Traditional and folk music Books

Book SynopsisThe definitive collection of folk music - one of the great English popular art formsOne of the great English popular art forms, the folk song can be painful, satirical, erotic, dramatic, rueful or funny. This magical new collection brings together all the classic folk songs as well as many lesser-known discoveries, complete with music and annotations on their original sources and meaning. Published in cooperation with the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it is a worthy successor to Ralph Vaughan Williams and A. L. Lloyd''s original Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.Trade ReviewRefreshing ... beautiful ... academic but lively ... the book offers the experience of immersion into the strange, romantic and occasionally frightening world these songs were, and are, a part of ... A triumphant addition to the English folk canon, both as a source of reference and as an endlessly enjoyable collection to dip into * The Times *The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs couldn't be better timed ... an utterly indispensable collection of music for murder, wooing and wanton abandon * Record Collector *Compelling ... fascinating and refreshingly objective ... Free of any cloying romanticism ... An impressive and nourishing book, with an appeal far beyond the folk aficionado. Roud and Bishop have created something vital * Telegraph *A wonderful resource of knowledge and scholarship -- Tim Cumming * Independent *

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Book Synopsis''Probably the most ambitious, generous and thorough volume about a musician to see publication'' Mouth MagazineThe authorised companion to the music of Nick Drake, compiled, composed and edited by Cally Callomon and Gabrielle Drake, with contributions from Nick''s friends, critics, adherents, family and from Nick Drake himself.Remembered For A While is not a biography. It is, rather, an attempt to cast a few shards of light on Nick Drake the poet, the musician, the singer, the friend, son and brother, who was also more than all of these. We hope it will accompany all those in search of an elusive artist, whose haunting presence defies analysis.The book contains:* In-depth interviews with many of Nick''s friends, most notably Paul Wheeler, Nick''s close friend from Cambridge days, a singer-songwriter who, of all Nick''s friends, perhaps best understood, from personal experience, Nick''s journey through musical creation to dTrade ReviewSometimes painfully honest, often emotional, occasionally funny, sometimes dry and scholarly - always deeply engaging - Remembered for a While is probably the most ambitious, generous and thorough volume about a musician to see publication. Put simply, this is the authoritative resource for fans and future historians who may find themselves considering Nick Drake. In its absolute integrity and its sheer dignity, it is second only to his music * Mouth Magazine *A beautiful book * Guardian Family *This authorised companion to the wistful genius with a troubled mind includes contributions from friends, collaborators, critics and family * Telegraph Books of the Year *From the beautifully tactile cover onwards this musical companion is a genuine delight, featuring never seen before photos, family scrapbook press cuttings, handwritten lyrics, letter extracts from Nick to his parents and also from his father Rodney's diary...Sad but ultimately celebratory, this beautiful publication is the closest any book has yet come to capturing the 'real' Nick Drake * Total Music Magazine *Gabrielle Drake's beautifully put-together tribute to her brother Nick Drake . . . I loved looking at the unseen photos and listening to the unreleased John Peel session that came with the book * Jack Steadman, Observer Books of the Year *Exactly 40 years after his death, acres have been written about Drake, but nothing authorised had come from the Drake estate. This gorgeous new book, co-compiled by his sister Gabrielle rectifies this. It is not a biography, but a deeply considered collection of essays, lyrics, photos and extracts, including from the diary of Drake's father as the folk singer sank into his fatal depression * Sunday Times *I'll be dipping in and out of the sumptuous Nick Drake: Remembered For A While for years to come * Daily Telegraph *Forty years on from his passing and the fragile music and sturdy myth of Nick Drake still haunt the culture . . . This legacy is only enhanced by Remembered for a While . . . a poetic, delightful and fascinating mix of never before seen photos, hand-written lyrics and scrapbooked press clippings as well as interviews with friends and family and excerpts from Drake's letters. A beautifully made and exquisite book built solely out of love for it's subject, Remembered for a While is a perfect companion to the songs that inspired it * Loud and Quiet Magazine *This beautifully packaged book has the imprimatur and approval of his actress sister Gabrielle, as well as contributions from the likes of Monty Don * Belfast Telegraph *A superb book that anyone touched by Nick's music will find fascinating * The Idler Book of the Week *Beautifully packaged and laid out . . . A fitting tribute to a unique musician * Sunday Herald *This book is magnificent . . . An informative and emotionally affecting framing of the life and work of a doomed young man, this book is a labour of love * Irish Times *A beautiful book * Observer *Praise for Nick Drake * . *One of the most beloved English singers of all time * Daily Telegraph *I am a huge admirer of his records * Brad Pitt *Every indie band in America lists Nick Drake as an influence * Green Gartside, lead singer of Scritti Politti *Rock has known a million morose young poets . . . by the law of averages, they were bound to spawn at least one genuine genius. They did. His name was Nick Drake * NME *

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Book SynopsisChopping Wood is Pete Seeger up close and personal like never before. Derived from years of conversations between Seeger and his close friend and collaborator David Bernz, it takes readers on a uniquely personal journey through this legendary folksinger and songwriter remarkable life and career, in his own words. Listen in as Pete unabashedly shares historical and family stories; tells of learning the banjo, traveling with Woody Guthrie, and finding commercial success with The Weavers; explains how he wrote books and put together songs; delves into controversial subjects like communism and the Peekskill Riots; and highlights those he admired and respected, including Bruce Springsteen, who honoured Pete with his Seeger Sessions album in 2006. Pete and David share the heavy lifting as they tackle subjects such as the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Pete's relationship to Greenwich Village, and the need for copyright reform. Together, they describe how Pete put his worldview into practice

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Book Synopsis'With disarming candour and courage, Martha tells us of finding her own voice and peace as a working artist and mother. Her story is made more unique because of the remarkably gifted musical family she was born into' EMMYLOU HARRIS Born into music royalty, daughter of Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with incomparable folk legends. With the same emotional honesty that has come to define her music Martha describes her tumultuous public-facing journey from awkward, earnest and ultimately rebellious daughter, through her intense competition and ultimate alliance with her brother, Rufus, to the heartbreaking loss of their mother and finally discovering her voice as an artist.   With candour and grace she writes of becoming a mother herself and making peace with her past struggles with Kate and her younger self. Ultimately, this book offers a thoughtful and

