Banjo Performances
in the Berea Sound Archives
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Related Berea Sound Archives Sites
- Traditional Music and Spoken Word Performances This link opens in a new windowListen to selected musical performances and storytelling from the Berea Sound Archives.
- Alan Lomax Kentucky CollectionListen to ocumentary sound recordings of rural Kentucky music and lore collected under the auspices of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress between 1933 and 1942.
- Oral History Collections GuideBerea's online oral history collections cover a broad range of topics in the areas of Appalachian history and culture, and the history of Berea College. In many instances searchable transcripts accompany the digitized audio recordings.
- Examples of Oral Histories For Use As Primary SourcesSelected interview texts and recordings covering a wide range of topics.
- Sound Recording Analysis WorksheetA teaching / learning resource from the National Archives.
- Sound Archives Research GuidesResearch guides are the work of Archives staff and the College's Sound Archives Fellows. Using audio and video illustrations, the guides cover a wide range of topics.
- Sound Preservation ProgramThe program's focus is on Berea's collections of noncommercial recordings that document Appalachian history and culture and the history of Berea College.
- Berea Sound Archives HomepageBrowse By Topic
Contact the Berea Sound Archives
Banjo Music Research Guides
These guides are the work of Archives staff and scholars supported by the College’s Sound Archives Fellowship Program.
- Jim Smoak: A Hidden Figure" of American Banjo MusicA collection and oral history of 3-finger style bluegrass banjo player Jim Smoak by 2013 Appalachian Sound Archive Fellow Joe O'Connell.
- John "Uncle" Homer WalkerProfiles and recordings of the African American banjo player by 2006 Sound Archives Fellow Ajay Kalra.
- Kentucky Banjo Traditions: Neal "Pop" CollinsNortheastern Kentucky banjo player, Ruben Cornelius Collins 1891-1980 is one of the many older generation Appalachian musicians documented in Hutchins Library's sound recordings collections. They are included in the collection that documents his son, Ruey.
- North Carolina Banjo Traditions: J. Roy StalcupWestern North Carolina banjo player, J. Roy Stalcup (1903-1990) is one of the many older generation Appalachian musicians documented in Hutchins Library's sound recordings collections. Text edited by Harry Rice from Lee Knight’s articles.
- Kentucky Banjo Traditions: Virgil AndersonInterviews, stories, songs and banjo tunes by Wayne County, Kentucky Banjoist, Virgil Anderson. 1902-1997.
Other Resources Related to Banjo Music
Sinful Tunes and Spirituals by Call Number: 784.756 E64sISBN: 9780252071508Publication Date: 2003-08-12Devil's Ditties, Being Stories of the Kentucky Mountain People by
Call Number: 784.3 T458dPublication Date: 1931Contains description of eastern Kentucky gourd banjo making.Sang Branch Settlers by
Call Number: 398.09769 R645sISBN: 0292775105Publication Date: 1974-11-01Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press.Folk-songs of the Southern United States by
Call Number: 784.4 C731fPublication Date: 1967Edited by D. K. Wilgus. Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press.
African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia by Call Number: 787.88 C767aISBN: 0870498932Publication Date: 1995-12-20In this groundbreaking study Cecelia Conway demonstrates that these European Americans borrowed the banjo from African Americans and adapted it to their own musical culture.
That Half-Barbaric Twang by Call Number: 787.8809 L758tISBN: 0252017803Publication Date: 1991-07-01"An interpretation of the changing and conflicting images of a musical instrument as found in the national, commercial culture of the United States"
The Old-Time Herald by Call Number: 780 O44Publication Date: c1987-A magazine dedicated to old-time music.
