Playwright, author, and, yes, banjo player Sean Dixon launched his novel The Girls Who Saw Everything (Coach House Books) at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel on April 26. (Photos courtesy of Coach House Books.)

Sean Dixon in action.

Claire Cameron, who was launching her HarperCollins Canada novel The Line Painter upstairs at the Gladstone on the same night, dropped in to join Dixon for the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice,” to the tabla accompaniment of Gurpreet Chana.

Mixmaster Russell Smith shows off his mad skills.

Dixon’s one-time banjo student Ann-Marie MacDonald (who writes novels in her spare time) also joined him onstage.