Ballads offer one of the most fascinating and revealing records of humankindour deepest feelings and most profound experiences, our laughter and joys, our troubles and sorrows.
A tour de force of storytelling years in the making: a dual biography of two of the greatest songwriters, Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, that is also a murder mystery and a history of labor relations and socialism, big business and greed in twentieth-century Americawoven together in one epic saga that holds meaning for all working Americans today.
Country music's greatest mullets, bobs, beehives, and bouffants collected together in one entertaining volume, illustrated with dozens of color and black-and-white photographs.
The #1 New York Times-bestselling memoir from The Voice of Country Radio, host of one of the most listened-to drive time morning radio shows in the nation.
When 20-year-old Odetta Holmes-classically trained as a vocalist and poised to become "e;the next Marian Anderson"e;-veered away from both opera and musical theater in favor of performing politically charged field hollers, prison songs, work songs, and folk tunes before mixed-race audiences in 1950s coffee houses, she was making one of the most portentous decisions in the history of both American music and Civil Rights.
When 20-year-old Odetta Holmes-classically trained as a vocalist and poised to become "e;the next Marian Anderson"e;-veered away from both opera and musical theater in favor of performing politically charged field hollers, prison songs, work songs, and folk tunes before mixed-race audiences in 1950s coffee houses, she was making one of the most portentous decisions in the history of both American music and Civil Rights.
One of the music world’s pre-eminent critics takes a fresh and much-needed look at the day Dylan “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival, timed to coincide with the event’s fiftieth anniversary.
NOMINATED FOR THE JAZZ JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 WINNER OF THE PRESTO JAZZ BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020An articulate, scrupulously researched account based on first-hand information, this book presents Brubeck's contribution to music with the critical insight that it deserves - ***** BBC Music Magazine This is the writing about jazz that we've been waiting for - Mike WestbrookThe sheer descriptive verve, page after page, made me want to listen to every single musical example cited.
'Full of fun, friendship and romance - a real escapist treat' Jill Shalvis on What Happens In Vegas'If you are looking for a fun, sexy and swoon-worthy series about friendships and love, I can't recommend this one enough' Hopeless Romantics Book BlogIn the third warm, funny and romantic novel in the Girls Weekend Away series, four best friends embark on the ultimate girls' getaway filled with hijinks and a sprinkling of romance.
In Kentucky Traveler, Ricky Skaggs, the music legend who revived modern bluegrass music, gives a warm, honest, one-of-a-kind memoir of forty years in music-along with the Ten Commandments of Bluegrass, as handed down by Ricky's mentor Bill Monroe; the Essential Guide to Bedrock Country Songs, a lovingly compiled walk through the songs that have moved Skaggs the most throughout his life; Songs the Lord Taught Us, a primer on Skaggs's most essential gospel songs; and a bevy of personal snapshots of his musical heroes.
A man, a microphone, and a dreamWhen he opened his tiny recording studio in New York in 1940, Moses Asch had a larger-than-life dream: To document and record all the sounds of his time.
A "e;compulsively readable"e; history of how Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson redefined country music (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Music, and folk music in particular, is often embraced as a form of political expression, a vehicle for bridging or reinforcing social boundaries, and a valuable tool for movements reconfiguring the social landscape.
From the early days of his music with Stockton's Wing to his time training at Ballymaloe Cookery School, food and music have been parallel lines that have kept Mike Hanrahan on track his entire life.
A perfect introduction to the world of Scottish dance written by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, including a short history of Scottish dancing.
Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs "e;Marcus delivers yet another essential work of music journalism.
This book offers a comprehensive look at musical representations of native America from the pre colonial past through the American West and up to the present.
The Power of Song shows how the people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania confronted a military superpower and achieved independence in the Baltic Singing Revolution.
California Gold offers a compelling cultural snapshot of a diverse California during the 1930s at the height of the New Deal, drawing on the career of folk music collector Sidney Robertson and the musical culture of often-unheard voices.
The present compilation of ballads from the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca documents one of the world's great traditions of heroic song, a tradition that has thrived continuously for the last hundred years.
Gone to the Country chronicles the life and music of the New Lost City Ramblers, a trio of city-bred musicians who helped pioneer the resurgence of southern roots music during the folk revival of the late 1950s and 1960s.
With his trademark mandolin style and unequaled tenor harmonies, Curly Seckler has carved out a seventy-seven-year career in bluegrass and country music.
Merging scholarly insight with a professional guitarist's sense of the musical life, Yankee Twang delves into the rich tradition of country & western music that is played and loved in the mill towns and cities of the American northeast.
One of the most influential and acclaimed female vocalists of the twentieth century, Patsy Cline (1932-63) was best known for her rich tone and emotionally expressive voice.
In recent years, there has been an upsurge in interest in "e;roots music"e; and "e;world music,"e; popular forms that fuse contemporary sounds with traditional vernacular styles.
Music cultures today in rural and urban Mongolia and Inner Mongolia emerge from centuries-old pastoralist practices that were reshaped by political movements in the twentieth century.
A Variety Best Music Book of 2022 A No Depression Most Memorable Music Book of 2022 A Library Journal Best Arts and Humanities Book of 2022 A Pitchfork Best Music Book of 2022 A Boot Best Music Book of 2022 A Ticketmaster Best Music Book of 2022 A Happy Magazine Best Music Book of 2022 Woody Guthrie First Book Award winner Awarded a Certificate of Merit in the 2023 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in the category Best Historical Research in Country, Folk, Roots, or World Music.
A PopMatters Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 From the 1930s to the 1960s, the booming popularity of country music threw a spotlight on a new generation of innovative women artists.
