Traditional and folk music Books
The University of Chicago Press Music Gender Perspectives from the
Book SynopsisThe contributors explore the intimate relationships between music & gender, across the wide range of cultures around the Mediterranean. Essays examine musical behaviour as representation, assertion, and transgression of gender identities.
£111.55
University of Chicago Press Ilmatars Inspirations Nationalism Globalization
Book SynopsisThrough extensive interviews and observations of performances, Ramnarine reveals how new folk musicians think and talk about past, and present folk music practices.
£80.00
University of Chicago Press Ilmatars Inspirations Nationalism Globalization
Book SynopsisThrough extensive interviews and observations of performances, Ramnarine reveals how new folk musicians think and talk about past and present folk music practices.
£36.31
The University of Chicago Press DAlbuquerques Children Performing Tradition in
Book SynopsisThis work examines the musical influences of a Malaysia's Portuguese community, whose roots lie in the conquest of Malacca in 1511 by the Portuguese seafarer Afonse D'Albuquerque.
£28.50
The University of Chicago Press Let Jasmine Rain Down
Book SynopsisThis text tells the story of the pizmonim as they have continued to be composed, performed and transformed through the present day; it is thus an ethnography of an important Judeo-Arabic musical tradition that contributes to studies of the link between collective memory and popular culture.
£46.50
The University of Chicago Press Engendering Song Singing Subjectivity at Prespa
Book SynopsisFor Prespa Albanians, both at home in Macedonia and in the diaspora, the most significant events of any year are wedding ceremonies. This account of Prespa weddings combines photographs, song texts and recordings of the wedding music, demonstrating the importance of singing within Prespa society.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Musical Excerpts on Compact Disc Note on Textual and Musical Transcriptions Pronunciation Guide Acknowledgments 1: Approaching Prespa Singing 2: Singing as a Social Activity 3: Singing as a Gendered Activity 4: The "Order" of Weddings 5: The Prespa "System" 6: Singing and the Discourse of Honor 7: Singing as the Practice of Patriarchy 8: Emergent Subjectivities Glossary Notes Bibliography Discography Index
£99.00
The University of Chicago Press Engendering Song Singing and Subjectivity at
Book SynopsisFor Prespa Albanians, both at home in Macedonia and in the diaspora, the most significant events of any year are wedding ceremonies. This account of Prespa weddings combines photographs, song texts and recordings of the wedding music, demonstrating the importance of singing within Prespa society.
£38.00
The University of Chicago Press Gamelan Gong Kebyar
Book SynopsisMichael Tenzer offers a study of Balinese gamelan music, focusing on the pre-eminent 20th-century genre, gamelan gong kebyar. He applies music theory and analysis to this non-Western orchestral genre to discuss composition and structure, as well as looking at the ethographic background.
£57.00
The University of Chicago Press Pilgrimage to Dollywood
Book SynopsisA star par excellence, Dolly Parton is one of country music's most likable personalities. Even a hard-rocking punk or orchestral aesthete can't help cracking a smile or singing along with songs like Jolene and 9 to 5. More than a mere singer or actress, Parton is a true cultural phenomenon, immediately recognizable and beloved for her talent, tinkling laugh, and steel magnolia spirit. She is also the only female star to have her own themed amusement park: Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Every year thousands of fans flock to Dollywood to celebrate the icon, and Helen Morales is one of those fans. In Pilgrimage to Dollywood, Morales sets out to discover Parton's Tennessee. Her travels begin at the top celebrity pilgrimage site of Elvis Presley's Graceland, then take her to Loretta Lynn's ranch in Hurricane Mills; the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; to Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; and finally to Pigeon ForgeTrade Review“Morales has made a moving, provocative pilgrimage through the complex culture—mainly southern—that produces country music and some of its outsized performers. I found her very readable.” -- Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove“Part quirky travelogue, part study of celebrity culture, part autobiography, Pilgrimage to Dollywood is a witty and self-aware account of being transplanted into an alien culture and deciding to revel in its (and one’s own) otherness.” * Times Higher Education *“The heart of the book is Morales’s personal meditation on the Dollywood shrine itself, the theme park for feminism, Christianity, and the Old South, its mythical log-cabin home, its worshippers at the Dolly Dollar cash-tills, and the reputation of the whole (deserved or not: discuss) as ‘the redneck Disneyland.’ This is cultural criticism on holiday . . . frank, self-revelatory, comic and clever, revealing greater identification with the heroine than her day job traditionally allows.” * Times Literary Supplement *“’This is not a book written from the Olympic heights of an objective observer,’ writes Morales in the introduction to her funny, engaging and erudite book. ‘I confess up front that I love Dolly Parton and her music.’” * Times (UK) *“It’ll make you want to experience your own pilgrimage, with the windows down and ‘Jolene’ blaring.” * Bust *Table of Contents1 Caviar and Fish Sticks 2 A Series of Cravings Graceland and Other Shrines, Memphis 3 Country Is as Country Does Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, Hurricane Mills 4 Music City, USA Nashville 5 Tennessee Mountain Homes Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Sevierville, and Locust Ridge 6 Color Me America Dixie Stampede, Pigeon Forge 7 Sifting Specks of Gold Dollywood Amusement Park, the Great Smoky Mountains Doing the Pilgrimage Further Reading Acknowledgments
£18.00
The University of Chicago Press Moving Away from Silence
Book SynopsisIncreasingly popular in the United States and Europe, Andean panpipe and flute music draws its vitality from the traditions of rural highland villages and of rural migrants who have settled in Andean cities. In Moving Away from Silence, Thomas Turino describes panpipe and flute traditions in the context of this rural-urban migration and the turbulent politics that have influenced Peruvian society and local identities throughout this century. Turino's ethnography is the first large-scale study to concentrate on the pervasive effects of migration on Andean people and their music. Turino uses the musical traditions of Conima, Peru as a unifying thread, tracing them through the varying lives of Conimeos in different locales. He reveals how music both sustains and creates meaning for a people struggling amid the dramatic social upheavals of contemporary Peru. Moving Away from Silence contains detailed interpretations based on comparative field research of Conimeo musical performance, rehearsals, composition, and festivals in the highlands and Lima. The volume will be of great importance to students of Latin American music and culture as well as ethnomusicological and ethnographic theory and method.
£108.38
The University of Chicago Press Moving Away from Silence
Book SynopsisIncreasingly popular in the United States and Europe, Andean panpipe and flute music draws its vitality from the traditions of rural highland villages and of rural migrants who have settled in Andean cities. In Moving Away from Silence, Thomas Turino describes panpipe and flute traditions in the context of this rural-urban migration and the turbulent politics that have influenced Peruvian society and local identities throughout this century. Turino's ethnography is the first large-scale study to concentrate on the pervasive effects of migration on Andean people and their music. Turino uses the musical traditions of Conima, Peru as a unifying thread, tracing them through the varying lives of Conimeos in different locales. He reveals how music both sustains and creates meaning for a people struggling amid the dramatic social upheavals of contemporary Peru. Moving Away from Silence contains detailed interpretations based on comparative field research of Conimeo musical performance, rehearsals, composition, and festivals in the highlands and Lima. The volume will be of great importance to students of Latin American music and culture as well as ethnomusicological and ethnographic theory and method.
£38.00
The University of Chicago Press Nationalists Cosmopolitans Popular Music in
Book SynopsisThis work focuses on the development of a unique style of music - combining the electric guitar with indigenous Shona music - that emerged in Zimbabwe during the 1980s. Turino examines this emergence of cosmopolitan culture among the black middle classes, and how it influenced politics.
£80.00
The University of Chicago Press Nationalists Cosmopolitans and Popular Music in
Book SynopsisThis work focuses on the development of a unique style of music - combining the electric guitar with indigenous Shona music - that emerged in Zimbabwe during the 1980s. Turino examines this emergence of cosmopolitan culture among the black middle classes, and how it influenced politics.
£42.75
The University of Chicago Press The Voice of the Rural
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
£18.00
The University of Chicago Press Music Race Nation Musica Tropical in Colobia
Book SynopsisThis volume explores the history of musica tropical, analyzing its rise in the context of the development of the broadcast media, rapid urbanization, and regional struggles for power.
£80.00
The University of Chicago Press Gentleman Troubadours and Andean Pop Stars
Book SynopsisFocusing on popular huayno music and the ways it has been promoted to Peru's emerging middle class, the author tells a complex story of identity making and the marketing forces entangled with it, providing crucial insights into the dynamics among art, class, and ethnicity that reach far beyond the Andes.