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Book Synopsis''The Poetic Genius of my Country...bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my natal Soil, in my native tongue.'' Many of the poems and songs of Robert Burns (1759-96) are familiar to readers the world over: lyrical, acerbic, comic, bawdy, democratic. They include ''To a Mouse'', ''John Anderson my Jo'', ''A red red Rose'', ''Auld lang syne'', ''Tam o ''Shanter'' and many more, whose vernacular energy and simple beauty have ensured lasting popularity. This generous new selection offers Burns''s work as it was first encountered by contemporary readers, presenting the texts in the contexts in which they were originally published. It reproduces the whole of Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect published at Kilmarnock in 1786, the volume which made Burns famous; and it reunites a generous selection of songs from The Scots Musical Museum and A Select Collection of Scottish Airs with their full scores. Comprehensive notes describe the circumstances in which other poems and songs found their way into print, both before and after the poet''s death. The edition also includes some important letters, and a full glossary to explain Scots words. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Chronology ; Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock 1786) ; from Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh 1787) ; Songs from The Scots Musical Museum ; Song from A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, for the Voice (1798-9) ; Other poems and songs published in Burns's lifetime ; Other poems and songs published posthumously ; Maps ; Appendix 1: from the Letters ; Appendix 2: contemporary reviews of the Kilmarnock Poems ; Notes ; Further Reading ; Index of Titles and First Lines

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Book Synopsis***WINNER OF THE NEW ANGLE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE******WINNER OF THE HWA NON-FICTION AWARD***A beautifully written exploration of the world of Edwardian folk music, and its influence on the composer Ralph Vaughan WilliamsIn January 1905 the young Vaughan Williams, not yet one of England's most famous composers, visited Norfolk to find folk songs 'from the mouths of the singers'. An old fisherman, James 'Duggie' Carter, performed 'The Captain's Apprentice', a brutal tale of torture sung to the most beautiful tune the young composer had ever heard.With this transformational moment at its heart, the book traces the contrasting lives of the well-to-do composer and a forgotten cabin boy who died at sea, and brings fresh perspectives on folk-song collectors, the singers and their songs.***AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4***'A quirky, fascinating read. Davison excels in evoking English landscapes' Sunday Times 'Animated, entertaining... Presenting a richly complex picture of a subject that can all too easily be shrouded in a sentimental haze' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewThe book makes for a quirky, fascinating read. Davison excels in evoking English landscapes, especially in Vaughan Williams's beloved fen country -- Christopher Hart * The Sunday Times *The Captain's Apprentice explores a more profound and complex seam of folk discovery, and concentrates on a single life-changing episode in Vaughan Williams' life... [it is] well written and researched -- Ian Thomson * Financial Times *Animated, entertaining . . . quietly sensitive to ironies and ambiguities without being pretentious, presenting a richly complex picture of a subject that can all too easily be shrouded in a sentimental haze * Daily Telegraph *Davison's evocative, far from linear approach does great service to the composer * Literary Review *A sadistic murder and the staggering words of a song drive Davison's obsession to unravel this vivid story of lives, landscapes and musical inspiration. No stone is left unturned in the meticulous gathering. Her gift is a work of love and infinite care -- Keggie Carew, Costa Award-winning author of DADLAND

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Book SynopsisTHE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A COMPLETE UNKNOWN.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.On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at Newport Folk Festival, backed by an electric band, and roared into his new rock hit, Like a Rolling Stone. The audience of committed folk purists and political activists who had hailed him as their acoustic prophet reacted with a mix of shock, booing, and scattered cheers. It was the shot heard round the world?Dylan?s declaration of musical independence, the end of the folk revival, and the birth of rock as the voice of a generation?and one of the defining moments in twentieth-century music.In Dylan Goes Electric!, Elijah Wald explores the cultural, political and historical context of this seminal event that embodies the transformative decade that was the sixties. Wald delves deep into the folk revival, the rise of rock, and the tensions between traditional and groundbreaking music to provide new insights into Dylan?s artistic evolution, his special affinity to blues, his complex relationship to the folk establishment and his sometime mentor Pete Seeger, and the ways he reshaped popular music forever. Breaking new ground on a story we think we know, Dylan Goes Electric! is a thoughtful, sharp appraisal of the controversial event at Newport and a nuanced, provocative, analysis of why it matters.?In this tour de force, Elijah Wald complicates the stick-figure myth of generational succession at Newport by doing justice to what he rightly calls Bob Dylan?s ?declaration of independence? . . . This is one of the very best accounts I?ve read of musicians fighting for their honor.? ?Todd Gitlin, author ofThe SixtiesandOccupy NationTrade Review"Provides a deeply researched and entertaining chronicle of the culture clash that Dylan sparked from the Newport stage." -- David Remnick, The New Yorker "It is a great work of scholarship, brimming with insight - among the best music books I have ever read." -- The Guardian "Wald contextualizes the deeply divisive event in illuminating detail ... a major contribution to modern musical history." -- Booklist (starred review) "Wald is a superb analyst of the events he describes. And his analyses fly in the face of conventional wisdom. Even his introduction includes enough startling context to indicate 'Dylan Goes Electric!' will be seeing the old story with new eyes." -- Janet Maslin, New York Times "Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic ... An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism." -- Kirkus Reviews "Anyone interested in Dylan, folk music, or rock and roll will adore this volume. It might not resolve the questions of what really happened in Newport in 1965, but it comes very close." -- Library Journal "In this tour de force, Elijah Wald complicates the stick-figure myth of generational succession at Newport by doing justice to what he rightly calls Bob Dylan's 'declaration of independence' ... This is one of the very best accounts I've read of musicians fighting for their honor." -- Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties and Occupy Nation "What Wald reveals about that most mystified of singer-songwriters and the folk and rock worlds that then surrounded and elevated him changed my own view of a moment I thought I had all figured out-and of the songwriterly 1960s as a whole." -- Ann Powers, author of Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America and, with the artist, Tori Amos: Piece by Piece "Devastatingly smart analysis ... Wald is a remarkably sharp and graceful writer, capable of drawing extraordinary connections between artists, genres, and cultural moments. There's simply no one better when it comes to unpacking not just the mechanics of American music, but the mythology of American music." -- Amanda Petrusich, author of Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records "Elijah Wald's book reflects the many directions in which America's music scene evolved in those extraordinary years, 1963-1970-I can't recommend it enough." -- George Wein, Founder of the Newport Folk Festival "Concise and entertaining ... a great story, masterfully told, of how the times were, indeed, a-changin'-and why." -- Ed Ward, rock and roll historian for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross and author of Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of an American Guitar Hero "Easily the definitive account of Newport '65." -- CounterPunch Magazine "There is no shortage of books about Bob Dylan ... but Elijah Wald's heavily researched book manages to offer new information and unique insight into the social context of this controversial moment in music history." -- Buzzfeed

