Two Black Banjo Presentations by noted Black banjo historian Tony Thomas, on the life and music of Gus Cannon (1883-1979)
NOTE: If you want to attend online via Zoom or YouTube, please DO NOT get an Eventbrite ticket. Instead, to get the Zoom and YouTube links, email: blackbanjopresentations@gmail.com
Black Banjo Presentations: Tony Thomas on the life and music of Black banjoist Gus Cannon (1883-1979)
Listen to some of Gus Cannon's music:
Banjo Joe (aka Gus Cannon): "Poor Boy Long Ways From Home" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnMNmQ_r6M
Cannon's Jug Stompers: "Mule Get Up in the Alley" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AglhN2AFo8o
Noah Lewis Jug Band (Gus Cannon on banjo): "New Minglewood Blues" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVLahzpuX5g
Thurs. Sept. 23 ---- 5:00 - 6:30 pm PST Gus Cannon and the Big Banjo World of 120 Years Ago
Sun. Sept. 26 --- 3:30 - 5:00 pm PST Gus Cannon & the Five String Banjo in the Era of the Blues
LIVE! at Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 3445 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland CA
Tony Thomas has prepared an excellent handout, viewable and downloadable here, and also pasted at the end of this section: https://tinyurl.com/6yxksahc
Proof of vaccination, masks, distancing required. Attending live is a great opportunity to meet Black banjo historian Tony Thomas and connect with other Black banjo enthusiasts.
ONLINE LINKS TO THE LECTURES (FREE):
YOUTUBE LINK:
https://www.youtube.com/c/BerkeleyOldTimeMusicConvention/videos
Once the lecture has started, you will see the livestream of the presentation as the first item. Note that you will not see this until the presentation is actually livestreaming!
ZOOM LINK : (it will not be published online) - to get the Zoom link, send an email to blackbanjopresentations@gmail.com
ABOUT TONY THOMAS
Tony Thomas is one of the leading historians of banjo origins and the history of African American banjo playing. He was one of the organizers of the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University which launched the contemporary Black Banjo revival. His writings include publications by Duke University Press, University of Illinois Press and the Oxford African American Studies Center. Tony has presented at the Banjo Collectors Gathering, Banjo Camp North, Suwanee Banjo Camp, Blue Ridge Old Time Music Week at Mars Hill College, Britain’s “Sweet Sunny South” Festival, and at universities and teacher education conferences. He has performed solo and with New York’s Ebony Hillbillies, playing banjo and guitar. Tony holds a Master of Fine Art in Creative Writing from Florida International University and has published literary fiction and poetry and pieces on African American and African studies and socialist politics since the 1960s.
About Gus Cannon 1883-1979
Gus Cannon brought the wonder of Black banjos to ragtime, blues, country folk. He began playing fiddle and banjo at Saturday night “balls” in the Mississippi Delta in the 1890s. By 1919 he was playing in medicine shows across the country, offering $1000 to anyone who could beat him on the banjo. From 1927 to 1930 his Black banjo and jug swung 35 records, with artists like Blind Blake and Hosea Woods and his own Jug Stompers. In 1963 the Roof Top Singers, a “folk” trio, had a number one hit with his 1929 song “Walk Right In.” At age 80, out of music and working as a “yardman” in Memphis, Cannon went to the Stax Records studio and demanded to record; they recorded his “Walk Right in Album.” Age and affliction limited him, but he got to play NYC’s Friends of Old Time Music in 1963 and made several other recordings to pass along the legacy of Black banjo in blues, ragtime, and Black country folk.
Tony Thomas Classes for the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention September 2021
“Gus Cannon and the Big Banjo World of 120 Years Ago” Thursday September 23
“Gus Cannon and Five String Banjo in the Era of the Blues” Sunday September 26
We will discuss Gus Cannon’s life and music focusing on his 1927 to 1930 recordings. You do not need to attend one class to enjoy the other. It is not necessary to play the banjo to enjoy or understand either class. Readings and links that can help inform you are listed below, but you do not need to read or view them to enjoy these classes.
All links like this are live Internet links. Clicking on them on a device with Internet access will take you to their web location and for books and CDs where they are on Amazon.
Web: Read this short online essay I wrote for Oxford University Press first:
“The Banjo and African American Musical Culture” https://oxfordaasc.com/page/photo-essay-the-banjo-and-african-american-musical-culture
Books:
If you can, read “Gus Cannon—'The Colored Champion Banjo Pugilist of the World’ and the Big World of the Banjo” by Tony Thomas in Banjo Roots and Branches and “Why African Americans Put the Banjo Down” by Tony Thomas in Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music. Library, Kindle, borrowed, and used copies are just as good as fully purchased copies. You will enjoy these classes if you do not read any of this.
Recordings:
There are many YouTubes of Cannon’s recordings, but we are only interested in the 1927 to 1930 recordings. Just Google “Gus Cannon” and “YouTube.” For “Gus Cannon, Five String Banjo, and Black Music in the Era of the Blues” try to observe differences between Cannon’s Jug Stomper’s 1930 recording of “Mule Get Up in The Alley” with the Noah Lewis Jug Band’s Recording of “New Minglewood Blues”.
To hear it all, get Document Records’ reissue of Cannons 1927-30 recording. They contain more and have not been modified in pitch or speed as other collections have. You need not hear them to enjoy the classes but doing so will vastly improve your life.
Gus Cannon Vol. 1 (1927-1928) and Gus Cannon & Noah Lewis Vol. 2 (1929-1930)
You can email Tony Thomas at tonythomasbanjo@gmail.com about Cannon, the classes, the banjo, or anything else.
These two Black banjo presentations are a collaboration between Oakland Public Conservatory (https://opcclasses.squarespace.com/) and the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention (https://www.berkeleyoldtimemusic.org/). They are part of this year's Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, Sept. 23-26. Please check out the BOTMC website for more information, there are concerts, workshops, jam sessions and more. Full schedule: https://www.berkeleyoldtimemusic.org/schedule
The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention is honored to collaborate with Oakland Public Conservatory on this project.
