated the recording process. The quiet days contrasted with the high-energy days, and the album gives the listener a range of what Butten is capable of.

The album opens with Ralph Stanley’s “Clinch Mountain Backstep,” which could be described as witnessing a bluegrass band open a concert, a warm-up feeling for what was to come next.

Some of the tracks comprising the album were written by Arthur Smith and Don Reno, Earl Scruggs, Leslie Keith, and Joe Sullivan to name a few, as well as Butten’s original, “Jacob’s Run.”

Johnny now has a band that includes an award-winning guitar player, Joe Smart, and bass player Craig Mozely.

“As far as I’m concerned, if somebody is coming out to see a show, see is the operative word. If they want to hear music, they can stay at home at put a disc on.”

Johnny demonstrated his multi-instrumentalist skills in his living room, which included him playing his fiddle behind his back, behind his head, and lying on the floor with his back arched, fiddle under him. On stage, he jumps off Marshal stacks and runs through the audience.

What started out as something Johnny was fooling around with a few years back is now turning into a single titled “Cosmic Country,” the song is grounded in techno beats set to a trance motion. While accompanying Johnny’s banjo picking, it creates an original sound feel all its own. The single is to be released later this summer.

Butten also has completed “Pick It Right,” the first in a series of instructional banjo DVD’s, which is set to be released this summer as well.

“I view the move [to Hawley] as using my talent, if I have such a thing, and my experience as what they are. Well I’ve spent my teenage years through my twenties, asking myself, ‘why do I have this talent?’ Everything in life is for a reason. Why do I have this if it is not to go somewhere with it? Maybe this is it. I’ve managed to bring my kids to a new home, a far better life, a great school and a great community with a great bunch of people. If that’s what it ends at and I just pick tunes to pay our way then it’s all been worth it.”

If You Go

What: Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival
Where: El Rancho Mañana, Richmond, Minnesota
When: Thurs., Aug. 7, 8 p.m.
Info: http://www.minnesotabluegrass.org