Music reviews and criticism Books

Book SynopsisDreiser's captivating portraits of turn-of-the-century America's famous figuresTrade ReviewReprints thirty-three of Dreiser's articles [and] amounts to an informal survey of American arts and popular culture at the turn of the 20th century. . . . A particular strength of the collection is the material that reveals Dreiser's interest in talented women." --Choice"This valuable and intelligently organized volume leads the reader in two directions: inward, toward a better understanding of Dreiser at a time when he was beginning to emerge as a major writer, and outward, toward a better understanding of the artistic figures, tastes, and assumptions of the 1890s and early twentieth-century America."--Thomas P. Riggio, general editor of The Dreiser Edition series"Hakutani's readable new collection of Dreiser's interviews and essays involves figures ranging from Lillian Nordica and Childe Hassam to Daniel Chester French and Alfred Stieglitz. The book reviews our appreciation of just how steady a finger Dreiser held on the pulse of the American artistic scene during those crucial turn-of-the-century years when the Modernist era struggled to be born."--Philip Gerber, author of Theodore Dreiser

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Book SynopsisAn engaging survey of what folk songs tell us about the American pastTrade Review“The best, most up-to-date survey of this topic in print, this is a book for those interested in the intersection of music/song and historical events and figures. Recommended.”--Choice"Those who consider folk song at its best to be the purest form of social history will thoroughly enjoy this book."--Virginia Quarterly Review"A muscular, detailed, well researched, stylish and celebratory history of folk music from early America to the 20th Century, with side trips into Britain when necessary to illustrate a point or track a song's lineage."--Sing Out!"Life Flows on in Endless Song is full of examples that enrich our understanding of the aggregate forces that have transformed America since the colonial era."--The Journal of American History"A lovely read with fascinating origin tales of many songs readers will delight in remembering."--Journal of Social History"Wells beautifully explains why some songs have continually touched the American psyche for far longer than these states have been a nation."--The Journal of Southern History"A historian with a deep interest in and knowledge of folk music, Wells provides interesting insights about folk songs' potential to make American social history more accessible to students and general readers."--Norm Cohen, author of Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong"A fabulous book with wide appeal. Wells opens up contemporary folk songs to provide fascinating glimpses of daily life and everyday responses to historical events."--Scott Reynolds Nelson, author of Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American LegendTable of ContentsPreface ix CHAPTER 1 Who Was Tom Dooley? History and Folk Songs 1 CHAPTER 2 Careless Love: Courtship, Marriage, and Children 9 CHAPTER 4 "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory": Of God and Country 35 CHAPTER 5 The Man Who Never Returned: Ships, Trains, and Other Transportation 96 CHAPTER 6 Just Lookin' for a Home: Traveling On 121 CHAPTER 7 Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen: Hard Times and Hard Men 147 CHAPTER 8 How Can I Keep from Singing? Huddie Ledbetter and Woody Guthrie 175 Coda: Thinking about Folk Songs 195 Notes 205 Select Bibliography and Discography 225 Index 233

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Book SynopsisA collection of the greatest hits from Chicago's essential guide to the global blues scene.Trade Review"An invaluable resource for the blues historian, and an entertaining read for the Chicago blues fan."--About.com:Blues "Evoke[s] a raw and vivid portrait of the blues, its history and practitioners."--AllAboutJazz"This collection strikes an excellent balance between interview, blues reportage, and literary work and will be of interest to blues fans, scholars of black literature, and anyone interested in community arts.”--Barry Lee Pearson, coauthor of Robert Johnson: Lost and Found

