Popular music Books

Book SynopsisThe always-outspoken hard rock vocalist Corey Taylor begins America 51 with a reflection on what his itinerant youth and frequent worldwide travels with his multiplatinum bands Slipknot and Stone Sour have taught him about what it means to be an American in an increasingly unstable world. He examines the way America sees itself, specifically with regard to the propaganda surrounding America''s origins (like a heavy-metal Howard Zinn), while also celebrating the quirks and behavior that make a true-blue American. Taylor likewise takes a look at how the world views us, and his findings should come as a surprise to no one. But behind Taylor''s ranting and raving is a thoughtful and intelligent consideration, and even a sadness, of what America is compared to what it could and should be.Expertly balancing humor, outrage, and disbelief, Taylor examines the rotting core of America, evaluating everything from politics and race relations to modern family dynamics, millennials

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Book SynopsisTo tell the story of Morris Day is to tell the story of Prince. Not because they were inseparable or because their paths never diverged, but because, even when their paths did diverge, they always intersected again. Each artist lifted the other up, pushing one another to be something bigger and better than they thought themselves capable of. There was plenty of one-upmanship and some (un)healthy competition, but the respect Day and Prince had for one another never wavered, from the time they met in junior high until His Royal Badness''s untimely death in 2016.In telling his own story and writing about Prince, Day turns Prince into the narrative''s Greek chorus. Prince is there to protect his legacy, argue with Morris''s interpretation of events, and continue the dialogue that started when both musicians were in their early teens. Because of their lifelong friendship emotional intimacy, the founder and still current leader of The Time is the one man who can pull this o

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Book SynopsisThis gritty bestselling memoir by the singer Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees, Queens of the...

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of country legend Merle Haggard by the New York Times bestselling biographer of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, The Eagles, and more.Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the second half of the 20th Century and into the first two decades of the next, during which he released an extraordinary 63 albums, 38 that made it on to Billboard's Country Top Ten, 13 that went to #1, and 37 #1 hit singles. With his ample songbook, unique singing voice and brilliant phrasing that illuminated his uncompromising commitment to individual freedom, cut with the monkey of personal despair on his back and a chip the size of Monument Valley on his shoulder, Merle's music and his extraordinary charisma helped change the look, the sound, and the fury of American music.The Hag tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Merle Haggard, augmented by deep secondary research, sharp detail and ample anecdotal material that biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by over 100 new and far-ranging interviews. It explores the uniquely American life of an angry rebellious boy from the wrong side of the tracks bound for a life of crime and a permanent home in a penitentiary, who found redemption through the music of 'the common man.'Merle Haggard's story is a great American saga of a man who lifted himself out of poverty, oppression, loss and wanderlust, to catapult himself into the pantheon of American artists admired around the world. Eliot has interviewed more than 100 people who knew Haggard, worked with him, were influenced by him, loved him or hated him. The book celebrates the accomplishments and explore the singer's infamous dark side: the self-created turmoil that expressed itself through drugs, women, booze, and betrayal. The Hag offers a richly anecdotal narrative that will elevate the life and work of Merle Haggard to where both properly belong, in the pantheon of American music and letters.The Hag is the definitive account of this unique American original, and will speak to readers of country music and rock biographies alike.

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Book SynopsisMerle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the second half of the 20th Century and into the first two decades of the next, during which he released an extraordinary 63 albums, 38 that made it on to Billboard''s Country Top Ten, 13 that went to #1, and 37 #1 hit singles. With his ample songbook, unique singing voice and brilliant phrasing that illuminated his uncompromising commitment to individual freedom, cut with the monkey of personal despair on his back and a chip the size of Monument Valley on his shoulder, Merle''s music and his extraordinary charisma helped change the look, the sound, and the fury of American music.The Hag tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Merle Haggard, augmented by deep secondary research, sharp detail and ample anecdotal material that biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by over 100 new and far-ranging intervie

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Book SynopsisYears after its release, Neutral Milk Hotel''s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea remains one of the most beloved and best-selling albums in all of indie music, hailed as a classic so influential as to be almost synonymous with the ongoing vinyl revival. But despite its outsized impact, a question looms even larger: why did frontman Jeff Mangum, just as the record propelled him to the brink of music superstardom, choose instead to disappear entirely? The mystery has perplexed listeners for decades-until now.In barely two years, Neutral Milk Hotel rose from house show obscurity in Athens, Georgia, to widespread hype and critical acclaim, selling out rock clubs across the country and gracing the tops of numerous year-end best-of lists. But just as his band was reaching the escape velocity necessary to ascend from indie rock success to mainstream superstar, Mangum hit the eject button. After the 1998 release of Aeroplane and a worldwide tour to support it, Mangum stopp

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Book SynopsisThe definitive New York Times bestselling biography of legendary musician, composer, and performer Leon Russell, who profoudly influenced George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, and the world of music as a whole.  Leon Russell is an icon, but somehow is still an underappreciated artist. He is spoken of in tones reserved not just for the most talented musicians, but also for the most complex and fascinating. His career is like a roadmap of music history, often intersecting with rock royalty like Bob Dylan, the Stones, and the Beatles. He started in the Fifties as a teenager touring with Jerry Lee Lewis, going on to play piano on records by such giants as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Phil Spector, and on hundreds of classic songs with major recording artists. Leon was Elton John’s idol, and Elton inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Leon also gets credit for altering Willie Nelson’s career, giving us the long-haired, pot-friendly Willie we all know and love today. In his prime, Leon filled stadiums on solo tours, and was an organizer/performer on both Joe Cocker’s revolutionary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. Leon also founded Shelter Records in 1969 with producer Denny Cordell, discovering and releasing the debut albums of Tom Petty, the Gap Band, Phoebe Snow, and J.J. Cale. Leon always assembled wildly diverse bands and performances, fostering creative and free atmospheres for musicians to live and work together. He brazenly challenged musical and social barriers. However, Russell also struggled with his demons, including substance abuse, severe depression, and a crippling stage fright that wreaked havoc on his psyche over the long haul and at times seemed to will himself into obscurity. Now, acclaimed author and founding member of Buffalo Tom, Bill Janovitz shines the spotlight on one of the most important music makers of the twentieth century.

