100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own

100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own
Author: Edward Komara
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2014-02-07
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810889226

Search the Internet for the 100 best songs or best albums. Dozens of lists will appear from aficionados to major music personalities. But what if you not only love listening to the blues or country music or jazz or rock, you love reading about it, too. How do you separate what matters from what doesn’t among the hundreds—sometimes thousands—of books on the music you so love? In the Best Music Books series, readers finally have a quick-and-ready list of the most important works published on modern major music genres by leading experts. In 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own, Edward Komara, former Blues Archivist of the University of Mississippi, and his successor Greg Johnson select those histories, biographies, surveys, transcriptions and studies from the many hundreds of works that have been published about this vital American musical genre. Komara and Johnson provide a short description of the contents and the achievement of each title selected for their “Blues 100.” Entries include full bibliographic citations, prices of copies in print, and even descriptions of specific editions for book collectors. 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own also includes suggested blues recordings to accompany each recommended work, as well as a concluding section on key reference titles—or as Komara and Johnson phrase it: “The Books behind the Blues 100.” 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own serves as a guide for any blues fan looking for a road map through the history of—and even history of the scholarship on—the blues. Here Komara and Johnson answer the question of not only what is a “blues” book, but which ones are worth owning.

100 Books Every Folk Music Fan Should Own

100 Books Every Folk Music Fan Should Own
Author: Dick Weissman
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2014-01-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810886669

In recent years an almost overwhelming number of books have appeared covering various aspects of American folk music and its history. Before 1970, most comprised collections of songs with a sprinkling of biographical information on noted performers. Over the past decade, however, scholars, journalists, and folk artists themselves have contributed biographies and autobiographies, instructional books and historical surveys, sociological studies and ethnographic analyses of this musical genre. In 100 Books Every Folk Music Fan Should Own, performer and historian Dick Weissman offers a reliable route through the growing sea of book-length studies, establishing for future scholars a foundation for their research. Beginning with early twentieth-century collections of folk songs, the author brings readers to the present by exploring modern studies of important events, critical collections of primary sources, the most significant musical instruction guides, and in-depth portraits of traditional and contemporary American folk musicians. For each title selected, Weissman provides his own brief summary of its contents and assessment of its significance for the reader—whether fan or scholar. Folk music fans, scholars, and students of the American folk music tradition—indeed, any reader seeking guidance on the best books in the field—will want a copy of this vital work.

Chasin' that Devil Music

Chasin' that Devil Music
Author: Gayle Wardlow
Publisher: Backbeat Books
Total Pages: 291
Release: 1998
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0879305525

Traces the development and characteristics of the Delta blues, and describes the most influential blues musicians and recordings of the 1920s and 1930s

Counting Down Elvis

Counting Down Elvis
Author: Mark Duffett
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2018-02-23
Genre: Music
ISBN: 144224805X

Over the course of the last six decades, Elvis Presley has sold more than a billion records; his music has touched nearly every modern listener. Despite an avalanche of books on his life, there are, surprisingly, few about his musical creativity. In Counting Down Elvis: His 100 Finest Songs, Mark Duffett urges readers to put aside the misleading stereotypes and rumor-filled debates about Elvis and listen once again to the legend who emerged from Memphis. Elvis had a unique approach to music—one that was both powerful and versatile. In a career stretching across more than twenty years, Presley changed the face of popular music, drawing together genres—from country and blues to contemporary folk—and placing a unique stamp on all of them. Counting Down Elvis: His 100 Finest Songs explores the full range of Presley recordings, from his earliest numbers to posthumous hits, combing through gold records and unpolished gems to distill the best that Presley has to offer.

A Blues Bibliography

A Blues Bibliography
Author: Robert Ford
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 905
Release: 2019-07-24
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351398482

This book provides a sequel to Robert Ford's comprehensive reference work A Blues Bibliography, the second edition of which was published in 2007. Bringing Ford's bibliography of resources up to date, this volume covers works published since 2005, complementing the first volume by extending coverage through twelve years of new publications. As in the previous volume, this work includes entries on the history and background of the blues, instruments, record labels, reference sources, regional variations, and lyric transcriptions and musical analysis. With extensive listings of print and online articles in scholarly and trade journals, books, and recordings, this bibliography offers the most thorough resource for all researchers studying the blues.