£26.60
Columbia University Press Klezmer America
Book SynopsisKlezmer is a musical tradition that grows out of Eastern European Jewish culture, and its changes reflect Jews' interaction with other groups as well as their shifting relations to their own history. This title offers an understanding of racial, ethnic, and sexual categories in America.Trade ReviewThere are some fascinating vignettes in this book. -- Shoel Stadlen Times Literary Supplement always engaging and at time groundbreaking. -- David Brauner WasafiriTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Angels, Monsters, and Jews: From Kushner to Klezmer 2. Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe,, and the Making of Ethnic Masculinity 3. Antisemitism Without Jews: Left Behind in the American Heartland 4. The Human Stain of Race: Roth, Sirk, and Shaw in Black, White, and Jewish 5. Conversos, Marranos,, and Crypto-Latinos: Jewish-Hispanic Crossings and the Uses of Ethnicity 6. Transgressions of a Model Minority 7. Asians and Jews in Theory and Practice Conclusion: The Klezmering of America Notes Index
£83.60
Columbia University Press Klezmer America
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThere are some fascinating vignettes in this book. -- Shoel Stadlen Times Literary Supplement always engaging and at time groundbreaking. -- David Brauner WasafiriTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Angels, Monsters, and Jews: From Kushner to Klezmer 2. Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe,, and the Making of Ethnic Masculinity 3. Antisemitism Without Jews: Left Behind in the American Heartland 4. The Human Stain of Race: Roth, Sirk, and Shaw in Black, White, and Jewish 5. Conversos, Marranos,, and Crypto-Latinos: Jewish-Hispanic Crossings and the Uses of Ethnicity 6. Transgressions of a Model Minority 7. Asians and Jews in Theory and Practice Conclusion: The Klezmering of America Notes Index
£25.20
University of Illinois Press San Antonio Rose
Book Synopsis'Until Hank Williams came along, it was just Bob Willis,' says Willie Nelson. 'He wasit.' And indeed he was, especially for the thousands in the Southwest who knew and loved the King of Western Swing. The colorful band leader-composer-fiddler from Turkey, Texas, lassoed the emotions of country-and-western fans nationwide. In the early 1940s, his records outsold those of any other recording artist. He was voted not only into the Country Music Hall of Fame but also into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the only performer other than Gene Autry to be so honored.Affectionately written by a Texan who responded to the legendary fiddler''s style,San Antonio Rosecaptures Wills''s magnetism and the musical excitement he created. Charles R. Townsend traces Wills''s dynamic life from his birth into a family of frontier fiddlers through his career and stardom and on to the poignant last recording session in 1973 and his death two years later. Townsend shows how Wills broughTrade Review"One can only stand in awe at the kind of work that went into Townsend's book. . . . San Antonio Rose must be recognized as a major advance in the study of American music. It is a masterpiece of layout and design, rich with photos and well-done illustrations, [and] should be in the library of anyone interested in American music."--Charles Wolfe, Journal of Country Music"A warm and honest portrait of the man who brought the music of 'country folks' to town, who merged the spontaneity of country fiddling with the Big Band Sound, giving birth to Western Swing."--Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times Book Review"A landmark in country music scholarship."--Michael Mendelson, Western FolkloreTable of ContentsPreface xi 1. Cotton Fields and Cotton Camps 1 2. Down between the Rivers 16 3. "I Slurred My Fiddle . . .to Play the Blues" 36 4. Frontier Folk Music Moves to Town 44 5. Western Jazz 53 6. Light Crust Doughboys and Texas Playboys 68 7. The Spread of Western Jazz 88 8. Music out of a Straitjacket 98 9. "You Hired Bob Wills, Didn't You?" 112 10. Here Comes de Judge 121 11. "The Ballad of 'Seabiscuit' McAuliffe" 132 12. The Glory Years and the most Versatile Band in America 143 13. Faded Loves 156 14. "San Antonio Rose," Western Swing, and Some of the Finest Jazzmen You've Ever Heard 190 15. The Silver Screen and Music on the West Coast 206 16. That Certain Woman: Betty and the Summer of '42 215 17. "This Is the Army, Mr. Wills" 225 18. "Take Me Back to Tulsa" 235 19. Just Lookin' for a Home 261 20. "His Body Wore Out before His Desire" 277 21. Country Music Hall of Fame 283 22. More Tributes to a Pioneer Musician 295 23. A Product of the Jazz Age 310 24. Twilight Falls 316 Essay on Sources 325 The Bob Wills Recordings: A Comprehensive Discography Bob Pinson 337 A Preliminary Bob Wills Filmusicography Bob Pinson 375 Index 377
£27.90
University of Illinois Press The Bill Monroe Reader
Book SynopsisKnown as the Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe pioneered a different category of music and inspired generations of musicians and fans. This title offers a tribute to the man and the musician who transformed the traditional music of western Kentucky into an international sensation.Trade Review"The best single source for all things Monroe." --Wall Street Journal"[Ewing] neatly winnows out the chaff and gathers into a bundle what emerges as a complete mosaic of the artist. . . . Indispensable. "--Chuck Hicks, Pop Matters"Excellent. . . . Especially intriguing are the various interviews conducted with Monroe throughout his career. . . . Editor's comments following each article are well worth the price of admission in themselves. Ewing's years with Monroe and in-depth research add much to the pieces as he corrects misinformation or expounds upon the history."--Jonathan Colcord, Country Standard Time"Some of the greatest gems, and there are many in this book, are the thoughts and recollections of people who actually picked with Monroe. It is in these stories where we see the clearest image of the man: a curmudgeonly but loveable teacher who lived and breathed to play his mandolin and to help other musicians who wanted to learn bluegrass."--H-Southern-Music
£22.79
University of Illinois Press The Music of Bill Monroe
Book SynopsisSpanning over 1,000 separate performances, The Music of Bill Monroe presents a complete chronological list of all of Bill Monroe’s commercially released sound and visual recordings. Each chapter begins with a narrative describing Monroe’s life and career at that point, bringing in producers, sidemen, and others as they become part of the story. The narratives read like a “who’s who” of bluegrass, connecting Monroe to the music’s larger history and containing many fascinating stories. The second part of each chapter presents the discography. Information here includes the session’s place, date, time, and producer; master/matrix numbers, song/tune titles, composer credits, personnel, instruments, and vocals; and catalog/release numbers and reissue data.The only complete bio-discography of this American musical icon, The Music of Bill Monroe is the starting point for any study of Monroe’s contributions as a composer, iTrade Review"It is an impressive body of work, both the music and the research. Monroe's career is separated into discrete periods, each introduced by a learned and lucid essay. Discographical information (including both audio and video recordings) is impressively detailed."--No Depression"It is not surprising that the combination of Rosenberg, the premier bluegrass historian, and Wolfe, one of the pioneering country music historians, would yield a book that examines every detail of the recording career of the Father of Bluegrass. . . . Each chapter ends with a very detailed discography complete with master numbers, alternate takes and unreleased sections. . . . If you are serious about your bluegrass and want to know every detail of the recordings of Monroe, this is the book for you."--Country Standard Time"The book exceeds the high expectations we should have of such a collaboration between two of the best writers on the subject. Rosenberg writes so well that the reader is swept up in the introductory story of how the book was written and who contributed what; the chapters that examine the various periods in Monroe's career are unadulterated reading pleasure. . . . Absolutely essential for bluegrass fans."--Dirty Linen"It is written in a matter-of-fact style, sans any academese, by two university professors who are acknowledged experts on bluegrass music. . . . While this is something of a specialty aimed at Monroe fans, I can recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in the history of bluegrass music."--Sing Out!"An invaluable volume of work. . . . There is no better research on this side of the man than what has been presented to the world by Rosenberg and Wolfe."--Bluegrass Music News"This book is a fitting finale for a man who combined breathtaking knowledge with sensitivity and passion for an often-neglected field. . . . Will be treasured by serious Bill Monroe fans."--Western Folklore"A monumental work on a monumental subject. In part a reference work, it offers complete discographical data for all the recording sessions--spanning over half a century--of bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe. And beyond that, it covers the history and describes the impact of all the countless songs and tunes recorded in these sessions (an astonishing number of which have become permanent classics within the entire spectrum of vernacular music) and outlines the backgrounds of all the countless musicians who participated in them. And beyond even that, and intertwined with it all, it offers a fascinating professional (as opposed to personal) biography of one of America's most influential and creative musical talents."--John Wright, author of Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music"A work of immense importance, not only to bluegrass and folk historians but also to scholars and appreciators of American music and its place in the perspective of modern music history. This information gold mine has been long awaited--indeed, it is the mother lode. Two things make this a must-have for music libraries: the patient thoroughness with which this project was undertaken; and Bill Monroe himself--a homegrown hillbilly musical genius."--Eddie (former Blue Grass Boy) and Martha Adcock, "TwoGrass" musicians
