CARTHAGE — Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center will be the backdrop for an unusual reunion of musician, banjo and descendants of John E. Fowler, a Bangor area musician who played in bands in the 1930s and ’40s.

On Wednesday, July 11, the story that began in Bangor at the 2010 American Folk Festival will come full circle at Skye.

Skye director Phill McIntyre and Celtic Colours director Joella Foulds handpicked five emerging musicians for the “A Taste of Celtic Colours” tour to promote Cape Breton’s Celtic Colours International Festival at the 2010 American Folk Festival.

Pam Mills, Fowler’s granddaughter, was in the audience for the opening set featuring multi-instrumentalist Darren McMullen of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a tenor banjo lead. After the show, she approached McMullen and started talking about her grandfather. McMullen listened as she spoke of his love of music and how he worked as a mechanic and enjoyed playing music during evenings and on weekends.

Though many family members were musically inclined, no one played the banjo. So, Fowler’s vintage Gibson banjo sat unplayed for decades.

Museums and dealers were clamoring for the instrument, Mills said. “He’d roll over in his grave if he knew it was just going to be looked at, never to be played.”

McMullen thought she wanted him to buy the instrument and respectfully told her he was not in the market for a banjo but hoped she could find a new home for it.

“No, no. I don’t want to sell it to you. I want to give it to you,” she told McMullen. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Here he was a total stranger from another country. Why would anyone want to do that?

Mills told him that Fowler was the kind of man who would want music made, not money made. As long as he promised to play it — and respect it — she was willing to hand it over, no charge. She left with the promise to return the following day so he could take a look at the banjo.

The next day, McMullen arrived at the festival site in Bangor a little early in hopes that Mills would bring the banjo, at least so he could see for himself why dealers and museums were so interested in it. He waited around in the artists area but no Mills. When he went onstage for a sound check, a sound technician approached and handed him an old banjo case. “Some lady came by early this morning and left this for the banjo player,” he told McMullen.

The case held a 1929 Gibson TB2 tenor banjo.

“Aside from its monetary value, I was floored by the idea that she would just freely hand over such a prized family possession to a stranger,” McMullen said.

“To know that hearing me play just one set of random tunes at a random venue far from home could touch a person in such a way makes me think differently about every show I play,” McMullen said.

“Beyond the business and the money and the details that come along with pursuing music as a profession, there’s a more important unspeakable and profound connection to people’s hearts that music can create,” McMullen said. “We all forget that sometimes. My deepest appreciation to Pam and John for the remarkable gifts of not only the banjo but the lesson learned.”

McMullen will perform with fellow members of Sprag Session, formerly the Colin Grant Band, at 7 p.m. when many Fowler family members will hear the banjo played for the first time.

McMullen will perform a special set that is the first cut on his recent CD release, “Shoes for Molly.” The full story is told in the liner notes with photos of Fowler and McMullen with the banjo.

Concert tickets are $15 at the door. Call 562-4445. Skye Theater is at 2 Highland Drive off Winter Hill Road and U.S. Route 2.

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