Frank Johnson

Frank Johnson (c. 1789 – 1871) was an American popular fiddle player and brass band leader based in North Carolina, near Wilmington, United States, for most of the nineteenth century. Although largely forgotten by history books and often confused with composer Francis "Frank" Johnson, he helped define the sound of African-American fiddle and brass-band music in the mid-19th century. Personal life Johnson was born into slavery circa 1789, in North Carolina, and became a free man sometime before 1830. He showed a talent for music early on and established himself as a popular fiddle player for dances. Using money he earned from performances, he bought the freedom of himself, his wife and his children. A contemporary account of Johnson while performing at a "pic nic" describes him: "To say that he is handsome would not be strictly true, and still, when he is living so full of music that his features follow the changes of his tune, it is fair to say he looks very 'becoming'." He was buried in Pine Forest Cemetery, Wilmington, after a well-attended funeral: "the largest, we think, that has ever occurred in this city, it being estimated that there were at least two thousand persons in the procession, including the colored fire companies in uniform, with standards draped in mourning, the colored Masonic fraternity in regalia, etc., the whole preceded by a brass band."