John "JD" Dennis ’79, co-owner of Hickory Street Banjo in Rochester. Dennis owns the company, based out of his home in Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood, with his longtime friend David Frenzel. /Photo by Matt Burkhartt
Fun fact: You can create a superb musical instrument without knowing how to play a single note.
John “JD” Dennis ’79—co-founder of Hickory Street Banjo and maker of sought-after hand-crafted banjos—is emphatically, unabashedly, not a musician.
“Nope, not at all,” he says with a grin.
Which probably explains why Dennis didn’t start making instruments until later in life.
Read the entire article in the new issue of the Geneseo Scene.