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Book SynopsisThe newest addition to the best-selling All the Songs series details the unique recording history of Pink Floyd, one of the world''s most commercially successful and influential rock bands.Since 1965, Pink Floyd been recording sonically experimental and philosophical music, selling more than 250 million records worldwide, including two of the best-selling albums of all time Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. While much is known about this iconic group, few books provide a comprehensive history of their time in the studio. In Pink Floyd All the Songs, authors Margotin and Guesdon describe the origin of their nearly 200 released songs, details from the recording studio, what instruments were used, and behind-the-scenes stories of the tensions that helped drive the band.Organized chronologically by album, this massive, 544-page hardcover begins with their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the only one recorded under founding member Syd Barrett''s leadership; through the loss of Barrett and the addition of David Gilmour; to Richard Wright leaving the band in 1979 but returning; to Roger Waters leaving in 1985 and the albums recorded since his departure, including their 2014 farewell album, The Endless River, which was downloaded 12 million times on Spotify the week it was released. Packed with more than 500 photos, All the Songs is also filled with stories fans treasure, such as Waters working with engineer Alan Parsons to employ revolutionary recording techniques for The Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios in 1972 or producer Bob''s Ezrin''s contribution in refining Water''s original sprawling vision for The Wall.

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Book SynopsisFrom Bessie Smith and The Supremes to Joan Baez, Madonna, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Dolly Parton, Sleater-Kinney, Taylor Swift, and scores more, women have played an essential and undeniable role in the evolution of popular music including blues, rock and roll, country, folk, glam rock, punk, and hip hop. Today, in a world traditionally dominated by male artists, women have a stronger influence on popular music than ever before. Yet, not since the late nineteen-nineties has there been a major work that acknowledges and pays tribute to the female artists who have contributed to, defined, and continue to make inroads in music. In WOMEN WHO ROCK, writer and professor of journalism and new media Evelyn McDonnell leads a team of women rock writers and pundits in an all-out celebration of 106 of the greatest female musicians. Organized chronologically, the book profiles each artist and places her in the context of both her genre and the musical world at large. Sidebars throug

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Book SynopsisWhat Britain refined, America defined. Assembled by two key figures at the heart of the movement and told through the voices of musicians, artists, iconoclastic reporters and entrepreneurial groupies, Please Kill Me is the full decadent story of the American punk scene, through the early years of Andy Warhol''s Factory to the New York underground of Max''s Kansas City and later, its heyday at CBGB''s, spiritual home to the Ramones, Talking Heads, Television and Blondie. Please Kill Me goes backstage and behind apartment doors to chronicle the sex, drugs and power struggles that were the very fabric of the American punk community, to the time before piercing and tattoos became commonplace and when every concert, new band and fashion statement marked an absolute first. From Iggy Pop and Lou Reed to the Clash and the Sex Pistols (the first time around), McNeil and McCain document a time of glorious self-destruction and perverse innocence - possibly the last time s

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Book SynopsisHow does one young man survive the deaths of his entire family and manage to make something worthwhile of his life? In Things The Grandchildren Should Know Mark Oliver Everett tells the story of what it''s like to grow up the insecure son of a genius in a wacky Virginia Ice Storm-like family. Left to run wild with his sister, his father off in some parallel universe of his own invention, Everett''s upbringing was ''ridiculous, sometimes tragic and always unsteady''. But somehow he manages to not only survive his crazy upbringing and ensuing tragedies; he makes something of his life, striking out on a journey to find himself by channelling his experiences into his, eventually, critically acclaimed music with the Eels. But it''s not an easy path. Told with surprising candour, Things The Grandchildren Should Know is an inspiring and remarkable story, full of hope, humour and wry wisdom.

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Book Synopsis  The International Who''s Who in Popular Music 2020 gives biographical information and contact details for some of the most talented and influential artists and individuals from the world of popular music. Now in its twentieth edition, there are over 7,000 biographies charting the careers and achievements of artists in pop, rock, folk, jazz, dance, world, country music and much more. Key Features:- each entry includes full biographical information: principal career details, recordings and compositions, honours and contact information where available- each entrant is given the opportunity to update his or her information - spans the full range of the popular music industry, from rock to jazz and dance to country- provides information on established names as well as up-and-coming artists- a directory section provides details of music festivals, awards, organizations within the industry, and digital musiTable of ContentsPart 1: Biographies Part 2: Directory Appendix A: Music Festivals. Appendix B: Music Organizations. Appendix C: Music Awards. Appendix D: Digital Music. Group Index.

