{"product_id":"fiddling-is-my-joy-the-fiddle-in-african-american-culture-hardback-9781496856555","title":"Fiddling Is My Joy; The Fiddle in African American Culture (Hardback) 9781496856555","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eFiddling Is My Joy\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe Fiddle in African American Culture\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eJacqueline Cogdell DjeDje (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781496856555\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 18 June 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e556 pages, 64 b\u0026amp;w illustrations; 2 maps - 2 Maps\u003cbr\u003e25.4 x 17.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"A monumental contribution to the history of secular Black music and to the overlapping complete history of American fiddling.\" - Chris Goertzen, author of \u003ci\u003eRugs, Guitars, and Fiddling: Intensification and the Rich Modern Lives of Traditional Arts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I have been waiting for a book like this for several decades and am impressed by DjeDje’s broad intercontinental, cross-cultural vision and her authoritative research. \u003ci\u003eFiddling Is My Joy: The Fiddle in African American Culture \u003c\/i\u003enot only embraces the complex, fascinating relationships among Black fiddle traditions in West Africa and those that emerged in the United States, it does so masterfully, comprehensively, and over the sweep of several centuries.\" - Kip Lornell, author of \u003ci\u003eExploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The details of the Black American fiddle tradition, the frequency of Black-white musical exchange involving fiddle and banjo, and the number and geographical distribution of Black fiddlers have been treated by music scholars only in passing, or presented in narrow case studies, resulting in a fragmented picture. Thus, an overall portrait of Black American fiddling has remained obscure until DjeDje’s remarkably comprehensive research which, gathered together in this volume, offers original argument as well as overwhelming evidence from a great many sources.\" - Jeff Todd Titon, professor emeritus of music at Brown University and author of \u003ci\u003eOld-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eFiddling Is My Joy\u003c\/i\u003e, Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje examines the history of fiddling among African Americans from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century. Although music historians acknowledge a prominent African American fiddle tradition during the era of slavery, only recently have researchers begun to closely examine the history and social implications of these musical practices. Research on African music reveals a highly developed tradition in West Africa, which dates to the eleventh or twelfth century and continues today. From these West African roots, fiddling was prominent in many African American communities between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, and the fiddle became an important instrument in early twentieth century blues, jazz, and jug bands. While less common in late twentieth-century African American jazz and popular music groups, the fiddle remained integral to the musicking of some Black musicians in the rural South.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeatured in \u003ci\u003eFiddling Is My Joy \u003c\/i\u003eis access to a comprehensive online eScholarship Companion that contains maps, photographs, audiovisual examples, and other materials to expand the work of this enlightening and significant study. To understand the immense history of fiddling, DjeDje uses geography to weave together a common thread by profiling the lives and contributions of Black fiddlers in various parts of the rural South and Midwest, including the mountains and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In addition to exploring the extent that musical characteristics and aesthetics identified with African and European cultures were maintained or reinterpreted in Black fiddling, she also investigates how the sharing of musical ideas between Black and white fiddlers affected the development of both traditions. Most importantly, she considers the contradiction in representation. Historical evidence suggests that the fiddle may be one of the oldest uninterrupted instrumental traditions in African American culture, yet most people in the United States, including African Americans, do not identify it with Black music.