£38.70
MO - University of Illinois Press Pressing On The Roni Stoneman Story
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] moving and frequently comical memoir."--The Tennessean"Co-author Ellen Wright has skillfully assembled and corroborated Stoneman's narratives. . . . Stoneman's story is crammed with her personality, full of funny anecdotes about her family and other performers with whom she worked, all wrapped in her hillborn cussedness."--No Depression"It is a gripping and well-told tale, and Stoneman's can-do spirit, which helped her rise above daunting personal and professional challenges, should inspire all readers."--Library Journal"[An] engrossing narrative [that retains] all of Roni's personality, humor, and compassion. Roni conveys emotion powerfully, and there were some parts of the book that were so painfully sad I had to stop reading. But I couldn't stay away long, wanting to get back to the parts where she made me laugh out loud."--Bluegrass Unlimited"[For country music fans] it's another eye-opener. Praise goes to [Stoneman and Wright] for their excellent input on this latest volume in the University of Illinois Press series Music in American Life."--Nashville Musician“Pressing On is an Appalachian Angela’s Ashes told from a female perspective. It tells the story of Roni Stoneman’s private and public life with remarkable and appealing candor. It is a book full of unfolding revelations, told with a sense of humor, and without an ounce of self-pity. Her story is entertaining at times, heartbreaking at others, but always compelling.”--Sandy L. Ballard, editor of Appalachian Journal“This is a unique book: the authentic story, in her own voice, of a woman who was once one of America’s most widely known entertainers. There will never be another Roni Stoneman, and there will never be another book like this one.”--Elinor Langer, author of Josephine Herbst"We already knew Roni as a first-rate banjo player and comic. This book reveals her as a sharp, observant, thinking woman, and a captivating storyteller."--Murphy Henry, banjo player and columnist for Banjo Newsletter and Bluegrass Unlimited "Told in a no-holds-barred, earthy style, Pressing On is a remarkable read."--Country Music People "Ellen Wright lets Stoneman's raw voice and warm personality come through in every paragraph of the kaleidoscope, and the result is a memorable journey through back stages and bars, recording studios, bedrooms and TV soundstages, from the Appalachian mountains to Alaska and back, from joy to grief and back."--Blue Ridge Country
£87.55
University of Illinois Press Musical Journeys in Sumatra
Book SynopsisA fascinating ethnographic record of vanishing musical genres, traditions, and practicesTrade Review"Kartomi's book reaffirms the value of classic ethnomusicological research. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice"This is a delicious book -- to be savoured, appreciated for its richness of detail and admired for its texture and cohesion. An innovative work, of great significant for describing, categorising and analysing Indonesia's traditional musical arts."--Inside Indonesia"The first comprehensive text detailing Sumatran music-dance traditions, based on forty years of fieldwork and scholarship, is, above all, a wonderfully encyclopedic collection of fascinating data and careful, honest description--in short, a classic ethnomusicological text."--Journal of the American Musicological Society"This book deserves credit as a significant contribution in englarging the body of knowledge of Indonesian traditional music."--Indonesia"Kartomi's impressive compendium of data, combined with engaging scholarship, is an important contribution to Asian studies, one that will likely inspire many students and scholars to think about Sumatra in new ways through its history of expressive culture and performance."--The Journal of Asian Studies"Rich in both extremely specific detail (in the form of musical transcriptions and artful play-by-play descriptions of events) and extremely broad theoretical musings about history, acculturation, gender,and pan-Sumatran themes and trends. . . . Here (as in person) Kartomi combines genuine warmth and gregariousness, a keen eye and ear for detail, and a disarmingly pragmatic matter-of-factness about potentially surprising or difficult subjects to fully engage her readers. It all makes for extraordinarily entertaining as well as informative reading"--Journal of Folklore Research"This volume presents a lifetime of writings by a distinguished scholar on the musical arts of Sumatra. Readers get a comprehensive glimpse of the myriad music and dance styles, ritual and religious life, cultural politics, and ecological and gender issues that permeate the island."--David D. Harnish, author of Bridges to the Ancestors: Music, Myth, and Cultural Politics at an Indonesian Festival"Widely recognized as the expert on the music of Sumatra, Margaret Kartomi provides a wealth of information on the music of various regions of the huge and culturally diverse island of Sumatra in Indonesia. No other book comes close to the treasure trove of descriptive data and detail here."--R. Anderson Sutton, author of Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java: Musical Pluralism and Regional Identity
£43.35
MO - University of Illinois Press Bill Clifton
Book SynopsisThe most atypical of bluegrass artists, Bill Clifton has enjoyed a long career as a recording artist, performer, and champion of old-time music. Bill C. Malone pens the story of Clifton''s eclectic life and influential career. Born into a prominent Maryland family, Clifton connected with old-time music as a boy. Clifton made records around earning a Master''s degree, fifteen years in the British folk scene, and stints in the Peace Corps and Marines. Yet that was just the beginning. Closely allied with the Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Mike Seeger, and others, Clifton altered our very perceptions of the music--organizing one of the first outdoor bluegrass festivals, publishing a book of folk and gospel standards that became a cornerstone of the folk revival, and introducing both traditional and progressive bluegrass around the world. As Malone shows, Clifton clothed the music of working-class people in the vestments of romance, celebrating the log cabin as a refuge from modernism tTrade ReviewExtremely stimulating. Clifton's early life, interests, and talents led him into many dramatic situations, which are masterfully described in Malone's biography. Bill Clifton made a wise choice in tapping Malone as his biographer.--Fred Bartenstein, editor of Bluegrass Bluesman: A MemoirA marvelous and wide-ranging biography of Bill Clifton by Bill Malone, the acknowledged dean of country music historians. Malone has added rich detail to our understanding of Clifton's musical context, particularly in bluegrass.--Ronald D. Cohen, co-author of Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Building New Banjos for an OldTime World
Book SynopsisBanjo music possesses a unique power to evoke a bucolic, simpler past. The artisans who build banjos for old-time music stand at an unusual crossroads asked to meet the modern musician's needs while retaining the nostalgic qualities so fundamental to the banjo's sound and mystique. Richard Jones-Bamman ventures into workshops and old-time music communities to explore how banjo builders practice their art. His interviews and long-time personal immersion in the musical culture shed light on long-overlooked aspects of banjo making. What is the banjo builder's role in the creation of a specific musical community? What techniques go into the styles of instruments they create? Jones-Bamman explores these questions and many others while sharing the ways an inescapable sense of the past undergirds the performance and enjoyment of old-time music. Along the way he reveals how antimodernism remains integral to the music's appeal and its making.Trade ReviewKlaus P. Wachsmann Prize for Advanced and Critical Essays in Organology, the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), 2018 "The book offers models for researching the art of instrument makers. It shows the need for studying a wide range of crafters to learn about musical history."--Journal of Folklore Research"The book presents a concise overview of banjo history and provides insight into construction trends and the cultural relevance of the instrument. Readers interested in the banjo's place in old-time music and its evolution over the past 50 years will find this book an informative and worthy read."--Old-Time Herald "Jones-Bamman provides a detailed description of the steps involved in building an old-time banjo: from the selection of the wood, to countless design decisions regarding aesthetics, structure, and tone, to choice of hardware, to designing pearl inlays, to the wood finish and final set up. These technical details, explained in the words of the banjo builders themselves, nicely illustrate the evolution of the craft of contemporary banjo building." --Society for American Music Bulletin"This book will be a valuable collection to the library of any banjo maker or player keen to embrace a keener understanding of how their instrument came to be." --Old Time News"Jones-Bamman's book remains unique in its subject matter and approach and a valuable contribution to the deservedly growing body of literature on the instrument." --Popular Music and Society“The issues raised by Jones-Bamman and the information he provides to aid in their discussion have never been brought together in one volume. A significant addition to the literature.”--Bob Carlin, author of Banjo: An Illustrated History“Completely unique in his focus on present-day banjo makers and the cultural significance of the banjo for builders and players today. Jones-Bamman shows us how the banjo taps deeply into conflicting ideas about modernity and the USA’s checkered past.”--Timothy J. Cooley, author of Surfing about Music
