‘Banjo Jeff’ lights up Quad-City area nursing home circuit

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By Kathy Kuhl | Friday, February 08, 2008 | No comments posted

John Schultz/QUAD-CITY TIMES Jeff Smallwood plays several stringed instruments including a banjo, a guitar, a mandolin and a ukulele and sings. He takes his shows to nursing homes in the area and plays at festivals and bars, but the nursing home stops make up the bulk of his music business. Buy this Photo!

COAL VALLEY, Ill. — Ellen Rockhold and Nick Tintor lit up with smiles as they danced together in front of about 50 people at Oak Glen Nursing Home.

As he sang and plucked out “Bill Bailey” on his banjo, Jeff Smallwood looked all business. But he says the way he makes his living is as much for himself as it is for those he entertains.

“I’ve always been after instant gratification all my life. I get it here,” he said. “I never got a feeling in my life that I’m doing the right thing like I have since I started playing in nursing homes.”

Joyce Pittman, activity assistant at Oak Glen, watched the performance with a big smile. “He’s their favorite entertainer,” she said. “They love it when he comes.”

Activity Director Mary Reilly said Smallwood performs every month, and residents start asking when he’ll be there long before his arrival date.

Known as “Banjo Jeff” to his audiences — even though he plays guitar, mandolin and fiddle as well — Smallwood, 50, has made his living as a nursing home entertainer for more than four years. He has played on the non-gambling riverboats since 1986, but in 2002 he changed his focus. He was once the headliner on the Celebration Belle based in Moline; now he’s on call for them if there is an overflow crowd and they need entertainers on two decks.

It was a conscious choice. “I like working days,” he said, “so I started calling nursing homes and getting gigs. Some didn’t even have entertainment budgets. I opened doors for myself and other musicians, too.”

Now he plays at nursing homes all over the Quad-Cities and surrounding areas, reaching out to Muscatine, Maquoketa and DeWitt in Iowa, and Geneseo and Kewanee in Illinois. In his busiest three years, he is booked weeks ahead with two to three shows per weekday.

Smallwood has a special bond with the geriatric crowd. The Oak Glen crowd had a call-and-response going on with him at his recent visit. With each, “Yee-hah!” from Smallwood, the group eagerly cried back, “Yee-hah!”

He told the Oak Glen residents, “I’ve missed you,” and was quickly shouted down with, “We missed you, too!”

Smallwood consciously chooses music for his older audience to get a good

reaction. He has sought out some banjo tunes that date back more than a century, but most of his music is traditional country or gospel.

“You almost see those endorphines kick in,” he said. “It’s hard to explain the feeling I get with the people I play for. I get tears of joy when I look out there and they’re having fun.”

To keep it fun for himself, too, Smallwood doesn’t even make a play list before gigs. He just watches the crowd and wings it, accordingly.

The pay varies. Most private nursing homes have bigger budgets for entertainment, whereas county homes offer him less compensation.

“But I don’t turn down anything. It all evens out in the end, and some of those places that pay me less happen to be among my favorites to play,” he said.

A single man, he keeps life simple, joking that if the Village of Carbon Cliff held a “redneck yard” competition, his would win with its collection of uncut wood and camping and outdoors equipment.

“I keep a garden, I heat with a wood stove, and I eat at home all the time,” he said. “If I lived a more extravagant life, I couldn’t do what I love for a living.”

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com.