WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.919 Welcome to the deep dive. Uh, pull up a chair 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:05.040 because today we are looking at a historical 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:08.250 mystery that actually directly affects the music 00:00:08.250 --> 00:00:10.189 you probably listen to on your way to work today. 00:00:10.349 --> 00:00:12.949 A really massive mystery. Yeah. And we always 00:00:12.949 --> 00:00:15.550 consider you, the listener, the crucial third 00:00:15.550 --> 00:00:17.390 person in the room with us. And we're really 00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:19.410 going to need your curiosity for this one. Absolutely. 00:00:19.469 --> 00:00:21.949 Our mission today is to take a stack of notes, 00:00:22.109 --> 00:00:25.210 a bunch of historical sources, and a short but 00:00:25.210 --> 00:00:28.030 incredibly dense Wikipedia article about a man 00:00:28.030 --> 00:00:31.750 named John Picayune Butler and, well, basically 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:34.310 extract the real story hidden inside all of that. 00:00:34.409 --> 00:00:36.170 Because it is one of those historical documents. 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.219 that it seems pretty brief on the surface, but 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:41.740 once you start pulling at the threads, the entire 00:00:41.740 --> 00:00:44.820 tapestry of early American music, the physical 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:47.100 evolution of instruments and really the very 00:00:47.100 --> 00:00:49.979 concept of fame itself starts to unravel in the 00:00:49.979 --> 00:00:52.259 most fascinating way. Right. So we are traveling 00:00:52.259 --> 00:00:55.600 all the way back to the 1820s today. A very different 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:58.399 world. Completely. We're exploring the roots 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.039 of American pop music, the evolution of the banjo, 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.840 and the incredibly blurry lines of historical 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.239 identity. To get us oriented, let's just lay 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:09.500 out the foundational details the sources give 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:12.170 us about our subject. Sounds good. Set the stage. 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:16.390 So John Picayune Butler was a black French singer, 00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:19.590 a stage actor, an instrumentalist, and a clown. 00:01:19.890 --> 00:01:22.370 He originally came from the French West Indies, 00:01:22.370 --> 00:01:25.250 making his way to New Orleans in the 1820s. Right, 00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:27.969 the 1820s. From there, he began touring the Mississippi 00:01:27.969 --> 00:01:30.870 Valley. And his reputation just grew and grew 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:33.670 to the point that by the 1850s, he was a massive 00:01:33.670 --> 00:01:36.109 name as far north as Cincinnati. What's fascinating 00:01:36.109 --> 00:01:37.950 here is that this isn't just a standard historical 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.379 biography. For you listening right now, this 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:43.299 is a look at how early street performance fundamentally 00:01:43.299 --> 00:01:45.920 shaped the entire entertainment industry we have 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.599 today. Yeah, the literal foundation. Exactly. 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:51.579 This is a story about how one single man's name 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:53.859 didn't just belong to him, but actually transformed 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:56.540 into a massive musical phenomenon in its own 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:59.620 right. So how do we actually get from a guy arriving 00:01:59.620 --> 00:02:02.799 in New Orleans in the 1820s to a nationwide musical 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:05.739 phenomenon? Well, to understand Butler, we have 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:08.240 to look at the environment that shaped him. Right. 00:02:08.300 --> 00:02:10.599 The influence of the street was massive. Our 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:12.900 sources highlight that one of his major early 00:02:12.900 --> 00:02:15.919 influences was actually a local street vendor 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:19.719 known simply by the name Old Cornmeal. I love 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:22.300 this detail. Old Cornmeal is such a brilliant 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:24.340 piece of this puzzle. Yeah. Because he wasn't 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.439 just walking around selling goods in the background. 