Ok, young teens sneaking into the Navy might make you question the standards of 1916 recruitment offices, but look, it happened, and Eddie Peabody got through it all okay. As a matter of fact, he went on to a long career in show business, earning the nickname “King of the Banjo”. Granted, they may have given out the nickname a bit early, and definitively. This song serves as a perfect exemplar of his other nickname, “The Happiness Kid”, attributed for his perpetually sunny disposition. Here’s “Painting The Clouds With Sunshine”, a Regal recording from 1929.

He specialized in the plectrum banjo, a smaller version with 4 instead of 5 strings. And he helped develop variations on the instrument, like the Vegavox and the banjoline.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/epiclectic/