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Book SynopsisAttracting passionate fans primarily among African American listeners in the South, southern soul draws on such diverse influences as the blues, 1960s-era deep soul, contemporary R & B, neosoul, rap, hip-hop, and gospel. Aggressively danceable, lyrically evocative, and fervidly emotional, southern soul songs often portray unabashedly carnal themes, and audiences delight in the performer-audience interaction and communal solidarity at live performances. Examining the history and development of southern soul from its modern roots in the 1960s and 1970s, David Whiteis highlights some of southern soul''s most popular and important entertainers and provides first-hand accounts from the clubs, show lounges, festivals, and other local venues where these performers work. Profiles of veteran artists such as Denise LaSalle, the late J. Blackfoot, Latimore, and Bobby Rush--as well as contemporary artists T. K. Soul, Ms. Jody, Sweet Angel, Willie Clayton, and Sir Charles Jones--touch on issues Trade ReviewBest History for Best Research in Recorded Blues, Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2014. Blues Book of the Year, Critics' Poll, Living Blues magazine, 2014. "Essential reading."--Library Journal "In this enlightening account of a neglected musical genre, Whiteis profiles some of the genre's leading artists, explores the evolution of modern soul-blues, and insists that soul-blues represents a 'further continuum' of the blues tradition."--Booklist"Soul-blues fans will savor this love letter."--Kirkus Reviews"Southern Soul-Blues takes on a woefully unexamined topic to make a significant contribution to studies in African American popular music. David Whiteis is a conscientious researcher, an astute observer, and a superlative writer."--Robert Pruter, author of Chicago Soul and Doowop: The Chicago Scene"Deserves a place on the shelf of every serious student of the blues, Southern cultures, and African American culture. Southern Soul-Blues is an excellent introduction to a field in which much work, a good deal of it catch-up, remains to be done."--The Southern Register"Southern Soul-Blues explores musical particularities that might otherwise, if noted at all in the contemporary archive, be collapsed into more familiar genres like Blues or Rhythm n' Blues (R&B). . . . Centered on African American singers and musicians, this work is important as a contribution to broader discourse that portrays African-descended peoples in the United States as culturally heterogeneous with art forms that defy simplistic classifications."--The Journal of the African American History"An important book. Its look at some of the key early figures of the music, some current day 'stars' on the circuit, the "raunch debate," and the future of the sound, all solidly written and researched, make it essential."--Chris Heim, KMUW FM 89.1 / Crossroads"Southern Soul-Blues proves that African-Americans have not deserted the blues, but rather redefined it for newer eras."--Downbeat "David Whiteis writes with a fan's insistent devotion and a scholar's dedication."--Shepherd Express "Recommended."--Choice "Written in an engaging style. . . . Whiteis gives readers a deep cross-cut of this distinctive vernacular musical culture."--Journal of Folklore Research "This is the most serious writing yet on southern soul. Let's hope good critical attention continues as southern soul evolves."--American Blues Scene