00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:28.879 No, not at all. He actually gained significant 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.719 fame as a singer and a dancer, eventually performing 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:33.520 at the St. Charles Theater in New Orleans back 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:37.120 in 1837. It's wild to picture a vendor just stepping 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.300 off a dusty street corner and walking straight 00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:41.740 onto a major theater stage. I mean, how common 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:44.159 was that kind of crossover? It was the defining 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:47.719 characteristic of the era, really. And WHY it 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:49.740 matters that a street vendor was influencing 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:52.680 it. traveling musician and clown like Butler. 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:55.860 Yeah, why is that the key? Well, you see, 1820s 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:58.479 and 1830s New Orleans was an unprecedented cultural 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:01.740 melting pot. You have performers moving seamlessly 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:03.560 from the open -air marketplace to the formal 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:06.240 theatrical stage. Just back and forth. Exactly. 00:03:06.969 --> 00:03:10.030 The fact that a vendor like Old Cornmeal could 00:03:10.030 --> 00:03:13.270 directly inspire a touring stage performer like 00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:16.250 Butler shows us how American entertainment was 00:03:16.250 --> 00:03:18.050 literally being built from the ground up on the 00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:19.830 pavement. It wasn't coming from the top down. 00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:22.370 Right. It wasn't trickling down from elite formal 00:03:22.370 --> 00:03:25.129 conservatories in Europe. It was being forged. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.780 in the markets, the ports, and the everyday noisy 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:31.199 interactions of the people actually living there. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.560 Okay, let's unpack this because that ground -up 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:35.620 building process really comes into focus when 00:03:35.620 --> 00:03:38.819 we look at the music itself. By the early 1850s, 00:03:38.819 --> 00:03:40.960 Butler wasn't just playing music on a street 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.060 corner anymore. No, he was at the very top of 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:45.479 his field. He was at the center of a massive 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:47.979 three -way rivalry. He was considered one of 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:50.960 the top three professional banjo players of his 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.659 entire generation. The absolute elite of the 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:55.520 craft at that time. He was competing against 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:58.960 two very prominent white, blackface, minstrel 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.120 players. One was a man named Hiram Rumsey. Okay. 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:04.759 And the other was Tom Briggs, who actually went 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:06.680 on to write a highly influential book called 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:11.300 The Briggs Banjo Instructor in 1855. And amidst 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:13.979 all this really high -level competition, there's 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:16.319 a detail in our sources that I absolutely love 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.399 because it brings this history right into the 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.360 room with us. The Converse story. Yes. There 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.199 was a 14 -year -old banjo enthusiast named Frank 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.399 B. Converse, and young Frank managed to watch 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:30.959 John Pickian Butler perform live in the 1850s. 00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:33.139 Which is a testament to how closely people were 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:35.100 paying attention to Butler's specific technique. 00:04:35.529 --> 00:04:37.790 Right. Frank wasn't just a fan clapping along. 00:04:38.069 --> 00:04:40.910 No, he was taking mental notes. He watched exactly 00:04:40.910 --> 00:04:43.430 how Butler's hands moved, how he physically struck 00:04:43.430 --> 00:04:46.310 the instrument. Converse later used those direct 00:04:46.310 --> 00:04:49.029 observations of Butler to formulate the standard 00:04:49.029 --> 00:04:51.910 system for teaching what is known as the stroke 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:54.870 or claw hammer style of playing the banjo. And 00:04:54.870 --> 00:04:57.470 Converse even went on to author several banjo 00:04:57.470 --> 00:04:59.930 instruction books himself based on this. He did. 00:05:00.110 --> 00:05:02.459 It codified the style. For you listening who 00:05:02.459 --> 00:05:04.019 might not play the banjo or if you're having 00:05:04.019 --> 00:05:06.339 trouble visualizing this, let's just break down 