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Book SynopsisNot many memoirs are generational events. But when Sly Stone, one of the few true musical geniuses of the last century, decides to finally tell his life story, it can't be called anything else.As the front man for the sixties pop-rock-funk band Sly and the Family Stone, a songwriter who created some of the most memorable anthems of the 1960s and 1970s (Everyday People, Family Affair), and a performer who electrified audiences at Woodstock and elsewhere, Sly Stone's influence on modern music and culture is indisputable. But as much as people know the music, the man remains a mystery. After a rapid rise to superstardom, Sly spent decades in the grips of addiction.Now he is ready to relate the ups and downs and ins and outs of his amazing life in his memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). The book moves from Sly's early career as a radio DJ and record producer through the dizzying heights of the San Francisco music scene in the late 1960s and into the d

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Book SynopsisThe definitive account of Louis Armstrong—his life and legacy—during the most creative period of his career.Trade Review"Thomas Brothers has brought together startling new discoveries and insights, a fresh look at hallowed recordings, and an understanding of the multifold influences that helped shape Louis Armstrong. In so doing, he has written by far the most complete and original look at an American icon whose influence continues into its second century." -- Loren Schoenberg, artistic director, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem"Honest, uncompromising, and wholly sympathetic to its subject, Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism is the ideal for jazz biography and criticism." -- Scott DeVeaux, author of The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History"Brothers proves his thesis and then some…an encyclopedic authority." -- C.W. Mahoney - American Spectator

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Book SynopsisThe story of jazz for the general reader as it has never been told before, from the inside out: a comprehensive, eloquent, scrupulously researched page-turner.Trade Review"Starred Review. There are numerous histories of jazz on the market, but renowned cirtic Giddins and scholar DeVeaux’s offering jumps immediately to the top of the list." -- Booklist"Giddins is without question the most persuasive literary stylist current working in jazz criticism—no writer has ever written about Louis Armstrong with such vividness, or about Cecil Taylor with such sympathy and analytical insight. DeVeaux provides academic clout and formal rigor, bringing to bear a strong foundation in musicological methodology." -- Time Out New York"Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux's Jazz cuts through the gibberish, racial politics, and ideology that typify so much of contemporary jazz criticism. This excellent book, which not only addresses musical theory but provides insight into the history of the art as well, will serve the general reader but can also be used to stimulate discussion groups and jazz workshops." -- Ishmael Reed, author of Mixing It Up: Taking On the Media Bullies and Other Reflections"Like no other history, Jazz involves the reader right from the start in an active listening role. The parsing of the selected recordings is brilliantly done, and this feature alone makes the book a must, for beginners and seasoned fans. But there's much more, all imbued with the coauthors' love for and understanding of the music, in all its many facets–and as a living, still evolving language." -- Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, and author of Living with Jazz"In an innovative departure from previous approaches to the history of American Jazz, this eagerly awaited new text by Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux offers a unique combination of cutting-edge historical scholarship and experienced journalistic perspectives. This book is destined to become an important resource, one that confronts crucially important musical and social issues in depth—and with passion." -- George E. Lewis, Case Professor of American Music, Columbia University, and author of A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music"This extraordinary book is the one we've been waiting for–an exhaustive, multi-disciplinary, judiciously crafted history of jazz and its culture. It is sure to become the industry standard, cherished by students as well as aficionados, who may dispute its judgments but will surely keep it close at hand as an essential reference." -- Krin Gabbard, author of Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture"This is without a doubt one of the best books on jazz ever written. Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux have achieved a monumental feat by creating a history of jazz that will appeal to academicians and aficionados alike. Thoroughly researched and carefully documented, yet written in an entertaining and enjoyable narrative style, this is truly a book for jazz lovers of all backgrounds. By telling the story of jazz in its full cultural, musical, political, social, economic, and historical context, Giddins and DeVeaux have given us one hell of a kick-ass book!" -- David Baker, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Jazz Department, Indiana University

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Book SynopsisThe wildly entertaining story of progressive rock, the music that ruled the 1970s charts—and has divided listeners ever since.Trade Review"A new history of [prog] written by an ardent, straight-faced defender who also understands what is most outlandishly entertaining about it." -- The New York Times Book Review"Savvy." -- The New Yorker"It [The Show that Never Ends] works as an invitation to explore the dark corners of prog rock." -- The Economist"... certainly a worthy addition to your bookshelf." -- The Prog Report"Weigel’s book is the comprehensive overview of prog that fans have been waiting for, and a long-needed reevaluation of the genre’s best bands... It’s an impressive feat of research and storytelling." -- Rock Guitar Tech

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Book SynopsisThe fascinating story of how creative cooperation inspired two of the world’s most celebrated musical acts.

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Book Synopsis“The essential history of this distinctly American genre.”—Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionTrade Review"...the passionate blues singing of Mississippi's steamy cotton fields ultimately gave rise to rock'n'roll. Ted Gioia expertly traces its colourful history and heroes." Books of the Year 2008, The Economist "[A] rich and illuminating study... Gioia, who has researched thoroughly and listened carefully, does a splendid job of telling the story on a broad canvas..." Mick Brown, The Daily Telegraph "Gioia's depth of research is breathtaking...The author's sheer passion for the music comes through on every page, and you can almost hear those old shellac 78s as you read his descriptions." thebookbag.co.uk "He uses original research, interviews with reliable sources and his own calm, argument-closing incantations to draw a line through a century of the Delta blues." International Herald Tribune "Gioia's intermittently brilliant and always compelling investigation of the blues is marked with a musician's ear for the form and a fan's enthusiasm for both the recordings and the artists." The Herald