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Book SynopsisRemember When All You Wanted Was Your MTV? The perfect gift for the music fan or child of the eighties in your life.Named One of the Best Books of 2011 by NPR – Spin - USA Today – CNBC - Pitchfork - The Onion - The Atlantic - The Huffington Post – VEVO - The Boston Globe - The San Francisco Chronicle Remember the first time you saw Michael Jackson dance with zombies in Thriller? Diamond Dave karate kick with Van Halen in Jump? Tawny Kitaen turning cartwheels on a Jaguar to Whitesnake's Here I Go Again? The Beastie Boys spray beer in (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)? Axl Rose step off the bus in Welcome to the Jungle? It was a pretty radical idea-a channel for teenagers, showing nothing but music videos. It was such a radical idea that almost no one thought it would actually succeed, much less become a force in the worlds of music, television, film, fashion, sports, aTrade Review"Highly entertaining" -Rolling Stone"It reminded me of those long days watching MTV, back when it still played videos...riveting." -New York Times"Hilarious, with behind-the-scenes dirt on hundreds of videos. I guarantee you'll have a tough time putting it down." -USA Today"Riveting reading, and a book we expect to see on the best-seller lists." -Very Short List"The sheer entertainment value within these pages is priceless." -Publishers Weekly"A smart, decadently entertaining oral history." -Playboy"Just as MTV hypnotized viewers, so the jump-cut structure of I WANT MY MTV swiftly compels." -Businessweek"Rollicking. The golden age of MTV was just as wild and debauched as you would hope." -New York Post"A rip-roaring, hilarious tribute to the cable channel that changed pop culture. A wonderfully entertaining and enlightening history, a magnificently enjoyable read." -The National"Riotous and irreverent. Crack it open to almost any page and you're guaranteed a giggle. Every gaffe, scandal, and sexual innuendo comes in for hilarious scrutiny." -New York Daily News"Insiders are already buzzing about the book, which does for music television what Fredric Dannen's Hit Men did for indie promotion." -HITS "A smart oral history." -Billboard"A wild trip down memory lane, this cool history makes us '80s and '90s kids totally nostalgic." -NYLON"Hugely readable and insanely fun." -Pitchfork"It makes you laugh, it makes you cry. I couldn't put it down. This is the best book I've read on how the music business really works." -Bob Lefsetz, The Lefsetz Letter"An obscenely entertaining (and entertainingly obscene) account of MTV's early days." -Dave Holmes"The entire Grantland staff is obsessed with the book" -Grantland"The writers certainly did their homework, chronicling the wild and crazy ride of the network in the words of its own eclectic cast of characters...there is plenty to sink your teeth into with this book." -Hollywood Reporter"It's part voyeurism, part nostalgia, part social commentary - the perfect pulp non-fiction read for the cooling months ahead." -Modern Tonic"I WANT MY MTV chronicles MTV as I, and many others, would like to remember it: a lot of fun when it first came on the scene and a joy to watch every day" -TG Daily"MTV changed America and this book will change how you think about MTV. It's a fascinating look deep inside how MTV became what it was from the mouths of those who made it. Everyone who loved or hated MTV will love this story filled with fights, drugs, sex and music." -Toure, author of Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?"Before Google and before Apple, MTV was the one post-60s American enterprise that really transformed the culture. And now we have this definitive, riveting, revealing, amazingly well-reported insiders' account of how an improbable group of visionaries made it up as they went along. You want I Want My MTV." -Kurt Andersen, author of Heyday and Reset, and host of public radio's "Studio 360""I Want My MTV is such a big, wild joyride of book, made to be read with glee and nostalgia and marvel. It's also a thoughtful and astonishingly well-researched historical document, of course, but mostly it's just a total gas. It's all in here, folks! Girls in cages! TV executives on blow! Dudes in eyeliner! Chicks with guitars! Pyrotechnics, consumerism, fame, destruction and shamelessness! Anyone who came of age during the glory days of MTV will be-page by page-steadily transported right back to your boyfriend's parent's wood-paneled den, to savor once more the life-changing lessons of decadence and magic we learned from cable TV." -Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed "I Want My MTV is the definitively funny-yet loving-chronicle of music video's golden age: the hopes, the dreams, the drugs, the hair, the legacy of Tawny Kitaen. And for gossip, it's packed tighter than one of Heart's spandex bustiers." -Rob Sheffield, author of the national bestseller Love is a Mix Tape and Talking to Girls About Duran Duran “Splendid. I Want My MTV is compulsively entertaining, hugely edifying, and occasionally profound.” -TIME“Hilarious. One of my favorite books of the year. I guarantee you’ll have a tough time putting it down.” -USA Today“This is my kind of book.” -Howard Stern“This colorful oral history of MTV’s early years doesn’t pull punches or waste time. A relentlessly entertaining book, an endlessly quotable volume.” -The Onion“Wildly entertaining. Music and culture fans of a certain age – you will want this book.” -Washington Post“Marks and Tannenbaum make business meetings sound as fascinating as UFC Fighting, with anecdote upon anecdote about models, midgets, and coke-fueled mayhem.” -Spin Magazine

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Book SynopsisOffers a listener-based, philosophical-psychological theory of harmonic effects for Anglophone popular music since the 1950s. It begins with chords, their functions and characteristic hierarchies, then identifies the most common and salient harmonic-progression classes, or harmonic schemas.Trade ReviewDoll’s writing allows for a broad spectrum of musical literacy in his audience… It’s thorough enough for music scholars, but accessible enough to be suited for other scholars with some musical background, and perhaps even rock musicians and fans with intellectual interests."" - Shaugn O’Donnell, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Director of Graduate Studies at the City College of New York

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Book SynopsisWestern music reached China nearly four centuries ago, with the arrival of Christian missionaries, yet only within the last century has Chinese music absorbed its influence. China and the West brings together essays on centuries of Sino-Western musical exchange by musicologists, ethnomusicologists, and music theorists from around the world.