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:08.379 that claw hammer style for a second. It's very 00:05:08.379 --> 00:05:10.920 unique. It really is. Imagine you are holding 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:14.120 a modern guitar. Usually a player plucks upward 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:16.819 with their fingertips or a plastic pick, but 00:05:16.819 --> 00:05:19.519 with the claw hammer style, your playing hand 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.620 is shaped almost like a literal claw. Hence the 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.360 name. Exactly. Instead of plucking up, you were 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:27.819 striking downward on the strings with the back 00:05:27.819 --> 00:05:29.720 of your fingernail and then catching the thumb 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:32.240 on a string as your hand moves back up. It creates 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:35.939 this incredibly rhythmic, driving, almost percussive 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:38.720 sound. It's so fast and heavy. It fundamentally 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:42.459 turns a stringed instrument into a drum as well. 00:05:42.889 --> 00:05:44.949 It's an incredibly physical way to play. And 00:05:44.949 --> 00:05:48.050 because it is so physical, Converse noted a very 00:05:48.050 --> 00:05:51.029 specific, tangible detail about Butler's gear. 00:05:51.509 --> 00:05:54.290 Butler used something called a banjo thimble. 00:05:54.449 --> 00:05:56.829 A fascinating piece of history on its own. Really 00:05:56.829 --> 00:05:59.129 is. These were little metal covers that a player 00:05:59.129 --> 00:06:01.350 would slide right over their fingernails to strike 00:06:01.350 --> 00:06:03.990 the strings. Those thimbles are such a crucial 00:06:03.990 --> 00:06:06.629 piece of 19th century technology. Yeah. Think 00:06:06.629 --> 00:06:08.850 about it from a purely acoustic standpoint. Yeah. 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:11.310 If you were striking thick strings with the back 00:06:11.310 --> 00:06:13.259 of your bare finger. fingernail over and over, 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.819 you're going to wear down or just break that 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.120 nail very quickly. Well, instantly. But more 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.459 importantly, I want you to imagine being a performer 00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:25.519 in the 1850s. You are trying to captivate a raucous, 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:29.319 unruly crowd in a tavern or a theater. A tough 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:31.560 crowd. Very tough. There are no microphones. 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:34.399 There are no amplifiers. The room is echoing 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:37.060 with shouting, drinking, moving chairs. You need 00:06:37.290 --> 00:06:41.110 every single decibel of loud, clear sound you 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:43.629 can possibly generate just to be heard over the 00:06:43.629 --> 00:06:45.689 noise of the room. So the metal thimble essentially 00:06:45.689 --> 00:06:47.850 turns your finger into a little metal hammer. 00:06:48.110 --> 00:06:50.930 Precisely. It increased the volume and the sharp, 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:52.529 bright clarity of the instrument significantly. 00:06:53.370 --> 00:06:56.050 That banjo thimble wasn't just a musical accessory. 00:06:56.389 --> 00:06:59.649 It was a literal survival tool for a working 00:06:59.649 --> 00:07:02.310 musician who needed to command a noisy room. 00:07:02.509 --> 00:07:04.410 And it was a tool that clearly worked because 00:07:04.410 --> 00:07:06.389 Butler was using it to compete at the highest 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:09.050 possible levels. In fact, our sources note that 00:07:09.050 --> 00:07:11.750 in 1857, Butler participated in the first ever 00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:14.230 banjo tournament in the United States. Held at 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:17.449 Chinese Hall in New York City. Yes, Chinese Hall. 00:07:17.529 --> 00:07:20.310 A massive, highly anticipated event. To be invited 00:07:20.310 --> 00:07:22.490 to the first national tournament means you're 00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:26.860 rep... But the outcome of this tournament is 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:29.480 quite the historical punchline. We know Butler 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.720 was arguably the greatest player of his generation. 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:34.839 But he only placed second at Chinese Hall. Did 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.199 the sources indicate who beat him or maybe why 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:39.680 he fell short? They explicitly note the reason 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:42.040 for his second place finish. He was inebriated. 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:45.939 Wow. Yeah. The legendary John Piccione Butler 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:48.480 showed up to the first national banjo tournament 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.139 drunk. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:54.360 it is such a wonderfully humanizing detail. Really 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.019 is. It really highlights the gritty, completely 00:07:57.019 --> 00:07:59.660 unpolished reality of early professional music 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:03.060 competitions. History often paints these foundational 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:06.920 moments as sterile, formal affairs with everyone 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.139 in suits acting perfectly polite. Right, like 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:11.759 a classical symphony or something. Exactly. But 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:14.259 the reality was loud, it was messy, and sometimes 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:17.060 the legendary master showed up a little too intoxicated 00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:19.600 to win the first place prize. It grounds the 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.699 history in a very relatable reality. Sadly, Butler 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:24.680 didn't live much longer after that tournament. 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.120 The records show he passed away on November 18th, 00:08:28.139 --> 00:08:31.959 1864 in New York City. A huge loss. But his influence 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:34.639 absolutely outlived him, which brings us to a 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:36.659 part of the history we need to navigate carefully. 00:08:37.059 --> 00:08:39.779 We're going to look clearly and impartially at 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:42.120 how this musical influence actually flowed through 00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:44.980 the culture of the 19th century. Right. The historical 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:47.500 record recognizes Butler as one of the first 00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:50.700 documented black entertainers to directly influence. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.220 the trajectory of American popular music. Which 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:55.960 is a monumental legacy. It is. And a huge part 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:58.659 of how that cultural transfer happened was through 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:02.039 the publication of a blackface song in 1858 called 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:04.960 Picayune Butler's Come to Town. It appeared in 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.600 Phil Rice's book, Phil Rice's Correct Method 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.379 for the Banjo, With or Without a Master. The 00:09:10.379 --> 00:09:12.279 fact that his name is right there in the title 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:15.360 of a widely published song shows you the cultural 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.100 weight he carried. Absolutely. But it goes beyond 00:09:18.100 --> 00:09:21.159 just sheet music. Butler's actual live performances 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:23.679 directly influenced white entertainers of the 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:25.679 era who were building the minstrelsy industry. 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:28.580 Our sources highlight a white circus clown and 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:30.799 early minstrel performer named George Nichols. 00:09:30.980 --> 00:09:33.779 And Nichols didn't just casually observe Butler. 00:09:33.940 --> 00:09:37.720 He directly absorbed his material. The historical 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.679 record shows that Nichols outright took the song, 00:09:40.820 --> 00:09:43.159 Picking Butler is Going Away from Butler's Act. 00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:45.230 And made it his own. He just took the song wholesale. 00:09:45.529 --> 00:09:47.429 Yes. And an article published in the New York 00:09:47.429 --> 00:09:50.809 Clipper on November 24th, 1860, drops an even 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:53.889 bigger historical detail. In that article, Nichols 00:09:53.889 --> 00:09:55.750 claimed that he actually learned the song Jump 00:09:55.750 --> 00:09:58.990 Jim Crow from Butler. Which is wild. Nichols 00:09:58.990 --> 00:10:01.029 stated he was performing the song years before 00:10:01.029 --> 00:10:04.110 Thomas Rice, who is famously and historically 00:10:04.110 --> 00:10:06.269 associated with popularizing that incredibly 00:10:06.269 --> 00:10:09.549 loaded caricature ever did. That is a staggering 00:10:09.549 --> 00:10:12.480 piece of historical lineage. Jump Jim Crow wasn't 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:15.299 just a popular tune. It became the defining, 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:19.120 overarching caricature of an entire era, lending 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.419 its name to the systemic laws of the segregated 00:10:21.419 --> 00:10:24.679 South later on. Right. To trace the performance 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.120 origins of that specific song back