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Book SynopsisA vibrant biography of one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers, the America that made him, and the America he made.Trade Review"A riveting profile of New Jersey's great bard. Dolan, the ultimate Springsteen fan, has an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject. And his infectious love of American popular music is nothing short of awesome. The best book on Bruce ever written!" -- Douglas Brinkley, author of Cronkite "Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll endeavors to get to the heart of its subject by viewing him through the economic, social, political, religious and family turmoil that formed a musician who found out early on how to make his guitar talk but spent painful decades refining what he needed to make it say. Springsteen's creative evolution and endurance as a populist American rock 'n' roll hero is, according to Dolan, "a slantwise way of telling the history of our times, how we have come together and divided over the last half-century, how we have changed what we think of ourselves as a people." -- Robin Finn "Those who are interested in the shaping of an American icon-and, more significantly, the creation of some lasting American music-may be directed safely to this book." -- Tim Page "The definitive Springsteen biography/musical analysis, finely written and meticulously researched... by an academic who can write for a popular audience... For fans, Dolan's book is a necessary addition to the Springsteen library. For more casual listeners, who often wonder just what the fuss is all about, this volume is a good place to start." -- Michael Riley "In an appreciative study that at times verges on the academic, Dolan traces Springsteen's journey through a song-by-song and album-by-album development..." "A unique biography of a great rock 'n roll artist drawn from 40 years of thrilling performances. If you're a Springsteen fan, this will deepen your appreciation. And if you're not a fan, what the hell is wrong with you?" -- William McKeen, author of Rock 'n Roll is Here to Stay: An Anthology "With the notable exception of Bob Dylan, no other singer-songwriter still active in the 21st Century has spawned as many academic studies as The Boss, and Dolan's book is among the very best. As a chronicler of our times, Springsteen has few equals... and the author's examination of an extraordinary body of work is as clear-headed and accessible as the music itself... By necessity, his book also serves as a history of America, outlining a nation's political conflicts, class disparity, prejudices and shortcomings... [T]he author is especially evocative in his descriptions of working class New Jersey in the 60s and early 70s. Where he scores his most emphatic bullseyes, however, is in his assessment of how Springsteen handled his wealth and stardom; of how his conscience and politics adapted to being one of the most famous men in the world without losing sight of the struggles of his core audience, the 'little' man on the street." -- Terry Staunton, record Collector "Readable and engrossing." "Marc Dolan has written a book of rock criticism at its finest. He brings to the story of Bruce Springsteen an encyclopedic knowledge, a clean, fast-moving prose style, and an irrepressible love of his subject. The Boss deserves no less, and he could ask for no better." -- John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Lives of Margaret Fuller "Dolan makes a point of telling more than just the Boss' personal history, putting his putting his musical contributions in context with the country's political state." "Readable and engrossing."

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Book Synopsis"[Stanley is] as clear-eyed about music as he is crazy in love with it." —Mikael Wood, Los Angeles TimesTrade Review"Like War and Peace, but with a beat…[E]ndlessly readable." -- James Reed - Boston Globe"As good ‘a story of pop music’ as a fan could hope for." -- Ryan Little - Washington Post"[An] exuberant celebration of the silly and the sublime…[Stanley’s] writing delights and surprises, and his description of the music makes you want to dance to it." -- Sarah Larson - The New Yorker"Breezy, opinionated and totally delicious." -- David Kirby - Wall Street Journal"Rich with musical history lived, worked, and felt…Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! is smart, funny, surprisingly deep for just how broad it is, but, most of all, for stars and songs great and small, it is full of love" -- Joshua Joy Kamensky - Los Angeles Review of Books"Quixotic and kaleidoscopic, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! serves up erudite irreverence on every page. Like its sprawling subject, it invites everyone in for a listen." -- Chris Vognar - Dallas Morning News"An ambitious undertaking… Stanley’s bold positions connect pop’s many dots in fresh and fascinating patterns." -- Christian Science Monitor"This book will be remembered and deserves to be." -- Robert Christgau - Barnes & Noble Review"A landmark celebration, rumination and encapsulation of just about everything worth knowing—and arguing—about the pop landscape… A book for the ages." -- Matt Damsker - USA Today"Bob Stanley loves and finds surprising connections between a thousand kinds of pop. He makes me want to run to the nearest record store—and move in." -- Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! ties together the disparate strands of pop’s shape-shifting history to create a vivid living document of the music of our lives." -- Greg Milner, author of Perfecting Sound Forever

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Book SynopsisThe fascinating story of how creative cooperation inspired two of the world’s most celebrated musical acts.

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Book SynopsisThe Space Between the Notes examines a series of relationships central to sixties counter-culture: psychedelic coding and rock music, the Rolling Stones and Charles Manson, the Beatles and the `Summers of love'', Jimi Hendrix and hallucinogenics, Pink Floyd and space rock. Sheila Whiteley combines musicology and socio-cultural analysis to illuminate this terrain, illustrating her argument with key recordings of the time: Cream''s She Walks Like a Bearded Rainbow, Hendrix''s Hey Joe, Pink Floyd''s Set the Controls For the Heat of the Sun, The Move''s I Can Hear the Grass Grow, among others.The appropriation of progressive rock by young urban dance bands in the 1990s make this study of sixties and seventies counter-culture a timely intervention. It will inform students of popular music and culture, and spark off recognition and interest from those that lived through the period as well as a new generation that draw inspiration from its iconTable of ContentsList of examples, Acknowledgements, 1 Introduction, 2 Cream, Hendrix and Pink Floyd, 3 The Beatles, 4 1967 and Psychedelic Rock, 5 The Rolling Stones, 6 Pink Floyd:Dark Side of the Moon, Notes, Index