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Czech Bluegrass
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Lee Bidgood is the first person to do a serious accounting of the forces, political and artistic, that have contributed to the popularity of this outlier music in this unlikely locale. By putting himself in the narrative, one gets an up close and personal sense of the various aspects of the bluegrass and old-time music wave that has swept across the Czech and Slovakian musical landscapes for years--and still counting." --Tony Trischka, from the foreword "Many readers will appreciate both the high level of insight, and that the text makes its points using only 124 pages. Ethnographic works about contemporary music traditions are needed, and Czech Bluegrass: Notes from the Heart of Europe is a valuable tool, helping those interested in bluegrass music understand the rooting of the style in multiple cultures."--Journal of Folklore Research "Bidgood's personalized analysis adds a significant, scholarly piece to the bigger picture of bluegrass as an international phenomenon."--Bookreporter"This book will be of interest to those curious about the assimilation and adaptation of music forms. . . Readers eager for stories of bluegrass and country music that diverge from the common narrative of these genres being made by and for American Southerners will also appreciate the global approach to these genres." --Journal of American Folklore
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Banjo Roots and Branches
Book SynopsisThe story of the banjo''s journey from Africa to the western hemisphere blends music, history, and a union of cultures. In Banjo Roots and Branches, Robert B. Winans presents cutting-edge scholarship that covers the instrument''s West African origins and its adaptations and circulation in the Caribbean and United States. The contributors provide detailed ethnographic and technical research on gourd lutes and ekonting in Africa and the banza in Haiti while also investigating tuning practices and regional playing styles. Other essays place the instrument within the context of slavery, tell the stories of black banjoists, and shed light on the banjo''s introduction into the African- and Anglo-American folk milieus. Wide-ranging and illustrated with twenty color images, Banjo Roots and Branches offers a wealth of new information to scholars of African American and folk musics as well as the worldwide community of banjo aficionados. Contributors: Greg C. Adams, Nick BambTrade ReviewNicholas Bessaraboff Prize, American Musical Instrument Society, 2020 "Anyone with a strong interest in the early history of the banjo or in the broader history of American instrumental music in oral tradition will want a copy of this fine collection. All the work is imaginative, careful, and thoroughly documented. The essays flow smoothly." --Western Folklore"Banjo Roots and Branches is a comprehensively researched and pathbreaking piece of banjo roots scholarship. " --Music in American Life"Inspired by Dena Epstein, this is the first book to use a holistic approach in exploring the history of the banjo; it is an excellent compilation of articles for those interested in the music of Africa and the Americas."--Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, author of Fiddling in West Africa: Touching the Spirit in Fulbe, Hausa, and Dagbamba Cultures"Winans makes a rich addition to the literature. Recommended." --Choice"As far as I know this book has no real equivalents. Several of the essays are pioneering contributions to the esoteric but intriguing field of banjo research and folklore and ethnomusicology generally."--Robert S. Cantwell, author of Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound"An excellent book with plenty of material for both specialist and casual readers." --Galpin Society Journal"Roots and Branches collects an extraordinary amount of research into the ongoing discovery of the banjo's Byzantine history. . . .Each essay speaks directly to all others, lending the book an unusual level of cohesion for an edited volume." --The World of Music"A significant contribution to our understanding of the history and current significance of the banjo." --Ethnomusicology
£87.55
University of Illinois Press Cultural Sustainabilities Music Media Language
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Cultural Sustainabilities serves as a welcome and industrious collection that highlights not only the importance of sound but also its place in situating our current environmental and ecological plights." --Green Letters"Well-conceived . . . This volume is inspiring in that it offers new ways of looking at cultural sustainability." --Western Folklore"Cultural Sustainabilities is a superb collection of essays that broadly address the intersections of human creative practices and the environments from which they are derived and cultivated." --The World of Music"Written to introduce the reader to the universal practice of 'musicking' and the influence of real-time environmental upheaval on its conception and performance, and the physical and technological systems that support and maintain its integrity, the scope and scale of the literature illuminates the immense challenges of survival in a time of climatic upheaval." --Environmental Values"A must read for those interested in ecomusicology and will serve as a valuable resource for scholars in the Environmental Humanities writ large. . . . Students encountering Cultural Sustainabilities will be inspired to explore, advocate, and create a more equitable and pleasurable 'sound commons.'"--Mark Pedelty, author of A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism"The topic of sustainability is of broad interest across many disciplines and activities in this era of rapid climate change, globalized communications, and musical transformations. Music and sustainability is a new area and there are very few publications on the subject, and none as large and as well conceived as this one. It promises to make a significant addition."--Anthony Seeger, author of Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People"Cultural Sustainabilities is a must read for those interested in ecomusicology and will serve as a valuable resource for scholars in the environmental humanities writ large. . . . Students encountering Cultural Sustainabilities will be inspired to explore, advocate, and create a more equitable and pleasurable 'sound commons.'"--Mark Pedelty, author of A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Unexpectedly moving . . . Well-written and researched . . . Goldsmith's sweeping view of twentieth-century popular culture tells a fascinating story of how a regional banjo style journeyed from rural North Carolina to the American mainstream, and of the musician and his iconic composition that took it there." --Journal of American Folklore "Goldsmith packs his narrative with not only numerous facts but interesting anecdotal evidence. . . . All told, the author skillfully succeeds in weaving together an explanation of how Scruggs and his tune became legendary. " --North Carolina Historical Review "Those who are already fans of 'Earl' and his astounding banjo work will certainly want to own this volume. . . . Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown is a worthy addition to the library of any bluegrass, country, and acoustic-music enthusiast." --Journal of Folklore ResearchTable of ContentsCoverTitleCopyrightContentsAcknowledgments1. Out to Follow Scruggs’s Path2. “I grew up around a banjo”3. The Piedmont’s Rich Musical Soil4. Early Professional Days5. Joining Bill Monroe6. Working as a Blue Grass Boy7. Flatt and Scruggs Build a Career8. Recording “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”9. “Like a Jackhammer” — How the Tune Works10. The Number-One Banjo Player11. The Beverly Hillbillies Welcomes the Banjo12. Riding with Bonnie and Clyde13. Scruggs without Flatt: A Period of Transition14. Scruggs’s Banjo Gains a Cult Following15. Reaping the HarvestNotesIndex
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Industrial Strength Bluegrass
Book SynopsisTrade Review"If you believe that a purpose of volumes such as Industrial Strength Bluegrass is to stimulate thinking about a subject, then Industrial Strength Bluegrass serves its purpose well." --Journal of Folklore Research"If you believe that a purpose of volumes such as Industrial Strength Bluegrass is to stimulate thinking about a subject, then Industrial Strength Bluegrass serves its purpose well." --Journal of Folklore Research"With its extensive notes and sources, this book is a rich resource of information and powerful insights into the people and times that left an indelible mark on bluegrass." --Bluegrass Unlimited"Industrial Strength Bluegrass: Southwest Ohio’s Musical Legacy, both the book and the recording, are major contributions to the field of Appalachian Studies. These works provide a view of the urban Appalachian experience that reveals the story of Appalachian migration, the influence of Appalachian culture in areas like greater Cincinnati and takes us up to the present ways that Appalachian culture still impacts the region and the world beyond." --Urban Appalachian Community Coalition"They have created this lively look at the southern Ohio region and the music that magically materialized when the right people came along. . . . Soundly supported scholarship and down-to-earth accounts from those who were there and made it happen." --Bookreporter.com"My family left Jackson County, Kentucky, in the late 1950s to find work in Ohio. The sounds and songs from home naturally tagged along with us. Riding around in Dad’s truck there as a kid, the first music I remember hearing was the Osborne Brothers and Flatt and Scruggs on WPFB. Industrial Strength Bluegrass brings to life how bluegrass developed in the Cincinnati/Dayton region. I love the vivid stories of how the genre came of age and all the fascinating characters who catapulted it onto the world’s stage."