through Nichols 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.759 and directly to Butler is a massive revelation 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.549 about how culture was moving. And the New York 00:10:32.549 --> 00:10:35.350 Clipper article also notes a very specific shift 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:38.370 in how Nichols performed. Initially, Nichols 00:10:38.370 --> 00:10:41.230 sang Jim Crow in his traditional circus clown 00:10:41.230 --> 00:10:44.230 makeup. Like the white face paint. Exactly. But 00:10:44.230 --> 00:10:46.830 he watched John Pickey and Butler imitating the 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:49.669 character while performing the song. After seeing 00:10:49.669 --> 00:10:52.389 Butler's physical performance, Nichols got the 00:10:52.389 --> 00:10:55.309 idea to switch his act. He changed his whole 00:10:55.309 --> 00:10:57.450 aesthetic. He abandoned the clown makeup and 00:10:57.450 --> 00:10:59.649 began to sing the song in blackface instead. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.019 Nicole also notes Nichols was heavily influenced 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:05.580 by Old Cornmeal, the street vendor we discussed 00:11:05.580 --> 00:11:08.379 earlier. When you synthesize all of this information, 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:11.960 it provides a very stark, factual map of the 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:14.580 complex and highly appropriative nature of early 00:11:14.580 --> 00:11:16.740 American entertainment. It's all connected. Very 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:19.240 much so. You have the direct innovations of black 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:22.320 performers. like Butler, creating these performance 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:25.620 styles, or Old Cornmeal innovating on the streets, 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:29.000 being actively observed, absorbed, and then repackaged 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:31.460 by white performers like Nichols for massive 00:11:31.460 --> 00:11:33.440 commercial gain. And that repackaging changed 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.519 everything. It did. It demonstrates exactly how 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:39.120 cultural and musical techniques transferred across 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:42.440 racial lines in the 19th century, laying the 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:45.100 foundation for what would become massive yet 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:47.799 deeply fraught popular entertainment trends. 00:11:48.330 --> 00:11:50.809 It is absolutely essential for understanding 00:11:50.809 --> 00:11:53.309 how the mechanics of American music actually 00:11:53.309 --> 00:11:55.610 traveled. Definitely. But wait, here's where 00:11:55.610 --> 00:11:58.409 it gets really interesting. Because when you 00:11:58.409 --> 00:12:00.889 look closely at the history of John Pickium Butler, 00:12:01.110 --> 00:12:03.950 you don't just find a biography. You hit a massive 00:12:03.950 --> 00:12:07.259 historical mystery. Yes, the timeline of Butler's 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:09.759 life and the sightings of him performing start 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.179 to become incredibly crowded. Too crowded for 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.539 one person, right? Far too crowded. A music historian 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:17.379 named Lowell H. Schreier put forward a fascinating 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:20.279 theory. Schreier suggests that Picayune Butler 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.899 might not have been just one single man. Because 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.080 the song Picayune Butler's Come to Town became 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:27.940 such a massive hit, Schreier believes that several 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:29.679 different people across the country may have 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:31.879 actually adopted the name as their own. It's 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:33.940 a brilliant piece of historical detective work. 00:12:34.860 --> 00:12:37.220 through the contemporary records, newspaper clippings, 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:40.059 and sheet music from the 1800s, you can actually 00:12:40.059 --> 00:12:44.779 break down four distinct possible butlers operating 00:12:44.779 --> 00:12:47.120 during this era. Let's run through these four 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:48.840 suspects for the listener right now because the 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.870 details are just wild. Let's do it. Suspect number 00:12:51.870 --> 00:12:55.110 one is what we might call the 1825 original. 