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Book SynopsisBroadcasting the Blues: Black Blues in the Segregation Era is based on Paul Oliver's award-winning radio broadcasts from the BBC that were created over several decades. It traces the social history of the blues in America, from its birth in the rural South through the heyday of sound recordings. Noted blues scholar Paul Oliver draws on decades of research and personal interviews with performers--some of whom he discovered and recorded for the first time--to draw a picture of how the blues aesthetic developed, giving new insights into the role blues played in American society before racial integration.The book begins by outlining the history of the blues from African music through country stomps, ragtime songs, and field hollers. From the heroic figures of black folksong--including the steel-driving railroad worker John Henry and the destructive Boll Weevil--to the content of the emerging blues, the author discusses the meaning behind the often coded words of the blues, evoking topics such as playful sexuality, magic and medicine, the stresses of segregation, and commentary on national events. Finally, the author traces the history of blues documentation, showing how our views of the early blues have been shaped through a complex interplay of social forces, and indicating possible lines for future research.Trade Review"For the past half-century Paul Oliver, more than any other writer, has established and defined the topics for discussion in the blues field. Broadcasting the Blues collects radio scripts that he has written over this period, reflecting his broad interests in the blues: its historical and stylistic development, its relationship to African-American culture and history, its lyric themes, its sources in African music and older American folk and popular music, its status as performing art and literary expression, and the history of blues research itself. In a very readable form it summarizes the subjects covered in Oliver's many books on the blues, presenting his vast knowledge and insight to a new generation of readers." -- David Evans, The University of Memphis"As a founding father of blues literature, Paul Oliver has introduced my generation and beyond to the complex social history behind our treasured record collections. Now his BBC radio scripts (with annotations of records played) have been retrieved from the airwaves to add to Paul's valuable blues bibliography - for the further education of us all." -- John Broven, Author of 'Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans' and 'South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous'"Paul Oliver is one of the world's foremost experts on the Blues idiom, and this text serves as an impeccable summary of the most influential and wide-reaching of all music movements." -- Electric Review"With its unusual insights into the world of blues broadcasting and history alike, Oliver's perspective provides a unique survey indeed." --The Midwest Book ReviewTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: The Development of the Blues Part 1: Before the Blues 1. Blues in Retrospect 2. Blues and Black Society 3. Echoes of Africa 4. Go Down Old Hannah 5. Old Country Stomp 6. Ragtime Millionaires 7. Dr. Medicine 8. John Henry and the Boll Weevil 9. Yonder Comes the Blues Part 2: Early Performers 10. Washboard Rhythm Bands 11. Harmonica Breakdown: Sonny Terry 12. Leadbelly (Parts 1 and 2) 13. Some Contemporary Blues Singers Part 3: Meaning in Blues 14. Blues and Trouble 15. Down the Dirt Road 16. Black Cat's Bone 17. Tricks Ain't Walkin' 18. Jail House Mom 19. Let's Have a New Deal 20. High Water Everywhere 21. This World is a Tangle 22. Blues with a Feeling 23. Three Ball Blues Part 4: Documenting the Blues 24. Creating the Documents 25. (De)Classifying the Documents 26. Anticipatin' the Blues 27. Playing with the Strings 28. Blown' the Blues 29. In the Field 30. Still to be Documented Conclusion: The Blues as an art form.

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Book SynopsisRay Davies: Not Like Everybody Else is a critical biography of Ray Davies, with a focus on his music and his times. The book studies Davies' work from the Kinks' first singles through his 2006 solo album, from his rock musicals in the early 1970s to his one-man stage show in the 1990s, and from his films to his autobiography. Based on interviews with his closest associates, as well as studies of the recordings themselves, this book creates the most thorough picture of Davies' work to date. Kitts situates Davies' work in the context of the British Invasion and the growth of rock in the ''60s and ''70s, and in the larger context of English cultural history. For fans of rock music and the music of the Kinks, this book is a must have. It will finally place this legendary innovator in the pantheon of the great rock artists of the past half-century.Thomas M. Kitts, Professor of English and Chair of the Division of English/Speech at St. John's University, NY, is the coTrade Review"Thomas Kitts has done a great job...[his] book is highly recommended for Kinks and Ray Davies Fans, and everybody else!" --New York WasteTable of ContentsTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One – Not Like Everybody Else: The Shaping of Ray Davies, Part I Chapter Two – Something Better Beginning: The Shaping of Ray Davies, Part II Chapter Three – You Really Got Me: Finding a Sound and a Theme Chapter Four – A Well Respected Man: Satirist, Ironist, and Social Commentator Chapter Five – Waterloo Sunset: The Romantic Imagination of Ray Davies Chapter Six – The Village Green Preservation Society: Time, Place, Identity Chapter Seven – Arthur: World Wars and Class Culture Chapter Eight – A Long War from Home: Competing Identities Chapter Nine – Here Comes Flash: The Rock Musicals Chapter Ten – Juke Box Music: Alienation and Love Chapter Eleven – Think Visual: TV, CD, and Stage Chapter Twelve – 20th Century Man: The 1990s and Beyond Conclusion Appendix A – My Top Ten Favorite Twenty Kinks/Davies Songs Appendix B – My Top Ten Favorite Kinks Albums Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTeenage Nervous Breakdown: Music and Politics in the Post-Elvis Era combines music and cultural history and criticism to examine how rock and the rock lifestyle have been merchandised first to a teenage audience and eventually to a worldwide consumer society. Well-known, iconoclastic writer/ critic David Walley examines the entire rock culture and how it has infused all aspects of American (and world) life, from entertainment to politics to academic education. In a series of what he describes as word-jazz rock and roll improvisations and variations, Walley examines how adult culture has been adolescent-ized and what the ramifications are on our society.Walley is not an uninvolved observer-his personal story and opinions are right up front, where they belong. Famous for being the first writer to recognize the commercial genius of Frank Zappa (in the landmark book, No Commercial Potential, first published in 1972 and still in print today), Walley iTable of ContentsPreface to the first Edition, Preface to the Second Edition 1 This, Here, Soon 2 Who Stole the Bomp (from the Bomp Sha Bomp)? 3 BIame It on the Sixties 4 Boxers or Briefs? Music Politics in the Post-EIvis Aqe 5 Play School: You Can Dress for 11, but You Can't Escape It 6 The Twinkie Defense 7 Breakdown Bad Day at Internet 8 ASRin~ Alice: Fightin~ for the Right to Party 9 Don't Touch Me There: Whatever Happened to Foreplay? 10 White Punks on Dope: Why CamilIe PagIia 15 Academe's Answer to Betty Page

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Book SynopsisBob Marley was a reggae superstar who is considered to be one of the most influential musicians of all time. Who Was Bob Marley? tells the story of how a man with humble roots became an international icon.