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Book SynopsisA traveling salesman with little formal education, Max Hunter gravitated to song catching and ballad hunting while on business trips in the Ozarks. Hunter recorded nearly 1600 traditional songs by more than 200 singers from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s, all the while focused on preserving the music in its unaltered form. Sarah Jane Nelson chronicles Hunter’s song collecting adventures alongside portraits of the singers and mentors he met along the way. The guitar-strumming Hunter picked up the recording habit to expand his repertoire but almost immediately embraced the role of song preservationist. Being a local allowed Hunter to merge his native Ozark earthiness with sharp observational skills to connect--often more than once--with his singers. Hunter’s own ability to be present added to that sense of connection. Despite his painstaking approach, ballad collecting was also a source of pleasure for Hunter. Ultimately, his dedication to capturing Ozarks song culturTrade Review"Hunter recorded nearly 1600 songs from more than 200 singers over a period of several decades. Because he was not directly connected to academia or to the publishing world, his work might not be as familiar as are the works of other Ozark folklorists, but we learn through the determined research of Sarah Jane Nelson that his life as a collector was rich with stories of fascinating musicians, folkloristic debates, shifting attitudes, and relationships with folklorists and folklore-related institutions throughout the country." --OzarksWatch"Vividly illuminates the efforts of a remarkable ballad-hunter, festival impresario, and personality, while offering attention to nationwide folksong currents intersecting with the Ozarks. There is an audience of scholars, folksong performers and enthusiasts, and Ozarks residents and aficionados awaiting this book."--James P. Leary, author of Folklores of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937–1946"I appreciate that Ms. Nelson took the time and energy to write about Max Hunter's life, his quest for ballads, and the family and singers who helped him along the way. Her writing style is clean and unpretentious." --Missouri Historical ReviewTable of ContentsForeword: The Singer in Me Robert CochranPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Max Hunter and the Ballad Field Singing on the Way to Church A Traveling Salesman in Eureka<> Rules of Collecting and How Hunter Got His Songs The Child Ballads and Other Bounty Singing Grandmas and the Musical Tribes of Stone County Circle of Friends The Importance of Columbia More Than a Hobby Max Hunter’s Map of the Ozarks Max Hunter and the Festival Circuit One Eye on the Past and One on the Future Notes Selected BibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis***AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4******WINNER OF THE NEW ANGLE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE******LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA AWARDS***A beautifully written exploration of the world of Edwardian folk music, and its influence on the composer Ralph Vaughan WilliamsIn January 1905 the young Vaughan Williams, not yet one of England''s most famous composers, visited King''s Lynn, Norfolk, to find folk songs ''from the mouths of the singers''. He had started collecting in earnest little more than a year before but was now obsessed with saving these indigenous tunes before they were lost forever. An old fisherman, James ''Duggie'' Carter, performed ''The Captain''s Apprentice'', a brutal tale of torture sung to the most beautiful tune the young composer had ever heard.The Captain''s Apprentice is the story of how this mysterious song ''opened the door to an entirely new world of melody, harmony and feeling'' for Vaughan Williams. With this transformational moment at

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Book SynopsisOne chanter, three drones, three regulators, thirteen keys, too many near-extinctions to mention and 300 years of heroes: that, with a frisson of fairies on moonlit knolls, is the Irish uilleann ('ill-in') pipes. The Wheels Of The World presents an epic tale of triumph and survival, where the soulful heart of a nation has been kept alive across ages by a slender thread of guardians - blind men, eccentrics, self-aggrandisers, noble heroes, bloody-minded revivalists and at least three people compared to Jimi Hendrix. Uilleann piping is Ireland's equivalent to the story of the blues in America, save that here the trail of legends and lore is richer and deeper by far. It is the sound of 18th-century blues - a microtonal virtuoso machine wielded by misfits and geniuses, often one and the same. This is the story of a continuum, from John McSherry, a 21st-century icon, backwards in time through Paddy Keenan, Liam O'Flynn, Finbar Furey, Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Johnny Doran, Leo Rowsome and Patsy Touhey - at the dawn of recorded sound - and thence to find a litany of unrecorded legends before them. It is also a snapshot of professional Irish traditional musicians, after the gold rush of the late 20th century, keeping calm and carrying on.

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Book SynopsisIn 2016 it was announced that Bob Dylan had sold his personal archive to the George Kaiser Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reportedly for $22 million. As the boxes started to arrive, the Foundation asked Clinton Heylin - author of the acclaimed Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades and ''perhaps the world''s authority on all things Dylan'' (Rolling Stone) - to assess the material they had been given. What he found in Tulsa - as well as what he gleaned from other papers he had recently been given access to by Sony and the Dylan office - so changed his understanding of the artist, especially of his creative process, that he became convinced that a whole new biography was needed. It turns out that much of what previous biographers - Dylan himself included - have said is wrong; often as not, a case of, Print the Legend.This is the second instalment of the definitive biography (following A Restless Hungry Feeling) of one contemporary culture''s most iconic and mysterio

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Book SynopsisA moving portrait of the contemporary experiences of migrant Moroccan men. Umbria is known to most Americans for its picturesque rolling hills and medieval villages, but to the many migrant Moroccan men who travel there, Umbria is better known for the tobacco fields, construction sites, small industries, and the outdoor weekly markets where they work. Marginalized and far from their homes, these men turn to Moroccan traditions of music and poetry that evoke the countryside they have left l-arubiya, or the rural. In this book, Alessandra Ciucci takes us inside the lives of Moroccan workers, unpacking the way they share a particular musical style of the rural to create a sense of home and belonging in a foreign and inhospitable nation. Along the way, she uncovers how this culture of belonging is not just the product of the struggles of migration, but also tied to the reclamation of a noble and virtuous masculine identity that is inaccessible to Moroccan migrants in Italy. The VoiceTrade Review“This is a fascinating and entirely original piece of work. I know of no work in the field that deals in such depth with how critically important music from the home country is to the lives of migrant workers from the Middle East. Ciucci offers us a detailed and fascinating investigation of the multiple ways in which this musical tradition carries meaning for these migrants.” -- Ted Swedenburg, author of Memories of Revolt: The 1936-39 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past“Voicing the Rural is more than a book about North African migration to Europe. With one foot firmly in the vast, phosphate-rich plains region of central Morocco and the other planted in the “urbanized countryside” of central Italy, Alessandra Ciucci vividly explores how Moroccan migrant men use earthy fragments of sung colloquial poetry to open paths between the rural lives they have left in North Africa and the other kinds of rural lives they are creating in Europe.” -- Jonathan Glasser, author of The Lost Paradise: Andalusi Music in Urban North Africa"By maintaining geography, nationalism, race, gender, class, labor exploitation, culture preservation, and loss of the music and voice traditions of the Moroccan old country within the frame, Ciucci paves a new way of understanding the anthropology of work as a distinct realm of scholarship. The book’s social and linguistic perspectives on the psychology of trauma and the persistent musical habits inherent to migration are novel lenses through which one can view agrarian labor anthropologically. Indeed, Ciucci describes for anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and migrant laborers a way to, together, hold knowledge and build understanding across cultures." * Society for the Anthropology of Work *Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Note on Names and Transliteration Introduction 1 The Engendering and the Othering of l-ʿarubi and l-ʿarubiya in Morocco 2 The Voyage: Voicing l-ʿarubiya in the Crossing 3 Spectral Guests, Marocchini, and “Real Men” 4 Longing (ḥnin), Intimacy (rasi rasək), and Belonging (intima): Voicing l-ʿarubiya Conclusion: Returns Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis''Leonard Cohen taught us that even in the midst of darkness there is light, in the midst of hatred there is love, with our dying breath we can still sing Hallelujah.'' - The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks''Among the finest volumes on Cohen's life and lyrics ... An exploration which would have intrigued and engaged Leonard himself.'' - John McKenna, writer and friend of Leonard CohenHarry Freedman uncovers the spiritual traditions that lie behind Leonard Cohen''s profound and unmistakable lyrics.The singer and poet Leonard Cohen was deeply learned in Judaism and Christianity, the spiritual traditions that underpinned his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In this book Harry Freedman, a leading author of cultural and religious history, explores the mystical and spiritual sources Cohen drew upon, discusses their original context and the stories and ideas behind them.Cohen's music is studded with allusions to Jewis