00:12:55.669 --> 00:12:58.409 This is a performer who is the subject of a song 00:12:58.409 --> 00:13:01.090 written in 1845, which states he was playing 00:13:01.090 --> 00:13:04.289 music around 1825. Okay. Crucially, the sources 00:13:04.289 --> 00:13:06.929 describe this specific player as using a three 00:13:06.929 --> 00:13:09.889 -string gourd banjo. We have to pause on that 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:12.419 specific instrument. Because historically, a 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:14.820 three -stringed gourd banjo is an incredibly 00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:17.500 important clue. How so? That instrument traces 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:19.860 directly back to the descendants of African people 00:13:19.860 --> 00:13:21.879 living in the Caribbean islands and parts of 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:24.940 North America from the 1600s into the 1800s. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.600 Wow, that old. To give you a clear visual, the 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:30.100 oldest known banjo on record dates back to roughly 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:34.080 1770 to 1777, originating from the Surinamese 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:37.740 Creole culture. The 1770s? Yes. It was literally 00:13:37.740 --> 00:13:40.480 a hollowed -out gourd, usually with an animal 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.559 skin stretched tight over the opening, a carved 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:46.860 wooden stick or plank serving as the neck, and 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:51.360 just three strings. So this 1825 original butler 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.820 is playing an instrument with deep, direct, largely 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:57.250 unmodified modified African and Caribbean roots. 00:13:57.470 --> 00:14:00.370 Which gives us a very specific profile for suspect 00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:03.250 number one, an older instrument, an older era. 00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:05.909 Exactly. But then we move to suspect number two, 00:14:06.049 --> 00:14:09.009 the Eagle Circus performer. There's a historical 00:14:09.009 --> 00:14:12.090 listing from November 1845 for a performer using 00:14:12.090 --> 00:14:14.649 the name Picayune Butler, who was touring heavily 00:14:14.649 --> 00:14:17.250 with a troupe called the Eagle Circus. Touring 00:14:17.250 --> 00:14:19.289 where? This performer was documented traveling 00:14:19.289 --> 00:14:22.110 through Louisville, Kentucky, into Indiana, and 00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:25.029 up to Cincinnati, Ohio. which is a vast geographic 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:27.730 area to cover for a traveling circus in 1845. 00:14:27.950 --> 00:14:29.490 Right. Way too much ground to cover if you're 00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:31.409 also playing in New Orleans and New York constantly. 00:14:31.629 --> 00:14:34.529 Exactly. Then we have suspect number three, who 00:14:34.529 --> 00:14:36.190 seems to be the main subject we've been focusing 00:14:36.190 --> 00:14:38.940 on today. The New Orleans guy. Right. This is 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:40.700 the man who originated from New Orleans, the 00:14:40.700 --> 00:14:43.519 one the New York Clipper listed in 1860 and whose 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.879 death was reported in 1864 in New York City after 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:49.220 the banjo tournament. OK, so what sets him apart 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:51.440 physically? The historical description of this 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.379 specific man noted he was copper colored. And 00:14:54.379 --> 00:14:57.279 importantly, he played a four string banjo, not 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.740 the older three string gourd instrument. That 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:02.139 is a huge distinction. We have evolved from a 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:05.509 three string gourd to a four string banjo. suggesting 00:15:05.509 --> 00:15:07.909 either a completely different era of playing 00:15:07.909 --> 00:15:10.090 or just a completely different person entirely. 00:15:10.429 --> 00:15:12.330 Almost certainly a different person. And finally, 00:15:12.350 --> 00:15:14.929 we have suspect number four. The stage name. 00:15:15.309 --> 00:15:18.110 The sources report that Picayune Butler was actually 00:15:18.110 --> 00:15:21.389 used as an alias or a stage name for a completely 00:15:21.389 --> 00:15:23.929 different performer named William Coleman, who 00:15:23.929 --> 00:15:27.549 lived from 1829 to 1867. So when you lay it all 00:15:27.549 --> 00:15:30.029 out, you have four separate entities, all operating 00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:32.629 under the exact same moniker, spread across several 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:35.090 decades and vast geographic regions of the United 00:15:35.090 --> 00:15:37.669 States. It is almost like Picayune Butler became 00:15:37.669 --> 00:15:40.710 less of a single biological person and more of 00:15:40.710 --> 00:15:44.429 a franchise. A brand name. Yes. Think of it like 00:15:44.429 --> 00:15:46.990 a 19th century Dread Pirate Roberts from The 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:49.549 Princess Bride. It's the perfect analogy. It 00:15:49.549 --> 00:15:51.490 becomes a title that gets passed along or co 00:15:51.490 --> 00:15:53.429 -opted because the brand recognition is just 00:15:53.429 --> 00:15:56.730 that strong. One guy builds the initial reputation 00:15:56.730 --> 00:15:59.330 on the streets of New Orleans. A song gets published 00:15:59.330 --> 00:16:02.049 that makes the name famous nationwide. And suddenly 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:04.210 you have multiple guys touring different states, 00:16:04.289 --> 00:16:06.409 all claiming to the local crowds that they are 00:16:06.409 --> 00:16:09.870 the one and only famous Picayune Butler. This 00:16:09.870 --> 00:16:12.269 raises an important question for you, the listener. 