Florida bluegrass musician Todd Taylor has been playing the banjo since he was a boy. But while the fleet-fingered 42-year-old picker has racked up fame in roots music circles and even consecutive Grammy nominations, there’s one feat that eluded him until last year ― a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s fastest banjo player. But Todd, who suffers from a rare muscular disorder, says he had something bigger in mind with his record attempt: “I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in the industry. [The record] was for other handicapped persons in the United States, to let them know that they can accomplish anything they want, no matter how bad things look.”
So, with a drum machine set at a brisk 210 beats-per-minute, the Palm Bay resident incredibly tackled both parts of the ’70s pop hit/signature piece “Dueling Banjos” with the Florida Today camera rolling, resulting in a YouTube clip that’s since racked up an incredible three million views and counting. After watching Todd’s blistering record run, all we can say is … whew!