100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own

100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own
Author: Edward M. Komara
Publisher: Best Music Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Blues (Music)
ISBN: 9780810889217

"Edward Komara, former Blues Archivist of the University of Mississippi, and his successor Greg Johnson select those histories, biographies, surveys, transcriptions and studies from the many hundreds of works that have been published about this vital American musical genre. Entries include full bibliographic citations, prices of copies in print, and even descriptions of specific editions for book collectors. Also includes suggested blues recordings to accompany each recommended work" --From publisher.

So You Want to Sing the Blues

So You Want to Sing the Blues
Author: Eli Yamin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018-09-21
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1442267046

So You Want to Sing the Blues: A Guide for Performers shines a light on the history and vibrant modern life of blues song. Eli Yamin explores those essential elements that make the blues sound authentic and guides readers of all backgrounds and levels through mastering this art form. He provides glimpses into the musical lives of the women and men who created the blues along with a listening tour of seminal recordings in the genre’s history. The blues presents many unique challenges for singers, who must shout, slide, and serenade around the accompanying music. By offering concrete explanations and exercises of key blues elements, this book guides singers to create authentic self-expressions informed by the style’s rich history and supported by strong technique. Teachers and singers of all levels will find this book a welcome guide to participating in this culturally diverse and uplifting style. The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing the Blues features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

Chasing the Blues

Chasing the Blues
Author: Josephine Matyas
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2021-09-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1493060619

Chasing the Blues explores the roots of the blues---the music birthed in the Mississippi Delta by African Americans who fashioned a new form of musical expression grounded in their shared experience of brutal oppression. They used the power of music to survive that oppression, creating a simple-in-structure, emotionally complex form that transformed and upended culture and became the bedrock of popular song. Tracing the music back to its geographical and cultural origins in the Delta is key to understanding how the blues were shaped. Over time, the Delta blues have touched virtually every form of popular music (rock and roll, soul, R&B, country-western, gospel), creating the soundscape of our lives. What makes this book unique? Fathoming how the music flowed from living and working conditions in the heart of the Deep South; appreciating how life-changing events like the Flood of 1927 sparked a mass migration away from plantation life, spreading the blues to the cities in the North and becoming the soundtrack to the civil rights movement; how blues musicians interacted, "cross-fertilizing" their music by learning, influencing, and imitating each other. The habits of travel are shifting, and there is more interest and a larger market for diving deep into destinations closer to home. Interest in Black history and culture and the role Black Americans played in shaping America is at an all-time high. By appreciating the roots of this most American style of music, readers will have a richer experience listening to songs and visiting blues' holy and sacred sites.

Crossing Traditions

Crossing Traditions
Author: Babacar M'Baye
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2013-07-29
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810888289

In Crossing Traditions: American Popular Music in Local and Global Contexts, a wide range of scholarly contributions on the local and global significance of American popular music examines the connections between selected American blues, rock and roll, and hip-hop music and their equivalents from Senegal, Nigeria, England, India, and Mexico. Contributors show how American popular music promotes local and global awareness of such key issues as economic inequality and social marginalization while inspiring cross-cultural and interethnic influences among regional and transnational communities. Specifically, Crossing Traditions highlights the impact of American popular music on the spread of sounds, rhythms, styles, and ideas about freedom, justice, love, and sexuality among local and global communities, all of which share the same desires, hopes, and concerns despite geographic differences. Contributors look at the local contexts of Chicago blues, early rock and roll, white Christian rap, and Frank Zappa alongside the global influence of Mahalia Jackson on Senegalese blues, the transatlantic character of the British Invasion’s relationship to African American rock, and the impact of Latin house music, global hip-hop, and Bhangra in cross-cultural settings. Essays also draw on a broad range of disciplines in their analyses: American studies, popular culture studies, transnational studies, history, musicology, ethnic studies, literature and media studies, and critical theory. Crossing Traditions will appeal to a wide range of readers, including college and university professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and music scholars in general.