Banjo Billy

Imagine American country music played by a "nice Jewish boy from Australia" singing about how great it is to be a religious Jew living in Tsfat, and that will give you some idea about Banjo Billy's music.

Growing Up

Pinchas Spicer, to give you his real name, comes from a musical family and started learning the piano at the age of seven. Growing up in Sydney, his family used to play together and it was natural that when it came time to go to university that he would do a BA in music. As part of his studies, he learned the finer points of songwriting and at the end of his degree, he won a three year contract with Warner Brothers to write the music and lyrics for pop songs.

After this excellent grounding in songwriting, as well as getting involved in radio journalism, he got a Diploma in Education and took a job teaching music in a Jewish Day School.

The Banjo And Judaism

Around this time he came across the banjo and really liked the sound it made and soon taught himself to play. He says "It's the happiest sound in the world"

He would walk around everywhere with his banjo, singing and playing his own songs.

Pinchas began soul searching and looked into his Jewish heritage by starting to attend his local synagogue. It was there that he first heard about Tsfat from one of the ‘oldtimers' whose family was originally from Tsfat. As Pinchas gradually became more observant he incorporated his love of Judaism into his music and wrote his first Jewish song - "Banjo Billy".

Like most young Australians he wanted to take a trip ‘overseas' and in 2002 he bought a year long around the world ticket. On reaching Israel he decided to spend 5 months doing an ulpan on the religious kibbutz Sde Eliyahu. This experience helped to increase his level of religious observance.

When he came to Tsfat for the Klezmer Festival he felt a big connection and wanted to stay. He started to study Torah at the Shalom Rav Yeshiva and realized that this was the path he wanted to follow. However he still had to use up the rest of his round the world ticket, so reluctantly he left Tsfat knowing that he would return to live here as soon as possible. As soon as he got back to Australia he applied to make aliya, moving straight to Tsfat in 2003.

Pinchas Today

Pinchas continues to study at Shalom Rav Yeshiva and makes music the rest of the time. He likes to incorporate his spirituality and his love of Torah learning into his music. As a professional song writer he wants to be able to write music that expresses his religious beliefs and at the same time is a "good song". He wants to become a ‘song doctor' for all Jewish music, taking a spiritual idea and turning it into a great song by making sure that the inspiration, lyrics and the music are all equally strong and balanced.

He is available for concerts, entertaining visiting groups and other events such as weddings and bar mitzvahs. He is extremely versatile, working by himself with backing music, or with a band of musicians when the opportunity is there.

He is however still looking for the definitive fiddle player who can play great country licks to accompany him on his banjo.

Pinchas got married almost two years ago and recently became a father.

He has made two albums here in Tsfat: Banjo Billy and Holy Banjo.

Contact by email: pinchas@banjobillysongs.com