The banjo is still quite a young instrument in the grand story of Irish music. The instrument is originally an African-American invention and the first written record of a banjo-like instrument is recorded in the 17th Century by Englishman Richard Jobson in his description of Gambia, where he describes a bandore. As the trans-Atlantic slave trade continued, millions of people of African descent were now located in every region of the United States.

Many aspects of these groups' native culture were retained and combined with elements of American culture that developed at the time.

This included food, language and, in this case, music. The banjo began as a stringed instrument with an animal skin resonator that was far from standardised. The modern form of the instrument partially began to take shape in the mid-19th Century in the American South due to the popularity of travelling ‘minstrel shows’ that introduced the instrument to a wider audience. These variety shows hosted black entertainers and musicians to perform for white audiences and often projected racial stereotypes. However, their range and popularity did spread the instrument across the United States.

In the latter half of the century, the instrument entered into the common American musical culture which helped standardise technique and encourage tuition. It was in this period and the early decades of the 20th Century that the banjo became more acquainted with the Irish diaspora in the United States. During this period, millions of Irish people made the journey across the Atlantic and back and the cultural and familial links between Ireland and the United States grew deep. Migration became an important reality of life for many Irish people and developments on either side of the ocean often spurred change on the other.

The banjo slowly phased its way into the traditional scene from Irish communities in the US to Ireland.

The type of banjo that was played by Irish musicians however was an alteration of the five-string banjo that was commonly finger-picked among American folk and country players. It featured a shorter neck and scale, and four strings that were tuned in perfect fifths, akin to a mandolin or fiddle. To this day, it is rarely strummed and a single plectrum is used to play the melody. The instrument became particularly popular in the 1960s due to a folk music revival in Ireland.

Players such as Barney McKenna of the Dubliners helped supplant the Irish tenor banjo as a staple of Irish traditional groups, all while the Irish bands helped Irish music reach new levels of popularity on the international stage due to regular TV and radio performances.

Like the Irish bouzouki, the introduction of the banjo to Ireland beautifully represents the ever-changing nature of folk music and how it interacts with and adapts to cultural and social change.