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Book Synopsis‘Williams’s memoir is as flinty, earthy  and plain-spoken as her songs’  New York Times ‘The often hilarious, occasionally harrowing Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You is a bracingly candid chronicle of a sui generis character plotting a ramshackle but ultimately  triumphant trajectory’  Wall Street Journal ‘An engaging read and beautifully written’ MOJO The beloved and iconic singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy winner opens up about her traumatic childhood in the Deep South, her years of being overlooked in the music industry, and the stories that inspired her enduring songs.  Lucinda Williams’s rise to fame was anything but easy. Raised in a working-class family in the Deep South, she moved from town to town each time her father—a poet, a textbook salesman,

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Book SynopsisThis is Martha Wainwright’s heartfelt memoir about growing up in a bohemian musical family and her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, the music industry and more. Born into music royalty, the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to the highly-acclaimed singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with such incomparable folk legends as Leonard Cohen, Anna McGarrigle, Richard and Linda Thompson, Pete Townsend and Emmylou Harris. It was within this loud, boisterous, musical milieu that Martha came of age, struggling to find her voice until she exploded onto the music scene with her 2005 debut and critically acclaimed album, Martha Wainwright, which contained the blistering hit, ‘Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole’, which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of that year. Her successful debut album and the ones that followed such asTrade Review'First class family drama… Tales of rivalry, love, drugs and difficult births litter the singer-songwriters gripping account of life in a dysfunctional music dynasty… very little feels off-limits in this slim but jam-packed book, full of very good times in the circus that is a performer’s life as well as very bad times... This is a memoir full of talented, headstrong people recycling their pain as songcraft; of ambitions pursued or curtailed, and of love frequently tinged with other things – rivalry, frustration, not measuring up. For all the epigenetic baggage, though, it is above all the story of Wainwright’s gutsy, instinctual pursuit of her own muse.' * Observer *'A hilariously candid memoir … the revered singer-songwriter’s autobiography shows her to be one of a kind… Acerbic, often hilarious and more candid that it should be… her transparency is the book’s golden ticket… In short, she has had a life worth documenting. At the end of 244 remarkable pages, she signs off with a typical self-effacing line: “Perhaps I am someone whose luck gets better halfway though. That would be good.” It would be good, and she would deserve it.' * Guardian *'Witty and honest… Like her music, Wainwright’s searingly honest and entirely charming memoir, aptly titled Stories I Might Regret Telling You, dissects these familial bonds and her bohemian childhood… Wainwright, a mother of two, writes movingly about relationships, divorce, the termination of pregnancy and the trials, tribulations and rewards of having children.' * Press Association *‘With disarming candour and courage, Martha tells us of finding her own voice and peace as a working artist and mother. Her story is made more unique because of the remarkably gifted musical family she was born into.’ -- Emmylou Harris'It’s like reading extremely private diary entries through your laced fingers. From page one, chapter one, Wainwright pulls no punches (her father, singer Loudon Wainwright III, informed his daughter when she was a teenager that “he didn’t want me at first and pressured my mother to have an abortion”). It continues with equal measures of directness and poignancy … . Neither the industry in which she works nor her family gets off lightly, and that includes Wainwright herself, who is to candid self-reflection as a moth is to a flame. The family ties, however, are the most vicariously gratifying to read … Confessional and contemplative to the nth degree, you won’t regret reading it, either.' * Irish Times *‘I have been listening to Martha Wainwright for at least twenty years, admiring her from afar. Her new memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, made me feel like I was sitting in a corner of one of her New York apartments, reading her private diaries under a blanket with a flashlight . . . I was sucked in from the first page, though occasionally I winced because it was all so relatable . . . I turned the last page and felt like I had made a new friend, the kind you wish you were cool enough to have but never had the courage to pursue. My only disappointment? Her memoir wasn’t long enough. I can’t wait for volume two.’ -- Jann Arden, singer, songwriter, TV star and bestselling author‘What a wonderful gift this book is! Martha Wainwright has opened the door to let us into the fabled, glamorous family that is the McGarrigle-Wainwrights and reveals what it is like to be the black sheep of the bunch, the earnest, glorious underachiever who has always been the most loveable of them all. Her warm, rich writing displays the sweetness her songwriting possesses and, at the same time, is filled with the humor, panache and gutsy feminism of her live performances. Wainwright shows us how a big, dysfunctional brood can also be a blessing, filled with gifts that make the heart grow bigger. A surprising and brilliantly relatable book.’ -- Heather O'Neill, bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel‘A beautiful and clear-eyed memoir, full of music, friendship, love, and heartache. Somehow at once sizzling and wise, as undeniable as the singer who wrote it.’ -- Sean Michaels, Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novelist and founder of Said the Gramophone

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Book SynopsisA series of little books of short carefully graded folk tunes beginning with the simplest passages and progressing to more difficult leaps, rhythms, chromatics, and modulations. The later books introduce two-part sight singing.

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Book SynopsisThis stimulating Very Short Introduction throws open the doors on a remarkably diverse musical genre, with a world-wide reach that goes far beyond America's shores to discuss folk music of every possible kind and in every corner of the globe.Trade Review"A masterful survey of the many manifestations of folk music in the cultures of the world, by one of America's most eminent and most widely experienced ethnomusicologists. Contemplating the varied sounds of folk music, Slobin explains how it has been perceived, distributed, researched, and exploited, in the world's nations and by scholars past and present."--Bruno Nettl, author of Nettl's Elephant: On the History of Ethnomusicology "Professor Mark Slobin is one of the leading experts in the world on different aspects of folk music. In this short introduction he presents the world of folk music from a number of expected and unexpected angles. This book is very informative but also provides exciting food for thought."--Krister Malm, past president, International Council for Traditional MusicTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface 1. Overview: Sound and Setting 2. Close-up: Songs, Strums, and Ceremonies 3. Intellectual Intervention: Scholars and Bureaucrats 4. Collecting and Circulating: Recording and Distributing 5. Internal Upsurge: Movements and Stars 6. Folk Music Today and Tomorrow References Further reading Index

