Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History

Historian Gaddy’s (Flowers in the Gutter) adult nonfiction debut, warmly narrated by Chanté McCormick, examines the complicated history of the banjo. Gaddy’s research spans from 1687 in the Atlantic Ocean to 1857 in Washington, DC, with sources reaching from Jamaica and Suriname to England and the U.S. East Coast. In this banjo history treasure hunt, Gaddy employs correspondence, diaries, and even onsite visits to investigate the origins of early banjo variants, connecting them to the North American banjo, which is a uniquely African American instrument. As Gaddy’s book focuses on the instrument’s veiled past, modern uses of the banjo are not addressed. Although the narrative focus aims for the banjo, there are frequent segues into other topics—religion, enslavement in the Caribbean and U.S., crop usage, and dance. As a result, the book becomes an exercise in histories other than that of the banjo. While the text contains vital photographs of early instruments, those beneficial visuals are lost with the audiobook, as are the notes and index.