--Dan Hays, former Executive Director of the International Bluegrass Music Association"Essential reading for any bluegrass fan. What a cast—from flawed geniuses, raucously liberated women, and gun-toting business proprietors to Eagle Scouts, professors, and creative artists of the highest order, all mixed together in the same petri dish, all true to themselves and their music. The setting for the first bluegrass college concert, Antioch, as well as where Mike Lilly rode his Harley into the Living Arts Center; Moon Mullins professed, promoted, and ad-libbed commercials with colorful epithets surpassing Barnum’s; motley barrooms became famous nationwide for the quality of the music played there; and, true to their work ethic, bluegrass professionals sprouted everywhere and many rose to national fame. The barroom bluegrass of Southwest Ohio spawned by Appalachian transplants who had taken the 'trail of the bologna rinds' was just as good and often more exciting than the bluegrass of the traveling professionals who first developed the music. When the two met here, it split the bluegrass atom."--Ron Thomason, founder and leader of the Dry Branch Fire Squad"An appealing and accessible musical history that showcases the importance of homegrown regional musical culture. For bluegrass fans and historians of the genre." --Library JournalTable of ContentsForeword: Industrial Strength Bluegrass Neil V. Rosenberg Notes from the Editors Acknowledgments A Southwestern Ohio Bluegrass Timeline 1 Appalachian Migration: Setting the Musical Stage in Southwestern Ohio Phillip J. Obermiller 2 Bobby Osborne Remembers How It Was Bobby Osborne and Joe Mullins 3 All the Way to the Fence: Bluegrass Broadcasting in the Miami Valley Daniel Mullins 4 Taking the Music Home: Bluegrass Recording Studios, Record Labels, and Record Stores Mac McDivitt 5 Sing Me Back Home: Early Bluegrass Venues in Southwestern Ohio Larry Nager 6 Using My Bible for a Roadmap: Sacred Bluegrass Music in the Miami Valley Fred Bartenstein 7 Green to Bluegrass: Reflections on an Unlikely Musical Career Lily Isaacs 8 Buckeyes in the Briar Patch: Southwestern Ohio Bluegrass in the 1970s Jon Hartley Fox 9 The Living Arts Center’s East Dayton Roots Rick Good 10 Bluegrass Music and Urban Appalachian Identity in Cincinnati Nathan McGee 11 Distinctive Qualities of Southwestern Ohio Bluegrass Ben Krakauer Appendix A: Recommended Southwestern Ohio Bluegrass Recordings Appendix B: For Further Reading List of Contributors Index
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Ballad Hunting with Max Hunter
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
£68.25
University of Illinois Press Stringbean
Book SynopsisThe artist’s impact on country music and how his death changed the genre A beloved member of the country music community, David “Stringbean” Akeman found nationwide fame as a cast member of Hee Haw. The 1973 murder of Stringbean and his wife forever changed Nashville’s sense of itself. Millions of others mourned not only the slain couple but the passing of the way of life that country music had long represented. Taylor Hagood merges the story of Stringbean’s life with an account of murder and courtroom drama. Mentored by Uncle Dave Macon and Bill Monroe, Stringbean was a bridge to country’s early days. His instrumental savvy and old-time singing style drew upon a deep love for traditional country music that, along with his humor and humanity, won him the reverence of younger artists and made his violent death all the more shocking. Hagood delves into the unexpected questions and uneasy resolutions raised by the atmosphere of Trade Review"The story about the life of the man and the details of his life's tragic end is expertly covered in this new book. . . . After reading this book, I feel as though I got to know David "Stringbean" Akeman and his story very well. Highly recommended!" --Dan Miller, Bluegrass Unlimited“Stringbean was one of the very first friends Doolittle, my husband, and I made when we first came to Nashville in 1960. He and his wife Estelle were some of the nicest folks you could find anywhere. . . . It was heartbreaking when we lost him and his wife.”--Loretta Lynn“Stringbean and Estelle would be like your favorite aunt and uncle, or your favorite cousin. Any time we had a celebration, they were always there, and most of the time cooked for everybody. Those were precious times.”--Lulu Roman, Hee Haw star"This tale will appeal to readers curious about the formative years of the United States' country-music scene." --Library Journal"Get your orders in! You will like this book. Thanks, Taylor Hagood, for filling in so many blanks, even those you filled in from your remote closeness to the gentle and genuine spirit of Stringbean. Stringbean is still a vital part of our music. Stringbean shows us that." --Bluegrass Standard"Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Legend by Talyor Hagood, not only serves to remind and establish Stringbean’s often overlooked musical legacy, but also serves as a true crime thriller with a highly detailed account of the murder and ensuing trial. Hagood expertly details Stringbean’s long career and gives new meaning to both him and his music." --Americana UK"Hagood, who writes with an appealingly loose and earnest style, has genuine affection for Stringbean. Perhaps the most moving passages are those in which Hagood reflects on the symbiotic relationship between the man and his trusty Vega No. 9 Tubaphone banjo. " --NewCity "Almost as soon as I picked up Taylor Hagood's biography of David Akeman, I knew I could put aside my instinct to find fault in order to luxuriate in a well-documented, carefully constructed combination of biography and true crime story. . . . I highly recommend this well-researched and highly readable book." --Ted Lehmann “It was always a rare treat to get to see the hat flipping, banjo picking man from ole Kentucky on the television or old video tape. Stringbean was one of my first musical heroes as a kid while learning to play the banjo. I'm very excited to get this book! I can never get enough of Ole String! Thank you, Taylor!”--Leroy Troy, Grand Ole Opry star and 1996 National Old-Time Banjo Champion "Taylor Hagood is a gifted writer, and I'm truly pleased with the book he wrote about my uncle, David Akemon."--Phillip AkemonTable of ContentsA Note on Names Prologue. Short Life and Trouble: November 11, 1973 Chapter 1. Way Back in the Hills of Old Kentucky: 1915-1935 Chapter 2. Stringbean and His Banjo: 1935-1942 Chapter 3. Goin’ to the Grand Ole Opry to Make Myself a Name: 1942-1945 Chapter 4. Big Ball in Nashville: 1945-1952 Chapter 5. Herdin’ Cattle in a Cadillac Coupe de Ville: 1953-1959 Chapter 6. Pretty Polly: 1960-1965 Chapter 7. Me and My Old Crow (Got a Good Thing Going): 1966-1973 Interlude. Goodbye Sweet Thing: Stringbean’s Final Day of Life, November 10, 1973 Chapter 8. Sinner Man, Where You Gonna Hide: November 1973, January 1974 Chapter 9. You Can’t Do Wrong and Get By: January, November 1974 Epilogue. Forgetting to Forget You: 1975-2014 Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography Index
£68.25
MO - University of Illinois Press Red River Blues The Blues Tradition in the
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewASCAP Deems Taylor Award, 1987. "The opening chapters are among the best things ever published on the blues. It's a thoughtful, substantial, solidly constructed, information packed work, and should be in every serious blues enthusiast's library. But more than that, it is a major contribution to the study of popular culture."--Paul Oliver, Juke Blues"A brilliant and exhaustive study of Afro-American secular music in the Southeast in this century. And it is a broader tradition, and not the blues per se, that is being examined here. . . . Bastin illuminates the importance of black string band traditions, balladry, music derived from minstrel and medicine show traditions as well as sacred forms not just as blues antecedents, but as significant parallel strains to blues in the repertories of many musicians up to the present."--Art Rosenbaum, Georgia Historical Quarterly
£25.19
University of Illinois Press My Song Is My Weapon
Book SynopsisA revealing exploration of the origins and development of People''s Songs, Inc.,'My Song Is My Weaponwon the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. Robbie Lieberman brings to life the hootenannies, concerts, and rallies of the time, paying special attention to the politics of culture of the Old Left. Her analysis of the communist movement culture, coupled with interviews with former members of People''s Songs, sheds new light on Cold War America, the American Communist movement, and the experience of left-wing cultural workers.Trade Review"A spirited and scholarly account of the relationship between the US Communist movement and the folk music revival of the 1940s and 1950s."--Paul C. Mishler, Nature, Society, and Thought"Shows the ways in which the folk music revival of the 1960s and the participatory cultures of the civil rights movement and the New Left drew on the general example and the specific creations of the all-but-forgotten People's Songsters."--George Lipsitz, American Historical Review"Lieberman's vision of a people's music in American culture is arresting, challenging, and refreshing, and it deserves our attention." -- Phillip V. Bohlman, Sonneck Society BulletinTable of ContentsPreface xiii Introduction: Historical Background 3 1. The American Communist Movement Culture 14 2. From the "Final Cornflakes" to the "Ballad for Americans": Communist Musical Culture in the 1930s 25 3. "This Machine Kills Fascists": Communism, Antifascism, and People's Music during World War 2 50 4. "My Song Is My Weapon": People's Songs, the CPUSA, and the Cold War 67 5. "Songs of Labor and the American People" 85 6. "We Were Close to Changing the World": The People's Songs Hootenanny 115 7. "The Fight for Peace": People's Songs and the Wallace Campaign 126 8. "We Will Overcome": The Legacy of People's Songs 149 Notes 167 Index 193
£16.19
University of Illinois Press Voices of a People