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Book SynopsisThe philosophy of the blues From B.B. King to Billie Holiday, Blues music not only sounds good, but has an almost universal appeal in its reflection of the trials and tribulations of everyday life.Trade Review“Blues – Philosophy for Everyone provides illuminating essays from this philosophy of the blues. It brings together intriguing insights into the connection between the blues and philosophy that will appeal to music lovers and philosophers alike.” (SirReadaLot.org, 1 February 2012) “Blues? Philosophy? Ludwig Wittgenstein as the Hoochie Koochie man? Why not? There's a crossover: blues and philosophy both exist to make sense of it all, to find meaning in the vicissitudes of living. Leading the fly out of the fly bottle doesn't have to end up as a treatise, it can also end up as a song. As this book forms one the Philosophy for Everyone series, with titles such as Cannabis -- What Were We Just Talking About? or Dating -- Flirting With Big Ideas, we know that it is not going to be too po-faced in its approach to putting this popular art form under the philosophical lens. And if the other books in this series are as good as this one, then I'll be searching them out, too ... The writing here is of a high order and the essays yield insights galore about the blues in its social, historical and cultural contexts and its personal and universal appeal.” (Metapsychology Online Reviews, 27 April 2012)Table of ContentsForeword x Bruce Iglauer It Goes a Little Something Like This…: An Introduction to Blues – Philosophy for Everyone xvi Jesse R. Steinberg and Abrol Fairweather Acknowledgments xxviii PART 1 HOW BLUE IS BLUE? THE METAPHYSICS OF THE BLUES 1 1 Talkin' To Myself Again: A Dialogue on the Evolution of the Blues 3 Joel Rudinow 2 Reclaiming the Aura: B. B. King in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction 16 Ken Ueno 3 Twelve-Bar Zombies: Wittgensteinian Reflections on the Blues 25 Wade Fox and Richard Greene 4 The Blues as Cultural Expression 38 Philip Jenkins PART 2 THE SKY IS CRYING: EMOTION, UPHEAVAL, AND THE BLUES 49 5 The Artistic Transformation of Trauma, Loss, and Adversity in the Blues 51 Alan M. Steinberg, Robert S. Pynoos, and Robert Abramovitz 6 Sadness as Beauty: Why it Feels So Good to Feel So Blue 66 David C. Drake 7 Anguished Art: Coming Through the Dark to the Light the Hard Way 75 Ben Flanagan and Owen Flanagan 8 Blues and Catharsis 84 Roopen Majithia PART 3 IF IT WEREN’T FOR BAD LUCK, I WOULDN'T HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL: BLUES AND THE HUMAN CONDITION 95 9 Why Can't We be Satisfied?: Blues is Knowin’ How to Cope 97 Brian Domino 10 Doubt and the Human Condition: Nobody Loves Me but my Momma… and She Might be Jivin' Too 111 Jesse R. Steinberg 11 Blues and Emotional Trauma: Blues as Musical Therapy 121 Robert D. Stolorow and Benjamin A. Stolorow 12 Suffering, Spirituality, and Sensuality: Religion and the Blues 131 Joseph J. Lynch 13 Worrying the Line: Blues as Story, Song, and Prayer 142 Kimberly R. Connor PART 4 THE BLUE LIGHT WAS MY BABY AND THE RED LIGHT WAS MY MIND: RELIGION AND GENDER IN THE BLUES 153 14 Lady Sings the Blues: A Woman’s Perspective on Authenticity 155 Meghan Winsby 15 Even White Folks Get the Blues 167 Douglas Langston and Nathaniel Langston 16 Distributive History: Did Whites Rip-Off the Blues? 176 Michael Neumann 17 Whose Blues?: Class, Race, and Gender in American Vernacular Music 191 Ron Bombardi Philosophical Blues Songs 203 Notes on Contributors 205

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Book SynopsisIn a cultural moment where racial identity is performed through Hip-hop culture's resistance to the status quo and complicity in maintaining it, Hodges Persley asks us to consider who has the right to claim Hip-hop's blackness when blackness itself is a complicated mixtape that offers both consent and resistance to transgressive and inspiring acts of performance.Trade Review“Hodges Persley’s passion for Hip Hip as a cultural aesthetic and methodology is second only to the fascinating case studies she analyzes. Like no other scholar before her, her multimodal engagement of Hip Hop pushes the field of theater studies and race to new heights.”– E. Patrick Johnson, Northwestern UniversityTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Licensed to Ill: Alternative White Masculinities in Danny Hoch's Jails, Hospitals and Hip-hop and Matt Sax's Clay Empire State of Mind: Remixes of the Hip-Hop American Dream in Nikki S. Lee's The Hip-Hop Project and Sarah Jones’s Bridge & Tunnel One Nation Under a Groove: (Re)Membering Hip-Hop Dance in Jonzi D's TAG and Rennie Harris's Rome & Jewels Musical Mash-Ups of Americanness: Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and Matt Sax's Venice The Ghosting of American History: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical Conclusion: Arrested Developments: New Arrangements of Identity in Hip-Hop Performance Notes