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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 SynopsisThe definitive biography of guitar icon and Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Frisell.FEATURING EXCLUSIVE LISTENING SESSIONS WITH: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill''A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America's true living cultural treasures.''JOHN ZORN''The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.''MOJO''Outlines the subject's life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.''IRISH TIMESOver a period of forty-five years, Bill Frisell has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential musicians at work today. A quietly revolutionary guitar hero for our genre-blurring times, he connects to a diverse rangeTrade Review''Bill Frisell plays the guitar like Miles Davis played the trumpet.'' - New Yorker''A genius.'' - Marianne Faithful

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Book Synopsis ''A really great book.'' Bruce SpringsteenWith a foreword by Billy Bragg.The classic biography of the hugely influential American folk singer who inspired a generation of songwriters, including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.Few artists have captured the American experience of their time as wholly as folk legend Woody Guthrie. Singer, songwriter and political activist, Guthrie drew a lifetime of inspiration from his roots on the Oklahoma frontier in the years before the Great Depression. His music -- scathingly funny songs and poignant folk ballads -- made heard the unsung life of field hands, migrant workers, and union organisers, and showed it worthy of tribute. Though his career was tragically cut short by the onset of a degenerative disease that ravaged his mind and body, the legacy of his life and music had already made him an American cultural icon, and has resounded with every generation of musician and music lover

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Book SynopsisThis ground-breaking book is the first-ever study of the role played in musical history by song collectors. This is the first-ever book about song collectors, music's unsung heroes. They include the Armenian priest who sacrificed his life to preserve the folk music which the Turks were trying to erase in the 1915 Genocide; the prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp who secretly noted down the songs of doomed Jewish inmates; the British singer who went veiled into Afghanistan to learn, record and perform the music the Taliban wanted to silence. Some collectors have been fired by political idealism - Bartok championing Hungarian peasant music, the Lomaxes bringing the blues out of Mississippi penitentiaries, and transmitting them to the world. Many collectors have been priests - French Jesuits noting down labyrinthine forms in eighteenth-century Beijing, English vicars tracking songs in nineteenth-century Somerset. Others have been wonderfully colourful oddballs. Today's collectors are striving heroically to preserve endangered musics, whether rare forms of Balinese gamelan, the wind-band music of Chinese villages, or the sophisticated polyphony of Central African Pygmies. With globalisation, urbanisation and Westernisation causing an irreversible erosion of the world's musical diversity, Michael Church suggests we may be seeing folk music's 'end of history'. Old forms are dying as the conditions for their survival - or replacement - disappear; the death of villages means the death of village musical culture. This ground-breaking book is the sequel to the author's award-winning The Other Classical Musics, and it concludes with an inventory of the musics now under threat, or already lost for ever.Trade ReviewMusics Lost and Found is a valuable introduction to the pioneering figures who have been brave enough to depart from the flow to recognize, gather and preserve traditional musics around the world before it disappeared. -- Simon Broughton * Songlines Magazine *Critic Michael Church's new book highlights those who have worked to save a music tradition from extinction. -- Michael White * Camden New Journal *Musics Lost and Found makes an engaging diachronic introduction to fieldworkers, and the musics they documented, in societies around the world.... More digestible than the New Grove and Garland encyclopedias, sections in the two New Grove Ethnomusicology volumes, or even The Rough Guide to World Music, this book leads audiences to a wealth of traditions.... [C]overs an impressive amount of ground. -- Stephen Jones, ethnomusicologistAn important new study. -- Fiona Maddocks * The Observer *[A] fascinating and moving study of folk-song collectors from the 18th century to the present day, from all around the world.... One of the virtues of Church's book is that he doesn't confine himself to accredited ethnographers or academic collectors working for grand institutions. He gives equal weight to enterprising record companies...as well as amateur enthusiasts like [Paul] Bowles. -- Ivan Hewett * The Daily Telegraph *[An] appealing account of folk song collectors around the world.... Church is a convincing and passionate advocate both for folk song and its enthusiasts, and the breadth of this colourful and absorbing book is commendable. Three stars. -- Kate Wakeling * BBC Music Magazine *There is a cinematic sweep to Church's history of the world's song collectors...but there is also an urgent message, as traditional folk music faces the threat of an erosion of musical diversity. -- Richard Fairman * The Financial Times *Engrossing... its chapters range beguilingly across the globe and the centuries -- Jim Gilchrist * The Scotsman *Church's volume proves compulsively readable. It is in no way limited to musically conversant readers, thanks to its mixture of informed yet approachable prose and, most of all, a cavalcade of extraordinary characters.... If the book errs in any way, it is simply that it leaves you wanting more. -- Jessica Duchen * i-paper *Michael Church's important book is a fitting and timely tribute to those who have toiled to preserve folk music, and a wake-up call to us to continue to preserve it. -- Ronald Corp * The Church Times *A uniquely ambitious book. -- Tom Service * BBC Radio 3, Music Matters *Highly recommended. * THE INDEPENDENT *Journalist Michael Church, an esteemed British music critic, makes a serious effort to investigate and help preserve surviving folk music in many parts of the world. [A] carefully researched study.... His coverage encompasses Western European, Eastern European, Asian, Native American, African, and Middle Eastern musicians.... Church's engaging writing style makes this work accessible to a broad audience. -- D. Arnold * CHOICE *In a world of globalization, industrialization, and Westernization, this book is a reminder about how precious are the sound recordings of past performances that will never be heard in person again. * American Record Guide *Church's great strength is on the role of small specialist record labels in recirculating and popularizing folk musics, and is similarly appreciative of the role of folk-life festivals. -- Paul Cowdell * Folklore *Table of ContentsIntroduction Why it all began 1 From broadsides to Child ballads: Songs of the British people 2 Orientalists from France: Jesuit priests in Beijing, Salvador-Daniel in Algiers 3 Going native in Constantinople: Dimitrie Cantemir, the happy hostage The birth of ethnomusicology 4 The Song of Approach, the Pipes of Friendship: Alice Fletcher and the Omaha Indians 5 'I am now a true Eskimo': Franz Boas and first principles 6 Voice of Armenia: The tragedy of Komitas 7 Britain's folk-song revivals, and the contentious Cecil Sharp 8 'I in seventh heaven - Perks': The ineffable Percy Grainger Carrying the torch: Collectors in Northern and Eastern Europe 9 'And what does the gentleman want': Béla Bartók as song detective 10 Girdling the globe: The empire of the Lomaxes 11 'I am a white-skinned Aranda man': Theodore Strehlow's divided self 12 The stirring of a thousand bells: Jaap Kunst, Colin McPhee, and gamelan 13 Hot mint tea and a few pipes of kif: Paul Bowles in Morocco 14 A voice for Greece: Domna Samiou's crusade 15 Things that are made to cry: John Blacking and the Venda 16 Record companies as collectors: Folkways, Smithsonian, Nonesuch, IMA, Ocora, World Circuit, Topic, Pan, Muziekpublique Musical snapshots: The importance of sound archives 17 Magic in two strings: Central Asia awakes 18 Red badge of courage: Musicians in Afghanistan 19 Out of the womb of Russia: Riches awaiting rediscovery 20 Three-in-one: The Georgian way 21 Small is beautiful: Pygmy polyphony 22 It's a physical thing: A Persian musician relocates the radif 23 Plucking the winds: Chinese village music today 24 Voice, handkerchief, fan: New life for Korea's p'ansori 25 'My whole body was singing': Kodo and the taiko drum 26 'Intangible cultural heritage': UNESCO's lengthening list 27 Going, going...: disappearing musics Sources and further reading Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFrom the early days of his music with Stockton's Wing to training at Ballymaloe Cookery School, food and music have been parallel lines that have kept Mike Hanrahan on track his entire life.Mike Hanrahan, cook and teacher, songwriter and musician, takes us back stage and into the kitchens of a bohemian, international and surprisingly foodie group of Irish household names, including Ronnie Drew, Finbar Furey, Maura O'Connell, Leslie Dowdall, Pat Shortt, Eleanor Shanley and Sharon Shannon.Mike penned hit singles Beautiful Affair' and Walk Away' for Stockton's Wing, from which a world of touring and behind-the-scenes escapades began. With affectionate portraits of the legendary personalities he came to know along the way, Beautiful Affair rings with the sheer graft, dedication and serious sense of humour of a life well spent on stage and in the kitchen.Mike's time training with Ballymaloe's Darina Allen would see his hobby become a second career. Here, he shares favourite recipes from hoTrade Review Nominated for the Irish Book Awards’ Best Irish Published Book of the Year ‘If you love food and music, this book is compulsory for Christmas’ – Paul Flynn, Head Chef of the Tannery, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. ‘Beautiful Affair is part memoir, part recipe collection, and a total joy to read. . . . full of funny stories and wry observations on the music and food worlds, along with some fascinating detail. With hand-drawn watercolour illustrations by Charlotte O’Reilly Smith, and recipes from friends, family and professional kitchens, this is a book to savour and cherish.’ – Marie Claire Digby, Irish Times ‘A mixture of wonderful stories. We made the Irish stew… and nearly licked the plates!’ – Sean O’Rourke, RTE Radio 1 ‘This book… it’s literally a beautiful affair. … I thoroughly loved this. It’s a very special piece of work.’ – Marty Whelan, RTE Lyric FM ‘Mike manages to do the impossible – create something which is an honest account of his life, as well as a heart-warming feast for the senses.’ – Hot Press ‘[A] brilliant and often joyful book.’ – Sunday Independent ‘The book is absolutely beautiful. It’s called Beautiful Affair, and it’s a very apt name for it … the illustrations, the recipes, lovely warm stories of a time in music and friendship, and a life’s journey… I loved every moment of it.’ – Tom Dunne, Newstalk ‘[A] moving and insightful book’ – Irish News ‘…through a sequence of picture postcards, Beautiful Affair coalesces to provide a pleasing montage of one man’s life-journey, the sociality of his musical world and the coming-of-age of Ireland as a musical nation within a globalised world… And, of course, there are the recipes too.’ –The Journal of Music

