“The Banjo.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_ii_banjo.html.

 

- This website by PBS gave factual information into the history of the banjo. It expanded a lot on the African history of the instrument and the integration of the banjo by the whites. It, like most of the other websites talked about the minstrel shows and how the banjo was incorporated. It then went into how the banjo was marketed as a staple in country and bluegrass music.

This website, while short, provided a lot of information on the banjo. I also count it as a credible website as the information comes from an unbiased source and a reliable one in PBS. Overall, I felt that the website was trying to provide strictly facts and has no intentions but to teach.

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Langrall, Peggy. “Appalachian Folk Music: From Foothills to Footlights.” Appalachian Folk Music: From Foothills to FootlightsMusic Educators Journal - Peggy Langrall, 1986, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/3396598.

 

-Peggy Langralls article provided a lot of insight into how the banjo gained popularity in Appalachia. She goes into a lot of detail about the racial influences of the banjo and the people who played the banjo. She first talks about the introduction of the instrument to the region and the influences the instrument had on the region. She then goes into the popular players and the new influences they brought to the instrument. She mentions the playing styles these players brought to the banjo and how these styles helped keep the banjo and musical style within the countries interests.

I feel this is a credible website as it comes from a scholarly article. The author is also a writer and editor for the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian newspaper. I felt that thi article strictly provided factual information with no other influences.

 

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Hay, Fred J. “Black Musicians in Appalachia: An Introduction to Affrilachian Music.” Black Music Research Journal, vol. 23, no. 1/2, 2003, pp. 1–19. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3593206.

 

-This article written by Fred J. Hay, provided a lot of information about the banjos correlation to race. He talks a lot about the history of the region and the players before the banjo came around. He then focuses on the type of music that was popular when the banjo arrived to the scene; ballads. He then goes into the jazz and bluegrass era and mentions the popular players from their respective sections.

I felt this article to be credible as it comes from a scholarly source. It also provides strictly factual information with no other influences. It also provides some evidence to back up the arguments made.

 

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Olson, Ted. “Music was the region’s most effective cultural ambassador, mixing various ethnic and popular musical styles to create unique sounds. .” Music, University of Tennessee Press, encyclopediaofappalachia.com/category.php?rec=53.

 

-This article written by Ted Olson provided a lot of factual information about the banjo. The majority of his article talks about different music styles within Appalachia. He talks a lot about ballads as well as jazz and typical bluegrass music. On all three accounts, he mentions the banjos importance as it played a key role in the string bands. He also hits on the racial concepts of the banjo as well as the marketing concepts. He talks about African Music and how it relates to the music the white people played and their adoption of the African Banjo Music. He then talks about how the banjo became a nationwide instrument with the turn of the century technology such as the radio.

I felt that this was a good source to use as it had a lot of factual information. I also really liked this source because it brought up some different facts and views than the other websites. I believe this source to be credible as the author, Ted Olson, has received three Grammy Award nominations and has won an International Bluegrass Music Association Award for his work as a music historian.

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greenmentch. YouTube, YouTube, 19 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF4cjGIV2OM

 

-This video of Cecilia Conway was a very good video as it provided good factual details, and some that differed from those provided on other websites. This video entailed a lot of details about how the banjo came from the African American Culture and its evolution through race. She briefly talks about famous players and how their race contributed to their fame. She also harps on the difference in the banjo today and back then.

I felt this source to be one of credibility as Cecilia Conway is a professor on Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University as well as University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Her information seemed unbiased and strictly for a teaching manor.