America's Instrument

First published in 1999, this handsome illustrated history traces the transformation of the banjo from rudimentary folk instrument to sophisticated musical machine and, in the process, offers a unique view of the music business in nineteenth-century America. Now available in accessible paperback and ebook formats for the first time, America’s Instrument enters the twenty-first century with a new preface by authors Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman and a warm and witty foreword from comedian and banjo player Steve Martin and musician Alison Brown. The book charts the evolution of the five-string banjo, from its origins in the gourd instruments of enslaved Africans brought to the New World in the seventeenth century through its rise to the very pinnacle of American popular culture at the turn of the twentieth century. Throughout, the authors look at how banjo craftsmen and manufacturers developed, built, and marketed their instruments to an American public immersed in the production and consumption of popular music. With 253 illustrations—including rare period photographs, minstrel broadsides, sheet music covers, and banjo tutors and tune books—the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award–winning America’s Instrument continues to bring to life a fascinating aspect of American cultural history.