DESCRIPTION:
Duelling Banjos was arranged and performed for the movie Deliverance by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and was included on the soundtrack album.
Dueling Banjos" is an instrumental composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1955 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos", which contained riffs from "Yankee Doodle". Smith recorded it playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string bluegrass banjo player Don Reno. The composition's first wide scale airing was on a 1963 television episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" called "Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee", in which it is played by visiting musical family the Darlings (played by The Dillards, a bluegrass group).
The song was made famous by the 1972 film Deliverance, which also led to a successful lawsuit by the song's composer, as it was used in the film without his permission. The film version, arranged and recorded by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and subsequently issued as a single, went to #2 for four weeks on the Hot 100 in 1973, all four weeks behind Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song", and topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks the same year. The song also reached No. 5 on the Hot Country Singles chart at the same time it was on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary Singles charts.

Eric Weissberg (born August 16, 1939) is an American singer, banjo player and multi-instrumentalist, best known for playing solo in "Dueling Banjos," featured as the theme of the movie Deliverance (1972) and released as a single that reached number 1 in 1973 in the United States and Canada.
A member of the folk group, the Tarriers, for years, Weissberg later developed a successful career as a sessions musician. He has played and recorded with numerous leading rock and popular musicians and groups of the late 20th century. Weissberg also continues to play at folk festivals.Eric Weissberg went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and to the Juilliard School of Music. He joined an early version of the Greenbriar Boys (1958–59), but left before they made any recordings. He joined The Tarriers, replacing Erik Darling. At the time, the Tarriers had recently had a hit with "Banana Boat Song"; Harry Belafonte's version, released soon afterward, became a bigger hit.
Weissberg was taken on as a string-bass player, but the group soon made use of his multi-instrumental talents as banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, mandolin player, and singer. He started performing with the Tarriers while still a student at Juilliard. His first album with The Tarriers, Tell The World About This (1960), has a much rougher feel than the smoothly produced sound of The Weavers or The Kingston Trio.
In 1964 he had one-year's service with the National Guard, which he had earlier joined. After his return, the Tarriers re-formed. In 1965 the group accompanied Judy Collins on a tour of Poland and Russia, but disbanded soon after. Collins was sufficiently impressed with his musicianship to use Weissberg as a session musician on Fifth Album (1965) and several later albums.
Commercially, interest in acoustic folk groups was waning. Weissberg developed a successful career as a session musician, playing on albums by The Clancy Brothers, Doc Watson, Melanie, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Loudon Wainwright III, Talking Heads, Tom Paxton, Jim Croce, Art Garfunkel, John Denver, Ronnie Gilbert and others.

Arthur Smith (April 1, 1921 – April 3, 2014) was an American musician, songwriter, and producer of records, as well as a radio and TV host for decades. Smith produced radio and TV shows; The Arthur Smith Show was the first nationally syndicated country music show on television. After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, Smith developed and ran the first commercial recording studio in the Southeast.
Born in Clinton, South Carolina, Arthur Smith was a textile mill worker who became a celebrated and respected country music instrumental composer, guitarist, fiddler, and banjo player. His major hit was the instrumental "Guitar Boogie," which he wrote and recorded in 1945. The song earned him the moniker Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (to differentiate him from Tennessee fiddler and 1930s Grand Ole Opry star Fiddlin' Arthur Smith). It was recorded by numerous other musicians, including Tommy Emmanuel, and became known around the world.
Renamed "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", it became a rock and roll hit by Frank Virtue and the Virtues. Virtue served in the Navy with Smith and counted him as a major influence. Other musicians who have been influenced by Smith include Nashville studio ace Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell and surf music pioneers the Ventures.
Smith was also noted for his "Feudin' Banjos" (1955), which was also recorded by Lester Flatt. It was revived as "Dueling Banjos" and used as a theme song in the popular movie, Deliverance (1972).
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