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Book SynopsisMerle is an award-winning, bestselling recording artist. This title takes you on a tour through his house of memories, offering a look inside his turbulent and successful life. It reveals stories about his birth and troubled upbringing in a converted railroad boxcar.Trade ReviewMerle is an American original classic legend. He's every singer-songwriter's hero. He's a great singer. I asked George Jones who his favorite singer was, and he said Merle Haggard. God really blessed ol' Merle. He's the real deal! -- Alan Jackson When I started to have to deal with all those things that have to do with real life, that's when Merle's music started to make sense to me." -- Emmylou Harris

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songsTrade Review“The most interesting writer on Dylan over the years has been the cultural critic Greil Marcus. . . . No one alive knows the music that fueled Dylan’s imagination better. Marcus just published Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs. It’s [an] ingenious book of close listening.”—David Remnick, New Yorker“A poignant reminder of everything Trumpism had tried to destroy. His dissections of these songs . . . are thorough and well-referenced.” —Paul Genders, Times Literary Supplement“A book filled with genuine insights. . . . ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ the anthem that transformed a little-known folk singer into the conscience of a nation, is exhibit A for Mr. Marcus’s theory of empathy. . . . Mr. Marcus is at his best in exploring this rootedness.”—The Economist“Marcus . . . has written more and better about Dylan than just about anyone, most recently in Folk Music.”—Carl Wilson, Slate“Marcus keeps chasing America’s greatest songwriter down the highway. It’s cultural criticism as a long-running detective story—and a musical love story.”—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, “Best Music Books of 2022”“The book’s openness restores a sense of existential unity, of a whole in which everything has a place and plays a part.”—Devin McKinney, Critics at Large“A perfect storm of things to love: American history, music history, Dylan’s music and beautiful writing. The style is colloquial, but not informal; informative but not didactic, and downright seductive to follow. . . . His in-depth analysis of the songs themselves is unmatched.”—Anne Margaret Daniel, SpectatorFeatured in Globe and Mail’s “Best Books to Gift This Year”“Marcus tends to a hyperbolic style, producing a slightly febrile mood, appropriate to the events being related. He also uncovers, or produces, hidden connections between apparently disparate things.”—David McCooey, New Daily“Marcus’ profound expertise in the American cultural landscape blasts open new fissures in our understanding of this most mythologised of singer-songwriters. . . . The reader comes away marvelling at what Bob Dylan has done with such a violent cultural inheritance, and also at how enmeshed the beauty of the songs are with the brutality in life.”—Gregory Day, Sydney Morning Herald“In elaborating Dylan’s musical journey Marcus puts on display a vast knowledge of America’s popular culture and a sardonic recognition of the flaws in our national character—flaws such as racial injustice and wealth inequality that folk music tries to address. The book is fast-paced, like a song, and hip. . . . [Marcus] closes on an elegiac note punctuated with love. ‘What will go out of the world with him?’”—Arthur Hoyle, New York Journal of Books“The biography, Marcus seems to reason, must emerge prismatically, if at all, through Dylan’s core achievement: the songs themselves. . . . It might be his most resonant tribute to His Bobness: a primer in how seriously to take major art and how to live alongside it in real time, delivered with an idiosyncrasy and crooked grace worthy of its subject.”—Martin Herbert, Art Review“This is an absorbing overall read and Greil Marcus is arguably the best rock culture writer around.”—Tony Jasper, Methodist Recorder“[A] joyously circumlocutory voyage around the Bard of Hibbing.”—Danny Eccleson, MOJO“Greil Marcus tells this great artist’s story through seven of his most transformative songs—a selection that will inevitably cause much debate amongst Dylanophiles.”—Choice“In Folk Music’s interpretative brilliance, boundless energy and moral rage, Marcus honours his source. The discursive Dylanologist par excellence, the freewheelin’ Greil Marcus.”—Joseph Marlow, The Critic“This is the good stuff: the stuff you can’t usually get in books. Greil Marcus is already the most important chronicler of Dylan. But here he outdoes himself. This book is rich with deep understanding, with caustically funny commentary, and a psychoanalysis, much needed, of Bob Dylan and of America.”—Rachel Kushner“Decade after decade, Greil Marcus has proven himself to be not only a brilliant cultural critic about the music, lives, and stories that have helped shape contemporary American consciousness; he has also done much to articulate why our music has always stood at the axis of sound and politics. This book is not only a valuable addition to the canon, it further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic.”—Hilton Als“Here is Greil Marcus at his most brilliantly insightful, eloquent, persuasive, brimming with information about Bob Dylan and his music, unique in his ability to combine the most candid sort of memoirist prose with truly inspired commentary. As Dylan ‘sees himself’ in his subjects, so Greil Marcus ‘sees himself’ in Dylan, the most original musical genius of our time, the perfect subject for the most original music critic of our time.”—Joyce Carol Oates“Greil Marcus’s writing on Dylan constitutes one of the great living bodies of work by one mold-breaking creative mind interpreting the art and meaning of another. Dylan’s multitudes find their champion in Marcus’s critical exuberance.”—Todd Haynes“Marcus is unsurpassed in showing how Dylan reflected the cultural moment even as he changed it. This moving, personal, compelling book traces Dylan’s complex relationship to American culture through some of Dylan’s most iconic songs, enabling us to understand these songs in fresh ways while also giving us a profound history of how we understand ourselves.”—Dana Spiotta “Greil Marcus’s writing on Bob Dylan is as essential as Dylan himself. Through the prism of Dylan’s visionary genius, Marcus unveils a fascinating history of the soul of modern America.”—Olivier Assayas