Book SynopsisWith notes and annotations that give insight into the larger story of the Jewish experience, this is a study of Yiddish folksongs of several types in both Yiddish and English.Trade Review"Drawing on printed collections and on her own unparalleled knowledge and experience, [Rubin] has produced a book that will charm the scholar and entrance the general reader... [A] wonderfully rich collection." -- Library Journal "An impressive scholarly volume and a surprisingly readable one... [Voices of a People] is certainly a landmark in folklore because of its remarkable combination of scholarship and human understanding." -- Edith Fowke, Canadian Forum "Distinctly revealing and penetrating ... an energetic and lively portrait of every facet of Jewish life." -- Lawrence Cohn, Saturday Review "This highly readable book by the charming and knowledgeable Ruth Rubin should have a wide popular audience... No one who falls under its spell can fail to be moved." -- -- Edson Richmond, Journal of American Folklore
£31.50
University of Illinois Press Sinful Tunes and Spirituals
Book SynopsisFrom the plaintive tunes of woe sung by exiled kings and queens of Africa to the spirited worksongs and shouts of freedmen, in Sinful Tunes and Spirituals Dena J. Epstein traces the course of early black folk music in all its guises. This classic work is being reissued with a new author's preface on the silver anniversary of its original publication.Trade ReviewWinner of the Simkins Prize of the Southern Historical Association, 1979. "No previous scholar has told more about the manner of diffusion of African music and dance in the New World . . . . No one else has related with more telling effect the impact that Afro-American musical patterns had upon the sensibilities of the white public."--Lawrence W. Levine, Journal of American History"Epstein has uncovered far more about early black music than anyone thought possible. Her luxuriant quotations and definitive treatments of a wide variety of musical subtopics make the book an essential reference volume and a marvelous storehouse of information."--John B. Boles, Journal of Southern History"Sinful Tunes ensures that we will never again be able to sing or listen to a spiritual in quite the same way. We can now see more clearly than ever before what has shaped it; we have been taken nearer the soul of the music."--Hugh Brogan, Times Literary Supplement"[A] definitive, indeed monumental study of black slave music in America."--Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., Musical QuarterlyTable of ContentsPreface to the 2003 Paperback xiii Preface to the 1977 Edition xvii Prologue: The African Heritage and the Middle Passage 3Part One: Development of Black Folk Music to 1800 19 1. Early Reports of African Music in British and French America 21 La Calinda and the Banza 30 Other African Dancing 38 2. More Black Instruments and Early White Reaction 47 Drums and Other African Instruments 47 The Balafo 55 Legal Restrictions on Instruments 58 3. The Role of Music in Daily Life 63 Funerals 63 Pinkster and Other African Celebrations in the North 66 Worksongs and Other Kinds of African Singing 68 4. The Acculturation of African Music in the New World 77 The Arrival of Africans and Their Music 78 Acculaturation in New Orleans 90 5. Conversion to Christianity 100 6. Acculturated Black Musicians in the Thirteen Colonies 112 The African Jig, a Black-to-White Exchange 120 Part Two: Secular and Sacred Black Folk Music, 1800-1867 125 7. African Survivals 127 Persisting Musical and Cultural Patterns 128 Black Music in New Orleans, 1820-67 132 8. Acculturated Dancing and Associated Instruments 139 Patting Juba 141 Drums, Quills, Banjo, Bones, Triangle, Tambourine 144 Fiddlers 147 Instrumental Combinations 155 9. Worksongs 161 Field Work and Domestic Chores 161 Industrial and Steamboat Workers 164 Boat Songs 166 Corn, Cane, and Other Harvest Songs 172 Singing on the March 176 Street Cries and Field Hollers 181 10. Distinctive Characteristics of Secular Black Folk Music 184 Whistling 184 Improvisation 184 Satire 187 Style of Singing 188 Other Secular Music 189 11. The Religious Background of Sacred Black Folk Music, 1801-67 191 Opposition to Religious Instruction of Slaves 192 Camp Meetings 197 Missions to the Slaves 199 Black Religious Groups 202 Opposition to Secular Music and Dancing 207 12. Distinctive Black Religious Music 217 Spirituals 217 Attempts to Suppress Black Religious Singing 229 The Shout 232 Funerals 234 Part Three: The Emergence of Black Folk Music during the Civil War 239 13. Early Wartime Reports and the First Publication of a Spiritual with Its Music 241 14. The Port Royal Experiment 252 Historical Background 252 Earliest Published Reports 256 Wartime Publication of Song Texts and Music 260 15. Reports of Black Folk Music, 1863-67 274 Criticism of "This Barbaric Music" 274 Recognition of a Distinctive Folk Music 275 The Shout 278 Worksongs 287 Performance Style 290 Introduction of "New" Songs by the Teachers 296 16. Slave Songs of the United States: Its Editors 303 William Francis Allen 304 Charles Pickard Ware 310 Lucy McKim Garrison 314 17. Slave Songs of the United States: Its Publication 321 The Contributors 321 Problems of Notation 326 Assembling the Collection 329 Publication and Reception 331 Conclusion 343 Appendices 349 I. Musical Excerpts from the Manuscript Diaries of William Francis Allen 349 II. Table of Sources for the Banjo, Chronologically Arranged 359 III. Earliest Published Versions of "Go Down, Moses" 363 Bibliography 374 Index 416
£23.39
University of Illinois Press Come Hither to Go Yonder
Book Synopsis Bob Black was a member of Bill Monroe''s Blue Grass Boys in the 1970s. Black''s memoir of his time with the man he called the Chief offers the unique vantage point of a man who traveled and performed extensively with the Father of Bluegrass at a time when the music had opened up to new audiences--and Monroe had become a living legend. Both role model and taskmaster, Monroe exerted a profound influence on Black and the musicians who have carried on the bluegrass tradition. In addition to Black''s one-of-a-kind story,Come Hither to Go Yonderincludes complete listing of Black''s appearances with Monroe, recollections of the memorable experiences they shared while working together, descriptions of other important musicians and bands, and suggestions for further reading and listening. Offering a rare perspective on the creative forces that drove one of America''s greatest composers and musical innovators,Come Hither to Go Yonderrewards fans of Bill Monroe aTrade ReviewBob Black was named the International Bluegrass Music Association Print Media Personality of the Year for his book (2006). "Black writes clearly, in an easy-to-read and entertaining style. His portrait of Monroe is perceptive and sensitive, valuable because of its close perspective and also because Black has a different take on the man than many previous Monroe documentarians. A must-read for Monroe fans."--Bluegrass Unlimited"Bob gives the reader insights into traveling with the band and life on the road. . . . It is obvious that Bob Black cherishes his time with the Blue Grass Boys and his mentor Bill Monroe. Come HIther to Go Yonder is the fascinating story of bluegrass before the phenomenon of Oh Brother."--Sing Out!"I believe Bob Black is the best playing fiddle tunes of any banjo player."--Bill Monroe"Anyone intersted in bluegrass and Bill Monroe will find Black's reminiscences of his time beneath a Blue Grass Boy hat absorbing."--Tony Russell"Being a bluegrass banjo player and Monroe fan for most of my life, I found it easy to project myself into the situations and encounters that Black describes. . . . This is a stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable book that I would recommend to anyone interested in Monroe's music."--Tom Adler, folklorist and bluegrass historian
£17.09
University of Illinois Press Chicago Blues
Book SynopsisThrough revealing portraits of selected local artists and slice-of-life vignettes drawn from the city’s pubs and lounges,Chicago Bluesencapsulates the sound and spirit of the blues as it is lived today. As a committed participant in the Chicago blues scene for more than a quarter century, David Whiteis draws on years of his observations and extensive interviews to paint a full picture of the Chicago blues world, both on and off the stage.In addition to portraits of blues artists he has personally known and worked with, Whiteis takes readers on a tour of venues like East of Ryan and the Starlight Lounge, home to artists such as Jumpin’ Willie Cobbs, Willie D., and Harmonica Khan. He tells the stories behind the lives of past pioneers, including Junior Wells, pianist Sunnyland Slim, and harpist Big Walter Horton, whose music reflects the universal concerns with love, loss, and yearning that continue to keep the blues so vital for so many.Trade Review"An inside job, a first-hand account that treats the music not as a pile of dusty old records but as a living, breathing art form. By focusing the majority of his detailed profiles on the also-rans rather than the cornerstone artists, Whiteis is able to address the honest realities of the contemporary working blues musician. By reporting from within the funky neighborhood bars in which the venerable music is continually reborn, he ensures that the blues is no museum exhibit."--Mojo"An important document of the thriving Chicago blues scene, this fluidly written book is an essential addition for public libraries with blues and R&B-related collections as well as for academic libraries, especially those with collectiones geared toward the sociology of music and American studies. Highly recommended."--Library Journal"As an active participant in the Chicago blues scene and a Maxwell Street habitué for more than a quarter century, journalist David Whiteis offers some tellingly insightful sociological observations on the intrinsic power of the music and draws on his extensive catalog of interviews over the years to present a kaleidoscopic picture of the Windy City blues world, both on and off stage. . . . Must reading for blues fans everywhere."--Sing Out!
