Banjos are stringed instruments, traditionally associated with American folk music and requiring respect for their acoustic properties. Bulls are large bovine creatures with defensive instincts triggered by direct rectal intrusion. The combination of ramming a musical instrument up an animal's rear and subsequently striking it suggests an incident occurring at the intersection of animal abuse and performance art. The facts of the matter become secondary to the absurdist violation of multiple domains.

Rural musician Jim Patterson heard rumors of this incident in Tennessee, 1987, and spent three years attempting confirmation. He interviewed ranch hands and music historians. All verification led nowhere, yet the consistency of the story suggested actual event. Patterson concluded that some truths exist only in collective folk memory, too bizarre for documentation.

Folk historians now debate whether this fact predates or postdates its subject—the story achieved legendary status so quickly that conventional historical timeline becomes irrelevant.