The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy, (Paperback)

Joel Walker Sweeney was, in essence, the Elvis Presley of the 1840s.

A professional banjo player, Sweeney introduced mainstream America to a music (and musical instrument) which had its roots in the transplanted black culture of the southern slave.

Sweeney, an Irish-American born midway between Richmond and Lynchburg, Virginia, sampled African American music at a young age.

He then added more traditional southern sounds to the music he heard, in essence creating a new musical form.