£17.99
MO - University of Illinois Press Staging Tradition
Book SynopsisTraces the parallel careers of the creators of the Renfro Valley Barn Dance and the National Folk Festival. This book features John Lair and Sarah Gertrude Knott, two of the most notable producers and their discovery of new developments in theater and entertainment which led them to the producing careers.Trade Review"Williams draws on her meticulous research of primary source materials, including reams of personal correspondence, to trace the professional paths of two pivotal stagers of traditional culture. . . . This is an important work that should appeal to all U.S. folklorists, ethnomusicologists, and American Studies scholars."--Journal of Folklore Research "Staging Tradition adds valuable insights into the sometimes contentious relationship between folk music presenters, performers, and audiences."--Sing Out! "An intriguing account of how grassroots culture--especially Appalachian culture--has come to be viewed, presented, manipulated, and preserved through public performance."--GoldensealTable of ContentsCoverTitleCopyrightContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1. Tradition, Ambition, and the Theater2. “Something Big”: The Birth of the National Folk FestivalIllustrations A3. John Lair, Student of the Origins of American Folk Music4. Tooting the Horn: The Heyday of the National Folk Festival and Renfro Valley Barn Dance5. The Changing SceneIllustrations B6. The Prima Donna of Folk7. Things Have Changed in Renfro Valley8. Staging TraditionNotesWorks CitedIndexBack cover
£25.34
University of Illinois Press The Bluegrass Reader
Book SynopsisIn The Bluegrass Reader, Thomas Goldsmith joins his insights as a journalist with a lifetime of experience in bluegrass to capture the full story of this beloved American music. Inspired by the question “What articles about bluegrass would you want to have with you on a desert island?” he assembled a delicious, fun-to-read collection that brings together a wide range of the very best in bluegrass writing. Goldsmith’s substantial introduction describes and traces the development of the music from its origins in Anglo-American folk tradition, overlaid with African American influences, to the breakout popularity of Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, and the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. He introduces each selection offering a wealth of additional information, making The Bluegrass Reader both enjoyable and invaluable for new fans of the music as well as for its lifetime devotees.Trade ReviewInternational Bluegrass Music Association's 2004 award for Print Media Personality of the Year. "Will stand for decades as a great reference work and the perfect introductory read for anyone interested in the history of bluegrass and its major figures."--Nashville Scene"The Bluegrass Reader successfully manages to appeal to both the bluegrass insider and the newcomer to the genre, and in the process has given well-deserved new life to some masterful bits of writing."--Bluegrass Unlimited
£16.19
University of Illinois Press Homegrown Music
Book SynopsisHomegrown Music offers an introductory primer for newcomers to bluegrass and provides a novel perspective for fans already captivated by the music. Award-winning bluegrass writer Stephanie P. Ledgin writes about topics ranging from the music''s predecessors to its innovators to contemporary figures. Interviews with legends like Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band provide candid insights and invaluable eyewitness history. Delving into instrumentation, songs, the festival experience, 'parking lot picking,' and other topics, the book gives neophytes and enthusiasts alike new perspectives on the music. Twenty-five photographs taken by the author and a foreword by bluegrass superstar Ricky Skaggs further enrich the guide while a special section features an extensive bluegrass resource guide to print, audiovisual, and Internet materials.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2007 Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism in the Career category. "Every library should own a copy."--Library Journal, starred review"The perfect introduction for those interested in knowing more about bluegrass and a needed addition to the canon of bluegrass scholarship."--Bluegrass Unlimited
£16.14
University of Illinois Press Pressing On
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] moving and frequently comical memoir."--The Tennessean"Co-author Ellen Wright has skillfully assembled and corroborated Stoneman's narratives. . . . Stoneman's story is crammed with her personality, full of funny anecdotes about her family and other performers with whom she worked, all wrapped in her hillborn cussedness."--No Depression"It is a gripping and well-told tale, and Stoneman's can-do spirit, which helped her rise above daunting personal and professional challenges, should inspire all readers."--Library Journal"[An] engrossing narrative [that retains] all of Roni's personality, humor, and compassion. Roni conveys emotion powerfully, and there were some parts of the book that were so painfully sad I had to stop reading. But I couldn't stay away long, wanting to get back to the parts where she made me laugh out loud."--Bluegrass Unlimited"[For country music fans] it's another eye-opener. Praise goes to [Stoneman and Wright] for their excellent input on this latest volume in the University of Illinois Press series Music in American Life."--Nashville Musician“Pressing On is an Appalachian Angela’s Ashes told from a female perspective. It tells the story of Roni Stoneman’s private and public life with remarkable and appealing candor. It is a book full of unfolding revelations, told with a sense of humor, and without an ounce of self-pity. Her story is entertaining at times, heartbreaking at others, but always compelling.”--Sandy L. Ballard, editor of Appalachian Journal“This is a unique book: the authentic story, in her own voice, of a woman who was once one of America’s most widely known entertainers. There will never be another Roni Stoneman, and there will never be another book like this one.”--Elinor Langer, author of Josephine Herbst"We already knew Roni as a first-rate banjo player and comic. This book reveals her as a sharp, observant, thinking woman, and a captivating storyteller."--Murphy Henry, banjo player and columnist for Banjo Newsletter and Bluegrass Unlimited "Told in a no-holds-barred, earthy style, Pressing On is a remarkable read."--Country Music People "Ellen Wright lets Stoneman's raw voice and warm personality come through in every paragraph of the kaleidoscope, and the result is a memorable journey through back stages and bars, recording studios, bedrooms and TV soundstages, from the Appalachian mountains to Alaska and back, from joy to grief and back."--Blue Ridge Country
£15.29
University of Illinois Press Poetry and Violence
Book SynopsisJohn H. McDowell provides an in-depth look at the Mexican ballad form known as the corrido, a body of poetry that draws from violence for its subject matter. Through interviews with male and female corrido composers and performers, plus a generous sampling of ballad texts, McDowell reveals a living vernacular tradition that chronicles local and regional rivalries and spawned the narcocorrido, ballads set in the drug trade and particularly popular along the Rio Grande border. Detailed and rife with social and cultural implications, Poetry and Violence is a compelling commentary on violence as both human experience and communicative action.Trade Review"A brilliant study of a thriving ballad tradition extant in the Costa Chica region. It is written in a clear, coherent, and concise style. The book will appeal to those interested in ethnomusicology, ballad studies, and corrido studies."--Maria Herrera-Sobek, Western Folklore"The rich representations of the composer's voice interwoven with the theoretical overlay of scholarly abstractions, the critique of the (racist) allegations that the African heritage of Costa Chica afromestizos is the source of the patterns of violence, [and] the counterdistinction of the roles of composer, performer, and audience member in relating to the corrido's veracity . . . are all reasons to give McDowell's work 'two thumbs up.'"--Daniel Sheehy, Ethnomusicology"A carefully crafted ethnography. . . . [McDowell] succeeds in making his case for the power of the corrido tradition on the Costa Chica to mediate fundamental cultural issues. . . . A groundbreaking analysis of this oft-interpreted genre."--Manuel Peña, Journal of American Folklore"[McDowell] has uncovered a vernacular tradition that relates to regional rivalries that have centered on land redistribution since the revolution, capital formation, and consolidation of federal authority."--British Bulletin of Publications on Latin America, the Caribbean, Portugal and Spain
£19.79
MO - University of Illinois Press Crowe on the Banjo The Music Life of J.D. Crowe
Book SynopsisA musical biography of one of bluegrass's true pioneersTrade ReviewReceived the Best Historical Research in Country, Folk or Ethnic Music Award from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2012. Received the Print Media Person of the Year Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), 2012. "This book is superbly written and once you start, you just can't put it down."--Cybergrass"Publication of this book is a major event. . . . Captivating and comprehensive."--Bluegrass Unlimited"For fans and historians, a book on the music and influence of J. D. Crowe was long overdue, and Marty Godbey's Crowe on the Banjo fits the bill wonderfully. This account puts Crowe's importance into clear perspective."--Bob Artis, third-generation mandolinist and member of the Allegheny Drifters "A stimulating and informative narrative of the life and work of J. D. Crowe, a seminal figure in the development of latter-day bluegrass music. Marty Godbey admirably pinpoints the importance of Crowe's influences as a banjo player and band leader and how his sound has become the standard for a sizeable segment of the bluegrass music industry."--Alan Munde, bluegrass banjoist and leader of the Alan Munde Gazette"This book covers it all. It begins with the story of Crowe's introduction to the five string banjo at a Flatt & Scruggs performance, and continues until arriving at the present day New South. . . . A must-read."--Bluegrass Today"Godbey covered the gamut of Crowe's career in her book complete with personal conversations, interviews, old-time photos, a discography, and list of additional reading material."--Kentucky Living Magazine"Bluegrass scholars, performers, and fans should welcome this book. Recommended."--Choice"A finely textured, multivocal account of musical apprenticeship and craft that does justice to the lives of both the biography's subject and its author."--The Journal of Southern History "This book is a major service to J. D. worshipers (like myself!). Thanks, Marty, we will miss you."--Béla Fleck, Grammy-winning banjoist
£15.19
University of Illinois Press Bluegrass Bluesman
