Joseph Erskine Agnew (1868 or 1869 - December 1, 1949[1]) was a musician, arranger, music store proprietor, and music publisher in Des Moines, Iowa and later Newton, Iowa briefly. He played the mandolin.[2] He became a nationally prominent band music publisher.[3] Sheet music published by his Agnew Music Publishing Company is in the collections of the Library of Congress, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the University of Rochester.
He acquired "Nappy Lee" from Joe Jordan (musician). The sheet music Agnew published for it is part of the Library of Congress holdings.[4] He copyrighted a valse by Myron A. Bickford.[5] He also copyrighted an arrangement of a work by J. Offenbach.[6] He copyrighted an arrangement of concert waltzes by Guy Sterling (musician) for the mandolin.[7]
He wrote "The 20th Century Method for Guitar" (1901, 1907).[8] He published "Musical Novelties for Mandolin Orchestra: The Cleveland Two Step".[9]
In 1917 he advertised various compositions of New Band Music in the Musical Messenger.[10]
He moved his business to Newton, Iowa where he was a band leader.[11]
He lived the last 25 years of his life in Kansas City, where he died in 1949.[1]