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eAbout \u003ci\u003eFiddling Is My Joy\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eCompanion\u003c\/i\u003e on eScholarship\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePrologue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection One—Pre–Twentieth Century: The Beginnings and Rise in Popularity of Black Fiddling \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 1—The Earliest Evidence: Black Fiddling During the 1600s and 1700s\u003cbr\u003ePolydor Gardiner   Rhode Island\u003cbr\u003eCaesar, Cato, and Robert Prim   Connecticut\u003cbr\u003eOthello and Sampson   Massachusetts \u003cbr\u003eCuffee, Jamaica, and John Marrant   New York\u003cbr\u003ePeter   Philadelphia \u003cbr\u003eDerby, Peter, Robert, Sambo, Simeon Gilliat, Devereux Jarratt, and George Walker   Virginia\u003cbr\u003eClarinda   South Carolina\u003cbr\u003eChapter 2—A General Overview: Black Fiddling During the 1800s\u003cbr\u003eChapter 3—A Regional Perspective: Black Fiddling During the 1800s\u003cbr\u003eThe Snowden Family Band   Ohio\u003cbr\u003eJames Thomas   Tennessee\u003cbr\u003eBen Guyton   Alabama \u003cbr\u003eGeorge Morris   West Virginia\u003cbr\u003eAugustus \"Gus\" Cochran   Alabama\u003cbr\u003eSolomon Northup   New York, Louisiana\u003cbr\u003eGus Rhodes   Alabama\u003cbr\u003eThe Owens Family   Mississippi\u003cbr\u003eCharles Lipscomb   Texas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection Two—Early Twentieth Century: The Decline in Prominence of Black Fiddling \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 4—Black Fiddling and Secular Music in the Rural South\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003eCentral Appalachian Mountains and Neighboring Regions\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 5—Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Adams Jr.   Maryland\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Leonard Bowles   Virginia\u003cbr\u003eCarl Choice Martin   Virginia\u003cbr\u003ePosey Foddrell   Virginia\u003cbr\u003eStephen Tarter   Virginia\u003cbr\u003eMert Perkins   West Virginia\u003cbr\u003eJilly Grace   West Virginia\u003cbr\u003eChapter 6—Kentucky\u003cbr\u003eOwen Walker \u003cbr\u003eJames \"Jim\" D. Booker Jr. \u003cbr\u003eArnold Shultz \u003cbr\u003eElla Shultz Griffin\u003cbr\u003eShell Coffey and Charlie Buster\u003cbr\u003eWilliam \"Bill\" Livers\u003cbr\u003eChapter 7—Tennessee\u003cbr\u003eFrank Patterson Jr.\u003cbr\u003eJohn Lusk \u003cbr\u003eBennie \"Cuje\" Bertram\u003cbr\u003eWalter Greer\u003cbr\u003eJoel Rice\u003cbr\u003eChapter 8—North Carolina\u003cbr\u003eMadison Boone\u003cbr\u003eJoseph Thompson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003eSouthern Appalachian Mountains and Neighboring Regions\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 9—South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi\u003cbr\u003eHenry J. Bryant   South Carolina\u003cbr\u003eAndrew Baxter   Georgia\u003cbr\u003eFort Valley College Music Festival   Georgia \u003cbr\u003eElbert J. Freeman   Georgia\u003cbr\u003eJoe Kinney Rakestraw   Georgia\u003cbr\u003eAlfred Thomas   Georgia\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Hollis   Georgia\u003cbr\u003eEarnest Mostella   Alabama\u003cbr\u003eSidney Hemphill   Mississippi\u003cbr\u003eRobert \"Bob\" Pratcher   Mississippi\u003cbr\u003eThomas Jefferson Dumas   Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003eThe Ozark Mountains\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 10—Missouri\u003cbr\u003eAce Donell Sr.\u003cbr\u003eWilliam \"Bill\" Katon\u003cbr\u003eWilliam \"Bill\" Alexander Driver Jr.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003eSouth Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and Neighboring Regions\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 11—Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,\u003cbr\u003eMississippi, Arkansas\u003cbr\u003eFred Perry   Florida\u003cbr\u003eEddie West   Alabama\u003cbr\u003eBo Chatmon [Carter], Harry Chatmon   Mississippi \u003cbr\u003eLonnie Chatmon   Mississippi \u003cbr\u003eHenry \"Son\" Simms   Mississippi\u003cbr\u003eBlind Pete   Arkansas\u003cbr\u003eChapter 12—Louisiana, Texas\u003cbr\u003eJames \"Butch\" Cage   Mississippi\/Louisiana\u003cbr\u003eMorris Chenier   Louisiana\u003cbr\u003eDouglas Bellard   Louisiana\u003cbr\u003eJoseph \"Bébé\" Carrière   Louisiana \u003cbr\u003eCalvin Carrière   Louisiana \u003cbr\u003eCanray Fontenot   Louisiana\u003cbr\u003eCharlie Thomas   Texas\u003cbr\u003eOscar William Nelson   Texas\u003cbr\u003eTeodar Jackson   Texas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEpilogue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHoward Armstrong   Tennessee\u003cbr\u003eReferences Cited: Print Sources, Interviews, Personal\/Email Communication\u003cbr\u003eReferences Cited: Discography, Film and Video, Radio, Websites\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University Press of Mississippi","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52607727698200,"sku":"9781496856555","price":78.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/fiddling-is-my-joy-the-fiddle-in-african-american-culture-hardback-9781496856555","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}