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Book SynopsisThe definitive exploration of John Lennonâs first major solo album after the break-up of the Beatles.Trade Review'A comprehensive, fascinating, well-produced, and finely printed publication that captures a moment of contemporary culture with breadth and depth. It brings then into now – and shows how similar and different life is today' - Will Gompertz'A handsome tome… never less than fascinating… The album was a high point in an astonishing career and the book does it justice' - The Sun'A fine tribute to this intensely creative time in the couple’s joined-at-the-hip lives… A sumptuous and lovingly created example of the bookmakers’ art, an encyclopaedic extravaganza of reminiscences and memorabilia' - The Budapest Times'A hardback compendium of first-hand accounts about the band drawn from interviews over the years… It contains photos, lyrics, drawings and letters, and will be as interesting to Lennon completists as The Beatles Anthology was to general fans 20 years ago' - Daily TelegraphTable of ContentsYOKO ONO / PREFACE WHO ARE THE PLASTIC ONO BAND? Singles Bed Peace / Montreal GIVE PEACE A CHANCE Derek Taylor / What Is The Plastic Ono Band? Live Peace In Toronto COLD TURKEY Peace And Love For Christmas INSTANT KARMA! (WE ALL SHINE ON) Arthur Janov / Primal Scream Therapy Back Stories MOTHER HOLD ON I FOUND OUT WORKING CLASS HERO ISOLATION REMEMBER LOVE WELL WELL WELL LOOK AT ME GOD MY MUMMY’S DEAD Recordings JOHN LENNON / PLASTIC ONO BAND Ringo Starr / Drums Klaus Voormann / Bass Billy Preston / Piano YOKO ONO / PLASTIC ONO BAND Album Artworks Promotions Jann S. Wenner / Founder and Editor, Rolling Stone Annie Leibovitz / Photographer

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Book SynopsisConsiders the diverse musics and related identities that jazz communities have shaped over the course of the twentieth century. This book explores the many ways in which jazz musicians and audiences experience and understand themselves, their music, their communities, and the world at large.Trade Review"Ake blends careful historical research with intelligent textual criticism and sophisticated cultural theory.... His critiques augment and enhance our understanding and appreciation of great artistry, but they do much more. This is new, imaginative, original, and generative work. There are very few people who can write about both music theory and social theory with such clarity, depth, and insight." - George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism and the Poetics of PlaceTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction One "Blue Horizon" Creole Culture and Early New Orleans Jazz Two Jazz Historiography and the Problem of Louis Jordan Three Regendering Jazz Ornette Coleman and the New York Scene in the Late 1950s Four Body and Soul Performing Deep Jazz Five Jazz 'Traning John Coltrane and the Conservatory Six Jazz Traditioning Setting Standards at Century's Close Notes Index

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Book SynopsisBreaking down walls between genres - classical, jazz, and popular, this book offers an integrated view of twentieth-century music. It demonstrates how Duke Ellington's music is as vital to musical modernism as anything by Stravinsky, and has had a lasting impact on jazz and pop that reaches from Gershwin to contemporary R&B.Trade Review"'The Ellington Century' redefines the Duke's place in American music... It's a must-read for music students and enthusiasts." -- David Stabler The Oregonian "Schiff makes you yearn to be a part of the ongoing flow of all music, not just jazz, or classical, or pop, or anything else. And that is one of the highest compliments I can pay the book." -- John Scott G Music Industry Newswire "The most stimulating contribution to the Ellington literature I have encountered since Eddie Lambert's Listener's Guide." -- Roger Boyes Dems Bulletin "This book will be a must read for Ellingtonians and any musician interested in jazz-classical theory." -- Lewis J Whittington All About Jazz "An important milestone in Ellington scholarship, a one-of-a-kind substantive, in-depth study that opens possibilities for better understanding and appreciation of Duke Ellington the composer." -- Theodore (Ted) Hudson Ellingtonia "Schiff's ode to Ellington is a joy." Publishers Weekly "An invaluable contribution to music history ... [it] opens the door to a new understanding of modernism, one that resists traditional narratives of stratification and embraces history in all its messy complexity." -- Caroline Waight Make Magazine "Schiff is ostensibly addressing classical listeners, but jazz folks will find the book equally fascinating, looking over the fence from the other side, at the harmonic refinements that would enrich jazz... The Ellington Century's expansiveness and shifting frames of reference are typically Ellingtonian. This lively kaleidoscopic narrative evokes Ellington's inclusive spirit." -- Kevin Whitehead DownbeatTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Part I: Overture: Such Sweet Thunder 1. "Blue Light": Color 2. "Cotton Tail": Rhythm 3. "Prelude to a Kiss": Melody 4. "Satin Doll": Harmony Part II: Entr'acte: "Sepia Panorama" 5. "Warm Valley": Love 6. Black, Brown and Beige: History 7. "Heaven": God Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPresents the country music scene that flourished in and around Los Angeles from the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s to the early 1970s. This work explores how migrant musicians and their audiences came to gain a sense of identity through music and mass media, and to celebrate African American and Mexican American musical influences.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction PART I. BIG CITY WAYS 1. At the Crossroads of Whiteness: Antimigrant Activism, Eugenics, and Popular Culture 2. Refugees: Woody Guthrie, "Lost Angeles," and the Radicalization of Migrant Identity 3. Rhythm Kings and Riveter Queens: Race, Gender, and the Eclectic Populism of Wartime Western Swing PART II. RHINESTONES AND RANCH HOMES 4. Ballads for the Crabgrass Frontier: Suburbanization, Whiteness, and the Unmaking of Okie Musical Ethnicity 5. Playing Second Fiddle No More? Country Music, Domesticity, and the Women's Movement 6. Fightin' Sides: "Okie from Muskogee," Conservative Populism, and the Uses of Migrant Identity Reprise: Dueling Populisms: The Okie Legacy in National and Regional Country Music Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn autobiography of Horace Silver, composer, pianist, and band leader that takes us from his childhood in Norwalk, Connecticut, through his rise to fame as a musician in New York, to his comfortable life 'after the road' in California.Table of Contentsforeword Joe Zawinul preface acknowledgments chapter one Childhood chapter two Dreaming My Dreams: Teenage Years chapter three Lady Music and the Messengers: Early Adult Years chapter four The Quintet chapter five Westward Bound: Middle Years chapter six Off the Merry-Go-Round: Later Years epilogue afterword Phil Pastras discography Eric B. Olsen recordings honoring Horace Silver a select bibliography of music publications awards index

