My guest this week is Kristina R. Gaddy, who joins us to discuss her fascinating new book “Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History”.
We chat about how she came to write the book and some of the key discoveries she made along the way, in particular the banjo’s unknown history as an instrument of ritual and rebellion.
Kristina’s research in diaries, letters, archives, and art, traces the banjo’s beginnings from the seventeenth century, when enslaved people of African descent created and carried this unique instrument as they were transported and sold by slaveowners throughout the Americas, to Suriname, the Caribbean, and the colonies that became U.S. states.
It’s a fascinating book and, I hope you’ll agree, makes for a fascinating conversation.
To buy the book, follow these links:
US:
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393866803
UK/Europe:
https://wwnorton.co.uk/books/9780393866803-well-of-souls
To find our more, visit Kristina’s website and Instagram
The film mentioned at the end is The Librarian and the Banjo
Happy picking!
Matt
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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)
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