00:16:12.830 --> 00:16:14.970 To ponder about the nature of history itself. 00:16:15.269 --> 00:16:17.990 What's that? How do we actually record and verify 00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:22.490 facts before the era of mass media? Before everyone 00:16:22.490 --> 00:16:24.370 had a camera in their pocket or instantaneous 00:16:24.370 --> 00:16:26.929 communication across state lines. You really 00:16:26.929 --> 00:16:29.350 couldn't. Right. When a name became popular enough 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:31.990 in the 1850s, it could easily become an umbrella 00:16:31.990 --> 00:16:35.149 term for multiple artists. The audience sitting 00:16:35.149 --> 00:16:38.110 in a theater in Cincinnati might watch one Picayune 00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:40.769 Butler perform. while the audience in a New York 00:16:40.769 --> 00:16:43.190 City hall watches another, and neither crowd 00:16:43.190 --> 00:16:45.389 has any idea there's a discrepancy. They just 00:16:45.389 --> 00:16:47.230 saw the poster and bought a ticket. Exactly. 00:16:47.309 --> 00:16:49.909 They just know they paid to see a legendary banjo 00:16:49.909 --> 00:16:52.409 player, and that is exactly what they got. It 00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:54.970 completely reframes how we think about historical 00:16:54.970 --> 00:16:57.769 fame. We've taken an incredible journey today 00:16:57.769 --> 00:17:00.289 pulling these threads out of this single source 00:17:00.289 --> 00:17:03.009 material. From a single Wikipedia article. Right. 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:05.160 We started in the French West Indies, traveled 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:08.279 to the bustling, noisy, melting pot streets of 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:11.680 1820s New Orleans to watch a vendor named Old 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.519 Cornmeal. We witnessed a drunken second place 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.480 finish at a high stakes New York City banjo tournament 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.759 and watched as a single man's identity fractured 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.500 into a shared stage name adopted by performers 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:27.190 across the country. And every single one of those 00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:29.690 threads traces back to the physical music itself. 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:31.990 Which is exactly why this matters to you today. 00:17:32.150 --> 00:17:34.190 Everything connects. The next time you are listening 00:17:34.190 --> 00:17:36.910 to folk or country music and you hear a banjo 00:17:36.910 --> 00:17:39.589 being played in that driving percussive claw 00:17:39.589 --> 00:17:41.750 hammer style. The striking down with the nail. 00:17:42.049 --> 00:17:45.009 Yeah. Or the next time you think about the very 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:48.869 deep, complex roots of American pop music, you'll 00:17:48.869 --> 00:17:51.029 know where it comes from. You'll know that the 00:17:51.029 --> 00:17:53.990 sound traces its way back through metal fingernail 00:17:53.990 --> 00:17:56.630 thimbles, back through three -string hollowed 00:17:56.630 --> 00:17:59.690 -out gourds, all the way to a deeply influential 00:17:59.690 --> 00:18:03.349 and highly mysterious figure named Picayune Butler. 00:18:03.609 --> 00:18:05.630 I want to leave you with a final thought to mull 00:18:05.630 --> 00:18:07.589 over as you go about your day. Let's hear it. 00:18:07.789 --> 00:18:11.589 If a single hit song in the 1850s was powerful 00:18:11.589 --> 00:18:14.509 enough to turn one man's identity into a shared 00:18:14.509 --> 00:18:17.210 alias used by multiple performers across the 00:18:17.210 --> 00:18:19.930 country. Just off the strength of one song. Exactly. 00:18:20.380 --> 00:18:22.880 How many other historical pioneers that we celebrate 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:25.059 today as singular geniuses might actually be 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:27.339 a composite? How many other historical legends 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:29.500 are really just a collection of different people 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:32.640 who simply share the same brand? Man, it is absolutely 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:34.880 something to think about. Thank you so much for 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.180 joining us for this deep dive. Keep asking questions, 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:39.220 keep looking into the history behind the music, 00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:40.640 and we will see you next time.