Elderly Instruments Latest - Books - Folklore & Music History http://elderly.com/list/newitems?catlist=900 en-us copyright 2009 Elderly Instruments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:28:13 -0500 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:28:13 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 720 webmaster@elderly.com Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-216.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-216.htm An engaging survey of what folk songs tell us about the American past. Wells discusses how folk songs emerged from particular historical circumstances and evolved as they migrated from one region to another. Crafting a sociological map of four centuries of American history, he investigates how songs embody shifting attitudes toward the institution of the family, war and religion, work and the labor movement, transportation, and slavery and Jim Crow. Discusses Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. With a selective discography of key recordings. 240 pp. ($25.00) ]]> Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-239.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-239.htm During the final years of Bill Monroe's life, bluegrass fiddler Lowinger took a series of photos of Bill on the road. These photos and others are interwoven into Lowinger's own story of a New Jersey boy obsessed with folk and old-time music; his college trips to see Monroe and other bluegrass masters; his stints as a fiddler for the New York Ramblers, Greenbriar Boys, and Blue Grass Boys; and his memories of playing at the Grand Ole Opry and music festivals. A photographic reflection on Bill Monroe's public and private life, it also testifies to the bluegrass master's profound mentorship and guidance. 75 photos, 160 pp. ($19.95) ]]> Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-238.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-238.htm Petrusich takes us on a tour through the roots of American rural music, stopping at eccentric motels, visiting mythic sites of recording sessions and reciting heroic tales of song-catching and villainous accounts of song-stealing. A survey of the modern world's avant garde folk scene pays tribute to the traditions of such genres as gospel, bluegrass, and rock while tracing the rise of Americana music, in an account that celebrates its foremost artists and explores the adaptations of the twenty-first century. 290 pp. ($15.00) ]]> Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-235.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-235.htm Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-236.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-236.htm Scholars, critics, and musical artists give their viewpoints on his music and his influence. With contributions by Dave Alvin, Rodney Crowell, Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart, Steve Forbert, Tom Russell, and many others. 297 pg. ($17.95) ]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/158-58.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/158-58.htm Documents all country music recording sessions from 1921 until 1942. Until now, discographies of pre-World War II country music recordings were only to be found scattered in journals and fanzines, or in books devoted to single artists. With primary research based on files and session logs from record companies, interviews with surviving musicians, as well as the 200,000 recordings archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Frist Library and Archives, this work is the first compendium to accurately report the key details behind all the recording sessions of country music during this era. In doing so, it tells the commercial story of the music's first two decades. 1183 pp. ($49.95) ]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-221.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-221.htm Tells the personal history of Barney Josephson, proprietor of the legendary interracial New York city night clubs Cafe Society Downtown and Cafe Society Uptown, and their successor, The Cookery. Famously known as "the wrong place for the right people," Cafe Society featured the cream of the jazz and blues performers - among whom were Billie Holiday, boogie-woogie pianists, Big Joe Turner, Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Big Sid Catlett, and Mary Lou Williams - as well as comedy stars Imogene Coca, Zero Mostel, and Jack Gilford, and also gospel and folk singers. Hardcover, 376 pp. ($29.95) ]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-223.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-223.htm Traces the roots of black music in Africa and slavery and its evolution in the United States from the end of slavery to the present day. The music's creators, consumers, and distributors are all part of the story. Musical genres such as spirituals, ragtime, the blues, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock, soul, and hip-hop - as well as black contributions to classical, country, and other American music forms - depict the continuities and innovations that mark both the music and the history of African Americans. Hardcover, 222 pp. ($34.95) ]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-224.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-224.htm This engaging history of the independent rock 'n' roll record industry from its raw regional beginnings in the 1940s with R&B and hillbilly music through its decline in the 1960s combines narrative history with extensive oral history material from numerous recording pioneers. The rich oral histories provide abundant on-the-ground information about nurturing new artists such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and B.B. King and then losing them to the bigger labels; developing pressing plants, distribution centers, jukebox circuits, and disk jockey networks; financing these operations, often on shoestring budgets; and creating innovative approaches (including payola) to developing an audience. Hardcover, 584 pp. ($50.00) ]]> Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-220.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-220.htm