Essential Banjo History Reading List

The essential banjo history reading list.

Whether or not you’ve read Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History, there are some other great books on banjo history that informed my research you should check out (many of which go beyond the early period I write about). If you have more suggestions, leave them in the comments below!

Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein 
Considered the godmother of banjo roots research, Dena Epstein (link to blog post) spent decades researching and writing Sinful Tunes and Spirituals. In the 1950s, people tried to tell her that the history of Black music before the Civil War didn’t exist. She knew that if there was a record of slavery (which there was), then there had to be a record of the music that enslaved people played as well. The book is broader than the banjo as well, but she was the first person to document that the banjo was an African American instrument.

Banjo Roots and Branches edited by Robert Winans
Banjo Roots and Branches represents the latest in banjo scholarship before the publication of Well of Souls. The essays come from banjo researchers, and the idea of compiling the essays came from presentations and discussions at The Banjo Gathering. In the making for almost a decade, the book is a great resource and represents excellent scholarship, except for the essay by George Gibson, which presents cherry-picked references and incorrect information in an attempt to support an unsubstantiated theory.

The Banjo: America’s African Instrument by Laurent Dubois 
While Laurent Dubois also writes about the banjo’s early history (and especially focuses on the Caribbean origins and Haiti’s relationship to the instrument), his book traces the banjo from those roots, past Minstrelsy into jazz and folk music of the 20th century. This book is especially good if you ask, “Wait, what happens to the banjo after Minstrelsy?”

That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture by Karen Linn 
Karen Linn’s book also explores the banjo after Minstrelsy and it’s rise as a popular white instrument. Divided into four sections, she explores the banjo in the late 19th century, the banjo in the early 20th century, southern Black banjo, and southern white banjo.

The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy by Christopher J. Smith
Even though William Sidney Mount painted one of the most iconic images of a Black banjo player, I didn’t focus on him or this piece of art in Well of Souls. One reason is because it didn’t fit into the flow of the story I was trying to tell. Another is that Christopher Smith has done an excellent job of exploring Mount’s life and work, especially as it relates to music, in this book. But more than that, Smith writes about the ways in which white and Black culture interacted in the early to mid 19th century on frontier landscapes and waterways.

Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy by Hans Nathan (out of print from University of Oklahoma Press, but available via Archive.org
As the title shows, this book is in some ways out of date. Published in 1962, it uses language, images, and phrasing that people will probably find offensive today. But the problem is that no definitive book on Minstrelsy has been written since, and Nathan does explore the life of Dan Emmett and early Blackface Minstrels like no one else has. He also does a thorough ethnomusicological study of early Minstrel songs, which helps for the understanding of what the influence of Black music was on this popular music form.

The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy by Bob Carlin 
For many decades, Joel Walker Sweeney was credited with adding “the fifth string” to the banjo, which is a myth. As I write in Well of Souls, Sweeney wasn’t the first white guy to play the banjo, and probably wasn’t even the first white Blackface Minstrel to play the banjo, but he became the most well-known. And, his name became synonymous with banjo playing. Bob Carlin has researched the myths and reality of Sweeney, and explores his life in relationship to early Blackface Minstrelsy, filling in many gaps from Hans Nathan’s book.

The Music of Black Americans by Eileen Southern 
Although not about the banjo, Eileen Southern’s classic text puts the banjo into context with Black American musical traditions from 1619 to the 1970s. The book is broad—from folk music to pop music to classical music—and is a great refence.

This is part of Banya Obbligato, a series of blog posts relating to my book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History. While integrally related to Well of Souls, these posts are editorially and financially separate from the book (i.e., I’m researching, writing, and editing them myself and no one is paying me for it). So, if you want to financially support the blog or my writing and research you can do so here. ​