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Schreyer
Banjos is a family group from Minnesota consisting of Lowell and Debbie
Schreyer on banjos and Debbie’s husband, Tom Owens, on string bass and
vocals. They have headlined banjo festivals in Eureka Springs, Ark, in
2003 and Allenberry, Penn., in 2004, were featured at the Guthrie Jazz
Banjo Festival, and performed with the “Riverboat Ragtime Revue” on the
national community concert circuit. Debbie and Tom had their own trio at
the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City for seven years. During that run
they recorded the CD, ”Debbie Schreyer Trio: Banjo on the Boardwalk.”
Together, Lowell and Debbie appeared in the 1988 International Banjo
Festival Tour of Germany, the New Orleans World’s Fair, and the St.
Louis Ragtime Festival.
Her career interest sparked as a
9-year old at the local Shakey’s, Debbie went on to tour nationwide for
three years as a promotional banjoist for Sara Lee Corp.; headline banjo
festivals in St. Louis in 1990, Seattle in 1994, and Detroit in 1997;
and perform as a band banjoist at the San Diego Jazz Fest among others.
Her recordings include 4 CDs with jazz bands on the GHB label of New
Orleans and “Schreyer Banjos: Showboat to New Orleans” with Lowell and
Debbie on banjos and brother Ted on tuba.
While playing banjo on a riverboat on
the Upper Mississippi, Debbie met Captain Tom Owens who eventually
became her husband. Having sung leading roles in Twin Cities musical
theater, Tom took up the string bass and joined the musical family.
Debbie and Tom can be heard with their Banjo Belle Jazz Band on
Padelford Riverboats of St. Paul.
Lowell, the dad of the group, has had
a lifetime of playing the banjo as well as writing about its history. On
the performing side he has been a riverboat banjoist on the Delta Queen
and Mississippi Queen steamboats and has toured nationally and
internationally with the US Air dixieland band. As a banjo historian, he
has been a writer for the Fretted Instrument Guild of America (FIGA)
magazine for many years, published a book on the life of Eddie Peabody,
and is currently completing a banjo history book entitled The Banjo
Entertainers: Roots to Ragtime. Lowell was inducted into the National
Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame in 2002.
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