Book SynopsisThe life and music of a bluegrass pioneer, in his own wordsTrade ReviewCertificate of Merit for Excellence for Best Research in Recorded Country Music, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Awards, 2013. Fred Bartenstein (editor), Bluegrass/Media Person of the Year, International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA), 2013. "Mesmerizing . . . especially for lovers of bluegrass."--Booklist "One comes away from this interesting read with a keen understanding of a man who influenced country music, dobro playing in particular, in a way few have. Recommended."--Choice "A fascinating look at the musical culture of the South. . . . Thoroughly Southern, spicy, real, and lots of fun." --Library Journal "The legendary musician provides interesting insight into the ways of his long-time boss, Earl Scruggs." --MountainTimes.com "Graves's name won't ring a bell for many outside musicians' circles, but Burkett "Uncle Josh" Graves helped take bluegrass from southern Appalachia to college campuses and beyond, to the world-music status it enjoys today. . . . Bluegrass Bluesman is unfiltered, off-the-cuff oral history."--The Wall Street Journal"In this welcome memoir, Graves proves himself a born storyteller. . . . Rarely is a guitarist's memoir such a rich read."--Vintage Guitar"Josh Graves inspired hundreds of musicians to pick up the steel bar and slide it over the strings of the Dobro. . . . It's good and fitting that the story of this talented and influential musician is being preserved in his own words." --from Neil Rosenberg's foreword to the book "Because Graves tells his own story in his own voice, readers do truly get a sense for whom Josh Graves was and what he and his dobro contributed to Bluegrass music." --Winchester Sun"Yet another must-read book from the University of Illinois Press."--Bluegrass Unlimited "An excellent autobiography of a highly creative musician. Graves was a first-rate storyteller with a discerning sense of what was important in his many memorable experiences." --John Wright, author of Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music"Fred Bartenstein has done a beautiful job in covering the career of one of the great figures in bluegrass. . . . A hard book to put down." --County Sales Newsletter
£16.14
University of Illinois Press The NeverEnding Revival
Book Synopsis In recent years, there has been an upsurge in interest in 'roots music' and 'world music,' popular forms that fuse contemporary sounds with traditional vernacular styles. In the 1950s and 1960s, the music industry characterized similar sounds simply as 'folk music.' Focusing on such music since the 1950s, The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance analyzes the intrinsic contradictions of a commercialized folk culture. Both Rounder Records and the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance have sought to make folk music widely available, while simultaneously respecting its defining traditions and unique community atmosphere. By tracing the histories of these organizations, Michael F. Scully examines the ongoing controversy surrounding the profitability of folk music. He explores the lively debates about the difficulty of making commercially accessible music, honoring tradition, and remaining artistically relevant, all without 'selling out.' InTrade Review "Thoughtful and insightful book. . . . Scully's important exploration of the folk music revival ... will only gain in significance as the opportunities for the transmission of folk music increase."--ARSC Journal "For those of us with a fondness for Rounder and all the offbeat music it has brought us throughout the years, this book . . . is a must-have."--Sing Out! “Scully explores many facets of the folk music revival. . . . Well written, well researched.”--Bluegrass Unlimited"With care and grace, Scully details the power struggles, the hirings and resignations, the handwringing and public denunciations that characterize any organization that tries to blend notions of cultural purity with commercial ambitions."--American Studies"A keenly insightful study."--Western Folklore"A clear, intelligent, insightful, and open-minded look into the world of folk music. This well-researched book details the conflicts inherent in a hard-to-define musical genre."--Tommy Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone)"Scully covers new territory in exploring the recent history of folk music in the United States by focusing on Rounder Records and the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance. This book is essential for anyone interested in recent developments in folk music and its role in the aftermath of the folk revival of the 1960s."--Ronald D. Cohen, author of Folk Music: The Basics"This well-researched book fills an important gap in the chronicle of the folk revival. Particularly impressive is Scully's recapitulation of the painful debates about Rounder's commercial survival and the nature of folklore and folk song."--Ed Cray, author of Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody GuthrieTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgements / ix Introduction: Where Have All the Folkies Gone? / 1 1. Folklore, Fakelore, and Poplore: From the Creation of the Folk to the Great Boom and Beyond / 21 2. From Club 47 to Union Grove: The Birth of Rounder Records / 58 3. Surrealistic Banjos and Zydeco Rhythms: Rounder's Broad Aesthetic / 88 4. Toward an Authenticity of Self: Old-Time Music in the Modern World / 114 5. Like Politics in Chicago: The Folk Alliance Strives for Unity / 133 6. Consolidation Blues: Folk Music in Contemporary Markets / 167 Conclusion: Gone to the Internet, Everyone / 211 Notes / 219 Note on Citations / 243 Index / 247 Illustrations follow page 20.
£21.59
University of Illinois Press Bill Clifton
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewExtremely stimulating. Clifton's early life, interests, and talents led him into many dramatic situations, which are masterfully described in Malone's biography. Bill Clifton made a wise choice in tapping Malone as his biographer.--Fred Bartenstein, editor of Bluegrass Bluesman: A MemoirA marvelous and wide-ranging biography of Bill Clifton by Bill Malone, the acknowledged dean of country music historians. Malone has added rich detail to our understanding of Clifton's musical context, particularly in bluegrass.--Ronald D. Cohen, co-author of Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s
£15.19
University of Illinois Press Dont Give Your Heart to a Rambler
Book SynopsisAs charismatic and gifted as he was volatile, Jimmy Martin recorded dozens of bluegrass classics and co-invented the high lonesome sound. Barbara Martin Stephens became involved with the King of Bluegrass at age seventeen. Don''t Give your Heart to a Rambler tells the story of their often tumultuous life together. Barbara bore his children and took on a crucial job as his booking agent when the agent he was using failed to obtain show dates for the group. Female booking agents were non-existent at that time but she persevered and went on to become the first female booking agent on Music Row. She also endured years of physical and emotional abuse at Martin''s hands. With courage and candor, Barbara tells of the suffering and traces the hard-won personal growth she found inside motherhood and her work. Her vivid account of Martin''s explosive personality and torment over his exclusion from the Grand Ole Opry fill in the missing details on a career renowned for being stormy. BarTrade Review"Set in the heyday of bluegrass and country music, Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler is filled with famous names . . . and sparkles with the excitement of those times."--Bookreporter.com"[Don't Give your Heart to a Rambler] stands as a testament to survival, the will to persist, and the importance of choices in forging a life."--Ted Lehman's Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms"Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler offers a fascinating look into the world of bluegrass during the 1950s and 60s." --Bluegrass Breakdown"A rare insider's view of Nashville's music scene and of how life with a famous bluegrass musician used to be, this account also gives a good impression of what social roles women were expected to fulfill, no matter how their husbands acted."--popcultureshelf"I've often said I wanted to know more about performers lives, with all their warts showing. Barbara Martin Stephens has achieved that for Jimmy Martin. Human beings are complex. Our stories are never simple, and she has written her story, revealing a life and keeping it true."--No Depression"There is not another book as direct and revealing about the socioeconomic background of a major bluegrass artist. . . . Barbara Martin Stephens has given us a unique and intimate memoir of those years."--Marian Leighton Levy"A fascinating book. . . . There's never been a book quite like this in the bluegrass world."--Ken Irwin“After reading this book, fans should have a broader knowledge of Martin’s flamboyant personality and the complex, conflicted character he displayed away from the spotlight.”—Bluegrass Unlimited "For anyone who has ever yearned to know more about the man behind the boisterous King of Bluegrass personality, Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler should certainly offer an intriguing perspective."--Bluegrass Today "While the music of Jimmy Martin is documented for the ages, his detailed personal life has never been so thoroughly told until now. Barbara Martin lived with the man, bore four of his children, and served as his manager and booking agent during the glory days when he was known as 'Mr. Good ‘N Country Music.' Brutally honest, this book runs the gamut of emotions giving us a first-person account of one the most talented—yet complicated—performers during the golden years of country and bluegrass music." —Eddie Stubbs, WSM Grand Ole Opry Announcer "Jimmy Martin was a sparkling stylist, both as a singer and a guitarist, a brilliant showman whom few could follow onstage, and a tortured soul who once, when I simply said hello to him at the Grand Ole Opry, threatened to whip my ass right there on the side of the stage. I met Jimmy early in my career and thought I knew him fairly well. After reading Barbara's painfully honest portrayal, however, I realize I hardly knew him at all."--Bill Anderson "I can't say enough good things about Barbara Martin and her influence on bluegrass music. She was an early pioneer with booking and representing her artist partner Jimmy Martin. The new venues she was able to put Jimmy into with his music was not easy in any way because Bluegrass is a music that is only appreciated by being watched and performed. Barbara was on the ground floor of all concerts and shows that was the forerunner of bluegrass festivals as we know them today. Thanks again Barbara for all your hard work, courage, many years of hearing no from promoters and telling us your story with this book."--Ronnie Reno "Barbara Martin has written a fascinating book about her years with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass. If you are a fan of Jimmy Martin—the artist or the man—buy this book to understand more about both."--Jesse McReynolds
£15.19
