MUSIC FOR THE SOUL VALLEY BANJOERS PLUCK STRINGS OF SENIORS' HEARTS.

NORTHRIDGE - Credit a miracle of music - namely 13 banjos, one tuba and a gutbucket bass - for moving Ida Kotnik to ditch her walker and dance the jitterbug.

The San Fernando Valley Banjo Band has for decades plucked seniors from their seats with melodious Americana.

``I love it, I love it,'' said Kotnik, 81, of Northridge, beaming between boogies last week at the Lamplighter Family Restaurant lounge in Chatsworth. ``It keeps you young.''

For nearly 36 years, the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band has played at local parties, clubs and jazz festivals around the state.

It's also played on the riverboat attraction at Disneyland and regaled millions of TV viewers on Johnny Carson's ``Tonight Show'' and Jerry Lewis' muscular dystrophy telethon.

And band members have done it for free - donating a total of $173,000 in gig proceeds to boys homes, trauma centers, centers for the blind and other Valley charities. Last week, they did it for their elderly following.

``Ready on the left. Ready on the right. Ready, aim, fire!,'' barked bandleader George Yellich, 78, who has homes in both Northridge and Oceanside, as 52 banjo strings erupt with ``The Band's All Here.''

Seventy-five seniors exploded in a merry roar of claps, clacking spoons and song.

Throughout the night, the band plinked across America, from the Rust Belt to Tobacco Road to the Pacific - from the ``Pennsylvania Polka'' to the ``Tennessee Waltz'' to ``California, Here I Come.''

And loyal fans not only knew the words, but stood up at the mike to belt them out, with the band as backup.

``It's happy music,'' declared Mary Jordon of Granada Hills, cuddling up to her husband, Byron, during ``Cuddle Up a Little Closer. ``It's nostalgic.''

``It's comfort music,'' said Sue Aikin, 69, of Chatsworth. ``It brings us unity. There's nothing else in the Valley like it.''

``It not only warms my heart,'' added Frank Guerrero, who turned 66 with a rousing ``Happy Birthday'' from the band, ``but gets it beating.''

It was the late Wayland C. Chester, jazzman and banjo-maker extraordinaire, who founded the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band in 1970. Yellich, his student, took the lead in 1984.

Since then, the band has made music at Shakey's Pizza in North Hollywood, Skoby's in Chatsworth and Zig's in Woodland Hills.

Today, the band - comprising 22 musicians from Bakersfield to Palm Springs - boasts a thousand standards. Its crooner, 84-year-old Johnny Spinelli, hams them up with Sinatra-like swagger.

``To me, the banjo represents happiness - even when I'm practicing, I'm happy,'' said Yellich, a retired banker who has lived in the Valley since 1957. ``Every time we play, people leave with a smile on their face.''

Since the band's once-a-month gig at Zig's ended when the club closed this summer, its members have been seeking a permanent home.

``They're great,'' said Lamplighter owner Sophia Rohde. ``We'd like to give them a permanent home.''

Kotnik, a coal-miner's daughter from Pennsylvania, was homebound until she heard the banjos 13 years ago at a Northridge senior center. Since them, she's never missed a beat without her fuzzy floral ``banjo hat.''

``Ida, sweet as apple cider,'' she sang, cradling the mike, blowing kisses to the crowd.

``Shave and a haircut,'' sang Spinelli to end the set, ``two bits.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

For information on upcoming performances by the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band, call [phone]. The band will next appear today and Saturday at the 26th annual San Diego Thanksgiving Jazz Festival. For information, see www.dixielandjazzfestival.org/.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) George Yellich and the rest of the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band perform at the Lamplighter Family Restaurant lounge in Chatsworth to a capacity crowd.

(2 -- color) Ida Kotnik, 81, of Northridge, left, dances in the aisles of the Lamplighter lounge with Norma Capsuto, 85, of Woodland Hills during a performance of the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band.

(3) Marolyn Lucas sings as she's accompanied by Fred Godfrey, right, and the rest of the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band at the Lamplighter lounge.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)