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Book SynopsisChristy Moore is in every sense Ireland''s folk hero. Mentor to a whole generation of Irish musicians, he holds a unique place in musical history. In l992 he broke all attendance records during 12 packed nights at the Point in Dublin. In the UK he fills concert halls around the country. In l997 he announced that he was taking an extended break from touring and recording. It was headline news in Ireland. So was his comeback which began in l999. Set to be an enormous best-seller, his autobiography marries both songs and memories. Around 250 of his favourite lyrics are accompanied by his memories around the song itself and his life. Each entry is fresh, direct, honest and spontaneous - like the most intimate diary. Through it he charts his life from drunk to sober, bar-room guitar player to international singer-songwriter.Trade ReviewAn autobiography which dispenses with a traditional life-narrative in favour of an approach that's far more innovative and revealing. This is one of the few music books you'll read in which the subject eloquently communicates their love of music and illustrates just what it has meant throughout their life. * Independent on Sunday *intimate, absorbing and sometimes disturbing * Sunday Independent *poetic and honest * Financial Times *a frank account of the much-loved singer's rip-roaring career * The Daily Telegraph *Essential reading for anyone who owns even one Christy Moore CD. * The Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisIn smoky rooms above pubs, bare rooms with battered stools and beer-stained tables, where the stage was little more than a scrap of carpet and sound systems were unheard of, an acoustic revolution took place in Britain in the 1950s and ''60s. This was the folk revival, where a generation of musicians, among much drink and raucous cheer, would rediscover the native songs of their own tradition, as well as the folk and blues coming from across the Atlantic by artists such as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy. Singing from the Floor is the story of this remarkable movement, faithfully captured in the voices of those who formed it by JP Bean. We hear from luminaries such as Shirley Collins, Martin Carthy, Peggy Seeger and Ralph McTell, alongside figures such as Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott and Mike Harding, who all started their careers on the folk circuit. The book charts the revival''s improvised beginnings and its ties to the CND movement, through the he

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Book Synopsis(Music Sales America). Miles Krassen has gathered and re-edited over 1,000 tunes, bringing up to date Capt. Francis O''Neill''s famed collection of Irish dance music, airs, jigs, reels, hornpipes, and marches. Includes an introduction on the history of Irish music with tips on playing with an authentic feeling. Features new settings from the playing of Michael Coleman & the Sligo Fiddle Masters.

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Book Synopsis''Shirley is a time traveller, a conduit for essential human aches, one of the greatest artists who ever lived'' Stewart Lee''Without doubt one of England''s greatest cultural treasures'' Billy BraggIn America Over the Water, celebrated English folksinger Shirley Collins offers an affecting account of her year-long stint as assistant to legendary musical historian and folklorist Alan Lomax. Together, they travelled to Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia, discovering Mississippi Fred McDowell and many others, in their tireless work to uncover the traditional music of America''s heartland. Blending the personal story of Shirley Collins'' relationship with Lomax and offering a unique first-hand account of a country on the brink of the civil rights era, America Over the Water cuts right to the heart of the blues in a fascinating account of Collins'' and Lomax''s ground-breaking journey across the southern staTrade ReviewShirley is a time traveller, a conduit for essential human aches, one of the greatest artists who ever lived, and yet utterly humble -- Stewart LeeWithout doubt one of England's greatest cultural treasures -- Billy Bragg