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Book SynopsisCharles Mingus is one of the most important - and most mythologized-composers and performers in jazz history. Classically trained and of mixed race, he was an outspoken innovator as well as a bandleader, composer, producer, and record-label owner. This book tells his story.Trade Review"Will likely long stand as the definitive account of the genius, and enigma, that was this great bassist, bandleader, and composer. Certainly no one has heretofore delved as deeply and thoroughly into what made him tick." W. Royal Stokes Blog "'Better Git It In Your Soul draws the reader to listening to its subject's productions. If already familiar with Mingus' music, a reader may return to favorites with fresh ears and deeper insights... Gabbard's greatest personal contribution to understanding Mingus is his contextualization of events through his own broad, well-informed perspective." DownBeat "Offers several lenses through which to view Mingus and his music-the milieu in which he lived, wrote and played; literary life; closest musical associations; and as a coda his experience in film... There is much in Better Git It In Your Soul to limn one's understanding of and approach to Mingus' tremendous body of work as well as the challenges he faced and orchestrated as a black artist in America." The New York City Jazz Record "This is a wonderful book! This book completely absorbed me... You really took me in with your own emotional palette." NPR/On Point with Tom Ashbrook "An important contribution to not only the study of Charles Mingus but also of the evolution of postwar jazz."-STARRED REVIEW Library Journal "A solid addition to the literature of jazz." Booklist "This isn't simply a new telling of Mingus' life story, although Gabbard does an excellent job of that in just under 100 concise and nicely paced pages. Gabbard also takes a deep dive into specific aspects of Mingus' output. Most notably, he performs forensic work in exploring how Beneath the Underdog came to be." PopMatters "Gabbard examines the musical career of one of the giants of Jazz, Charles Mingus, offering a look at the man beyond his sensationalized musical career and personal mythology." Publishers Weekly "Krin Gabbard uses his own unique perspective to illustrate the famous musician's life and genius." -- Darcy Peters Smooth Jazz News "14 of the Best Gifts for a Music Snob Who's Heard Everything: Krin Gabbard's bio is as idiosyncratic as the great jazz bassist and composer that is its subject. There aren't many places you can go to read comparisons between Mingus and Philip Roth as well as detailed musical analysis of his epochal and hard-swinging compositions." New York Magazine, The Strategist "Gabbard's careful attention to new and underutilized resources and dedication to placing the many dimensions of Mingus's existence in their larger contexts should indeed enhance readers' appreciation of Mingus as a musician, composer, arranger, writer, poet, and bandleader." NotesTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION. Charles Mingus Changed My Life PART I. A Circus in a Bathtub PART II. Autobiography, Autofiction, and Some Poetry PART III. Third Stream Music and the Rest of Jazz History PART IV. On and Off the Bandstand with Richmond, Dolphy, and Knepper EPILOGUE. Mingus in the Movies Acknowledgments Discography Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTells the story of Clark Terry, one of the most recorded and beloved jazz trumpeters. This title takes us from his impoverished childhood in St Louis, Missouri, where jazz could be heard everywhere, to the smoke-filled small clubs and carnivals across the Jim Crow South where he got his start, and on to worldwide acclaim.Trade Review"'Clark' chronicles, in endearing prose, Terry's personal and professional journey... Onstage and in the backroom, Terry and his trumpet shared a front-row seat to jazz history. "Clark" is nothing short of that remarkable story." -- Alexander Heffner San Francisco Chronicle "Terry's wonderful book is a true labor of love." -- Peter Vacher Jazzwise "Informative, detailed, intimate, and throughly absorbing, "Clark" is very strongly recommended." The Midwest Book ReviewTable of ContentsPreface by Quincy Jones Foreword by Bill Cosby Introduction by David Demsey 1. Big Dreams 2. First Instruments 3. Kicked Out 4. The Vashon High Swingsters 5. First Road Gig 6. Nigga 7. Ida Cox 8. Stranded 9. Lincoln Inn 10. On the Road Again 11. Tennis Shoe Pimp 12. Jailed 13. Len Bowden 14. Navy Days 15. Gray Clouds 16. The Big Apple 17. George Hudson 18. The Club Plantation 19. Galloping Dominoes 20. Tempting Offers 21. Lionel Hampton 22. Road Lessons 23. Pauline 24. Charlie Barnet 25. Count Basie 26. Big Debt 27. Duke Ellington 28. Leaving Basie 29. The University of Ellingtonia 30. Working with Duke 31. Duke's Team 32. Duke's Management Arts 33. Miles and Bird 34. Billy Strayhorn 35. Endurances 36. Flugelhorn 37. Europe 38. Norman Granz 39. Norman's Battles 40. Q 41. NBC 42. Jim and Andy's 43. Johnny and Ed 44. Mumbles 45. First House 46. Big Bad Band 47. Carnegie Hall 48. Etoile 49. Jazz Education Arena 50. Those NBC Years 51. Storms 52. Black Clouds 53. Keep on Keepin' On 54. New Love 55. Whirlwinds 56. Through the Storm 57. Second Chance 58. The Biggest Surprise Acknowledgments Honors and Awards Original Compositions Selected Discography Index Photographs follow page 186

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