Joel Walker Sweeney also known as Joe Sweeney, was a musician and early blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 minstrel

Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....

 performer. Born to a farming family in Buckingham County, Virginia, (now Appomattox) he claimed to have learned to play the banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 from local African-Americans and is the earliest documented white banjo player. In addition, he is the earliest known person to have played the banjo on stage. Aside from his important role in popularizing the instrument, he has often been credited with advancing the physical development of the modern five-string banjo. Whereas the instrument's resonating chamber had formerly been constructed from a gourd (like the banjo's African ancestors and cousins), Sweeney popularized the use of a drum-like resonating chamber (legend has it that he adapted a cheese box for this purpose). He has also been credited with adding the banjo's fifth string, which according to legend was for an instrument he created for his niece between 1831 and 1840. He supposedly added the fifth string because he was "allegedly unhappy with the limited rhythm and melodic variation of the four-string banjos popularly in use." In fact, there is no proof that Sweeney introduced either innovation. The high-pitched, thumb or drone string (the fifth on a modern banjo) can be seen on surviving 18th-century four-string banjos and in banjo illustrations that long pre-date Sweeney's heyday. The fifth string gives the banjo a reentrant tuning

Reentrant tuning

A reentrant tuning is a tuning of a stringed instrument where the strings are not ordered from the lowest pitch to the highest pitch ....

, a technique that can be traced back to the ancient Greeks.

Until the 1830s, the banjo was played solely by African Americans. A few musicians performed on stage in "the Louisiana Banjou style" by the middle of the decade, but the instrument used was the violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

.Sweeney began performing with the banjo in the early 1830's. He first performed throughout central Virginia for county court sessions. A few years later he joined a circus and traveled throughout Virginia and North Carolina. By 1839, Sweeney was performing in various blackface venues in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. His earliest documented use of the banjo on stage was in April 1839. That same month, he performed alongside James Sanford

James Sanford

James Sanford, born , is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States, best known for setting the 1981 world's best year performance in the men's 200 metres...

 at the Broadway Circus in New York with a blackface burlesque of The Dying Moor's Defence of His Flag called "Novel Duetts, Songs, &c". This was accompanied by a "Comic Morris Dance

Border Morris

The term Border Morris refers to a collection of individual local dances from villages along the English side of the Wales-England border in the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. They are part of the Morris dance tradition.- History :...

 by the whole company". According to Billy Whitlock

Billy Whitlock

William M. "Billy" Whitlock was an American blackface performer. He began his career in entertainment doing blackface banjo routines in circuses and dime shows, and by 1843, he was well known in New York City. He is best known for his role in forming the original minstrel troupe, the Virginia...

 of the Virginia Minstrels

Virginia Minstrels

The Virginia Minstrels or Virginia Serenaders was a group of 19th century American entertainers known for helping to invent the entertainment form known as the minstrel show...

, Sweeney gave Whitlock a few banjo lessons around this time.
By 1841, Sweeney was remaking the banjo into an instrument for the middle class. His advertisements boasted that he played with "scientific touches of perfection". Another raved, "Only those who have heard Sweeny [sic] know what music there is in a banjo." For the next few years, he was the benchmark against whom other banjo players were compared. After a performance by Dan Emmett

Dan Emmett

Daniel Decatur "Dan" Emmett was an American songwriter and entertainer, founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel tradition.-Biography:...

 at the Bowery Amphitheatre Circus, the New York Herald

New York Herald

The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...

wrote, "Emmit's [sic] banjo playing is fully equal to Jo [sic] Sweeney's, and far ahead of any other now in the United States." "Jenny Get Your Hoe Cake Done" and "Knock a Nigger Down" became two of Sweeney's signature tunes.

Sweeney saw success, and by early 1843, he embarked on a European tour that included stops in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. In July 1843, Sweeney played during entr'acte

Entr'acte

' is French for "between the acts" . It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission, but it more often indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production...

s at the Adelphi Theatre

Adelphi Theatre

The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...

 in Edinburgh, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Frank Brower

Frank Brower

Francis "Frank" Marion Brower was an American blackface performer active in the mid-19th century. Brower began performing blackface song-and-dance acts in circuses and variety shows when he was 13. He eventually introduced the bones to his act, helping to popularize it as a blackface instrument...

 of the Virginia Minstrels

Virginia Minstrels

The Virginia Minstrels or Virginia Serenaders was a group of 19th century American entertainers known for helping to invent the entertainment form known as the minstrel show...

 met him there and joined Sweeney's act as a bones

Bones (instrument)

The bones are a musical instrument which, at the simplest, consists of a pair of animal bones, or pieces of wood or a similar material. Sections of large rib bones and lower leg bones are the most commonly used true bones, although wooden sticks shaped like the earlier true bones are now more...

 player. The two toured, performing in early October at the Theatre Royal

Theatre Royal, Birmingham

The Theatre Royal, originally the New Theatre, was a theatre located on New Street in Birmingham, England between 1774 and 1956.-Bibliography and further reading:**...

 in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 and later that month in a circus at Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

. At some point, Brower parted company to tour with Dan Emmett

Dan Emmett

Daniel Decatur "Dan" Emmett was an American songwriter and entertainer, founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel tradition.-Biography:...

, though he rejoined Sweeney by spring of 1844.

At this time, Dick Pelham met up with Sweeney and Brower, and the trio decided to reform the Virginia Minstrels with Sweeney as banjoist. They found Emmett in Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

 and talked him into joining, although Sweeney would be the troupe leader. The new Virginia Minstrels performed in Dublin at the Theatre Royal from 24 April to 7 May during entr'actes, then continued for a series of entr'actes and complete minstrel shows in Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

, Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, then Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 by the end of May. They did several shows at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi, and later in the Waterloo Rooms in Edinburgh, followed by a return engagement in Glasgow, this time at City Hall.

Joel Sweeney's younger brothers, Sampson ("Sam") and Richard ("Dick"), and his sister Missouri were also talented banjo and fiddle players. In 1845, Joel, Sam, and Dick formed the minstrel troupe "Old Joe's Minstrels". Joel died in Appomattox on 29 October 1860 of dropsy. Dick also died in 1860.

During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, Sam Sweeney enlisted in the Confederate Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

, serving in the 2nd Virginia Cavalry

2nd Virginia Cavalry

The 2nd Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia....

.

Sam Sweeney and his banjo playing came to the attention of the famed cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 general J.E.B. Stuart

J.E.B. Stuart

James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...

. Stuart had Sweeney attached to his staff, which became one of Staurt's best-known personal quirks. Sam Sweeney's signature song, possibly penned by Stuart himself, was "Jine the Cavalry," with new lyrics set to the pre-existing tune entitled "Down in Alabama." Sam Sweeney died of smallpox on 13 January 1864 and was buried in the Bohannon-Trent cemetery, now within the bounds of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of original and reconstructed nineteenth century buildings. It was signed into law August 3, 1935. The village was made a national monument in 1940 and a national historical park in 1954...

.

External links

• Joel Sweeney's grave at www.findagrave.com
• Joel Sweeney & The Musical Sweeneys of Appomattox