the shelor family has a long banjo tradition. charlie poole taught shelor’s grandfather the banjo, and shelor’s grandfather in turn taught shelor. when shelor was four years old, growing up in southwestern virginia, his grandfather fashioned a banjo for him from an old pressure cooker lid. his other grandfather promised to buy shelor a real banjo if he learned to play two songs. sam met the challenge, his grandfather bought him a ventura banjo, and by age 10 shelor was performing in local bands.