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Book SynopsisSonic ethnography makes a compelling argument for taking sound seriously as a crucial component of social life and as an ethnographic form of representation. This volume explores the role of sound-making and listening practices in the formation of local identities in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. With an approach that cuts across sensory anthropology, sound studies and ethnomusicology, Sonic ethnography demonstrates how acoustic tradition is made and disrupted and acoustic communities are brought together in shared temporality and space. Based extensive research, this volume provides an innovative take on soundful cultural performances such as tree rituals, carnivals, pilgrimages and more informal musical performances, with particular attention to the interactions between classic ethnographic scholarship from the past century and the local politics of heritage.Featuring stunning colour photographs and more than an hour of sound recordings, Sonic ethnography uses a unique combination of media to investigate distinctive ways of knowing, beyond more traditional ethnographic forms of representation. Two methodological chapters, respectively on music-making as creative research practice and on photo-ethnography, make the book an essential contribution for those interested in the production of sounds and still images as relational and interactive approaches to fieldwork. The pioneering anthropologist of sound, Steven Feld, collaborated to some of the research and contributed to the book an afterword and a soundscape composition.Trade Review'This multi-layered, long-term ethnographic research was conducted through intimate musical knowledge and participation with the study communities and focuses on the relationship of sound structure to social structure. A unique methodological approach to studying ritual, festival, and symbolic behavior is the introduction of listening as a methodology, which might appear simplistic but is not. Using listening as methodology includes searching for patterns and “mechanisms” of sound; that is, sound recognized as marking ritual space and organizing action. This publication presents valuable alternatives in the use of still photography with text and sound by showing us a variety of design in this text As Craig Campbell stated in his recommendation letter, this makes it a rich, innovative source for teaching Visual Anthropology. This publication effectively combines excellence in the use of still photography integrating the photos beautifully in relationship to sound and text.'Judging panel, John Collier Jr. Award for Still Photography'This is a sublime and exhilarating work. Its multi-faceted, multi-media approach is truly breathtaking; the photography itself conveys sound just as much as the text and sound files do.'Judging panel, 2021 ICTM Book Prize 'The sensory submersion into cultural practice has the effect of bringing the audience in as participants; a truly successful way of imparting knowledge and experience.'Judging panel, 2021 ICTM Book Prize 'Their thoughtful reflections on methodology and theoretical musings provide a wealth of insights on cultural politics, heritage policies, arts practice research, creative interventions, and photography in anthropology.'Judging panel, 2021 ICTM Book Prize -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 When the trees resound: towards a sonic ethnography of the Maggio festival in Accettura2 Soundmasks in resounding places: listening to the Campanaccio of San Mauro Forte3 Sonic devotion and sonic control: struggles for power over a festival soundscape4 Sounds and images of nostalgia: the revival of Lucanian wheat festivals5 Voices across the ocean: recorded memories and diasporic identity in the archive of Giuseppe Chiaffitella6 Doing research in sound: music-making as creative intervention7 Photographing as an anthropologist: notes on developing a photo-ethnographic practice in BasilicataAfterword by Steven FeldListening guideAudio tracks:Soundscape composition – Accettura 2005 – Tuesday (17 May) by Steven FeldSound-chapters:1 The saint and the tree2 Rhythms in the dark3 'We came a long way…'4 Dancing with wheat5 Memories from a loyal companion6 A musical journey with my zampognaReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisPipers takes the reader inside the world of the performer community of Scottish piping, introducing the instrument itself and the various different repertories. It also discusses piping techniques as well as information on some of the great piping dynasties and individual pipers. Dr Willie Donaldson shows how ‘traditional music’, often assumed to be the anonymous product of a dim and distant past, is the creation of gifted individuals operating in a sophisticated and vigorously ongoing enterprise. Since pipers have often been skilled also on the fiddle, keyboards and small-pipes, or as singers or dancers, their story offers fascinating insights into the whole traditional music and song repertoire of Scotland. Pipers is a well-informed and highly readable account by a prize-winning author who is a piper and composer of pipe music as well as an internationally recognised historian of Scottish tradition.Trade Review'From the history of the pipes themselves to their place in the modern day, this book is a comprehensive guide' * Scots Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThe full range of traditional fiddle repertoire is now at your fingertips! Using these generous collections, you can create your own ceilidh, barn dance, jazz club or Sarajevo street-café. Some of this music is familiar, some more exotic, but all of it is absolutely authentic, faithfully arranged and, above all, hugely enjoyable.Each title in the series is available in two formats: the violin edition (with an optional easy violin part and guitar chords); or the complete edition, which also includes both keyboard and violin accompaniments. Either format is hugely flexible, which means the music can be played as solos, duets or trios as well as with larger ensembles.Edward Huws Jones has travelled extensively researching fiddle-playing traditions. In each book he explains the background of the particular musical style, giving his own suggestions for a lively performance.Instrumentation:violin (2 violins) and piano, guitar ad libitum

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Book SynopsisEasy Folk AccordionShort easy pieces of traditional music from around the world.Compiled from titles across our popular World Music Series and edited by acclaimed folk musicians Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer, this book features tunes for solo accordion from the British Isles to the USA, from Eastern Europe to Asia and beyond. Ideal for beginner grades, Easy Folk Accordion is a round-the-world ticket for musical inspiration. The title includes a CD of all tunes recorded by Jonny Dyer.The Easy Folk seriesEasy Folk is an ideal beginner resource for those looking to explore traditional music from around the world. There are volumes for fiddle, flute, recorder, guitar, ukulele and accordion, with all arrangements tailored to each specific instrument and each tune set in the most comfortable key. Difficulty levels have been carefully considered with all tunes lying between UK grades 1 and 3. Piano accompaniments by Jonny are available online, and chord symbols are included to encourage improvise

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Book Synopsis(Schott). French Folk Tunes for Accordion is a collection of arrangements for solo accordion, of traditional tunes including a range of stylessuch as Polkas, Waltzes, Bourrees and more. Experienced accordionist Murray Grainger provides notes on all of the styles, as well as general advice on interpretation and performance. The volume is accompanied by recordings for download of all tunes performed by Murray. German and French translations of all texts are available as pdf downloads from the Schott Music website. Suitable for players of grades 3-8.

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Book SynopsisGreek folk tales descend from Aesop and Greek antiquity, as well as medieval storytelling in the pivotal south-east Mediterranean world that linked Christianity, Islam and Byzantium. These tales, told by folk narrators throughout Greek-speaking regions up to our times, are wondrous, whimsical stories about doughty youths and frightful monsters, resourceful maidens and animals gifted with human speech. The tales weave substantive motifs, characters, and forms into a rich tapestry capturing the temperament and ethos of the Greek folk psyche. ?The folk tales included in this volume were collected in the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. They were found in Greek-speaking lands, including Asia Minor and Cyprus. A few have been borrowed from traditions beyond Greece, while some have come down to us from antiquity, including Aesop-like fables with speaking animal characters.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisBound for Glory is the funny, cynical and earthy autobiography of Woody Guthrie, the father of American folk music. He tells of his childhood running wild in an Oklahoma oil-boom town, the tragedies that struck his family and of his life on the open road during the Great Depression - hell-raising and brawling in boxcars, all the while singing a dime for his next meal. But above all, this is a song for an America Woody saw from the lonesome highway, as he travelled from one of the country to the other with guitar in hand and the songs that made him a legend drifting out over the Dust Bowl.

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Book SynopsisAs Taylor Swift releases her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poet''s Department, catch up on all her previous eras through the ultimate fan book. Are you a Fearless enthusiast or a Reputation-era renegade? Discover which Taylor Swift era you truly belong to with the ultimate guide for any Swiftie. Taylor has enchanted the world with her music and unapologetically authentic persona. This book explores the exciting tapestry of her career, from her country beginnings to her chart-topping pop anthems.A love letter to the woman who created the soundtrack to so many of our lives, What''s Your Era? is a deep dive into each album and what they mean in the wider scope of her career. If you''re looking to incorporate more of Taylor''s energy and style into your life, or simply want to brush up on your Taylor Swift knowledge, this book is your essential companion. With outfit inspiration for each era, quizzes, and Taylor-themed activities, you''ll be all set, whether you''re hosting the ultimate

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