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Book SynopsisFabulous yet fierce, imperious yet impetuous, boss yet bitchy - divas are figures of paradox. Focusing on four early twentieth-century divas - Aida Overton Walker, Loïe Fuller, Libby Holman, and Josephine Baker - who were icons in their own time, Moving Performances considers what their past and current reception reveals about changing ideas of race and gender.Trade Review"This well-researched and carefully conceptualized study establishes a crucial connection between women artists' cultural production and the political economy in which they worked. Rich and complex, Moving Performances will make a notable and distinct contribution to the existing scholarship." -- Mae Henderson * author of Speaking in Tongues & Dancing Diaspora: Black Women Writing and Performing *"This innovative study rethinks the racialized gendered subjectivities of women who not only remade themselves and forms of performance through modernism but relocated race, colonialism, and sexuality through their very bodies." -- Eileen Boris * author of Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State *"The diva exudes singularity: whether she sings arias or popular songs, dances the ballet or the cakewalk, she always performs herself. This may explain why studies of female performers consider them so often in iconic isolation rather than as part of a broader celebrity culture. Moving Performances: Divas, Iconicity, and Remembering the Modern Stage remedies this problem with its analysis of four divas of early twentieth-century popular performance." * Theatre Survey *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Divas, Iconicity, Remembering 1. The Color Line Is Always Moving: Aida Overton Walker 2. Transnational Technologies of Orientalism: Loïe Fuller’s Invented Repertoires 3. “Voices within the Voice”: Aural Passing and Libby Holman’s Deracinated/Reracinated Sound 4. “Much Too Busy to Die”: Josephine Baker’s Diva Iconicity Conclusion: Diva Remains NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe basis for the new hit documentary 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, now streaming on Apple TV+.A rollicking look at 1971, rock's golden year, the year that saw the release of the indelible recordings of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Who, Rod Stewart, Carole King, the Rolling Stones, and others and produced more classics than any other year in rock historyThe Sixties ended a year late. On New Year's Eve 1970 Paul McCartney instructed his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London that effectively ended the Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era.1971 started the following day and with it the rock era. The new releases of that hectic yearDon McLean's American Pie, Sly Stone's Family Affair, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Joni Mitchell's Blue, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, the Who's Baba O'Riley, and many othersare the standards of today.David Hepworth was twenty-one in 1971, and

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Book SynopsisHailed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the greatest rock memoirs of all time, Be My Baby is the true story of how Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Ronnie Spector carved out a space for herself against tremendous odds amid the chaos of the 1960s music scene and beyond.Ronnie Spector's first collaboration with producer Phil Spector, Be My Baby, stunned the world and shot girl group the Ronettes to stardom. No one could sing as clearly, as emotively as Ronnie. But her voice was soon drowned out in Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, and lost in Ronnie and Phil's ensuing romance and marriage.Ronnie had to fight tooth and nail to wrest back control of her life, her music, and her legacy. And while she regained her footing, Ronnie found herself recording with Stevie Van Zandt, partying with David Bowie, and touring with Bruce Springsteen.Smart, humorous, and self-possessed, Be My Baby is a whirlwind account of the twists and turns in the life of an

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Book SynopsisOne of Esquire's best books of spring 2022An extended meditation on late style and last works from one of our greatest living critics (Kathryn Schulz, New York).How and when do artists and athletes know that their careers are coming to an end? What if the end comes early in a writer's life? How to keep going even as the ability to do so diminishes? In this ingeniously structured investigation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last works of writers, painters, musicians, and sports stars who've mattered to him throughout his life. With playful charm and penetrating intelligence, he considers Friedrich Nietzsche's breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan's reinventions of old songs, J.M.W. Turner's proto-abstract paintings of blazing light, Jean Rhys's late-life resurgence, and John Coltrane's final works.Ranging from Burning Man to Beethoven, from Eve Babitz to William Basinski, and from Annie Dil

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Book SynopsisThe greatest backup group in the history of recorded music undoubtedly was the Jordanaires, a gospel group of mostly Tennessee boys, formed in the 1940s, that set the standard for studio vocal groups in the ''50s, ''60s, ''70s, and beyond. In their sixty-five-year career, from 1948 through 2013, the recordings they sang on have sold an estimated eight billion copies.They sang on more than 200 of Elvis''s recordings, including most of his biggest hits. They were in three of his best-known movies, appeared with him on most of his early nation-wide TV shows, and toured with him for many years. Throughout Elvis''s early career, they were his most trusted friends and probably his most positive influence. No telling how many thousands of miles we rode together over those fourteen years, remembered Gordon Stoker, the group''s manager and high tenor, and most of those miles were good miles, with lots of laughs, and lots of talk about life.While the Jordanaires'' bread and butt

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