With a foreword by the legendary accompanist, Gerald Moore, Eric Sams' study (Faber 1961, revised 1983) is a notable landmark in the establishment of Wolf as one of the supreme masters of German song. Comprehensively revised and enlarged in 1983, the main subject matter remains the 242 published songs that Wolf wrote for voice and piano, though the Ibsen songs for voice and orchestra are also discussed.English translations are provided and the backgrounds to the original poems by M...

Eric Sams' study of Schumann's 246 songs (Faber 1961, revised 1993) - a companion volume to his The Songs of Hugo Wolf, also available in Faber Finds - remains a classic text. By providing a translation, commentary and notes for each of the songs, tracing original sources and relating recurring themes vividly to Schumann's life, Sams provides a unique documentary of Schumann's song-writing art.The book includes a foreword (to the First Edition) by the legendary acc...

Every now and then, a song inspires a cultural conversation that ends up looking like a brawl. Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee, released in 1969, is a prime example of that important role of popular music. Okie immediately helped to frame an ongoing discussion about region and class, pride and politics, culture and counterculture. But the conversation around the song, useful as it was, drowned out the song itself, not to mention the other songs on the live album-named ...

The Grand Ole Opry has been home to the greatest legends of country music for over eighty years, and in that time it has seen some of conutry music's most dramatic stories unfold.We'll hear of the great love stories ranging from Johnny Cash and June Carter in the 1960s to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who married in 2005. We'll get the truth of the tragedies that led to the loss of three stars all in the same month, starting the rumor of the "Opry Curse." We'll learn how after b...

"This book is a terrific tribute, from a son to his father."--- Willie Nelson"I'm so excited about Terry's new book."--- Dolly PartonFrom the Foreword by Ken Mansfield"There are many stories about Waylon . . . the family man, the creative genius man, the quiet man, the king-of-the-six-day-roar-man, the uncommon man, the legendary man, the bad-ass man . . . they are all in this book."In a signed copy of his autob...

The harmonica is one of the most traditional musical instruments in America. Millions are sold each year, but there are few high-quality, comprehensive instructional manuals for new harmonica players. This bestselling book has been completely updated, with dozens of new songs.• Over 100 songs, both traditional and original to this book.• Detailed instructions on playing, including photos to illustrate positions and techniques.• Buying tips and interesting historical f...

From the Foreword by Renee Fleming: "Kathryn LaBouff has developed an approach to singing in the English language which is wonderfully user-friendly, and which has surely saved much wear and tear on my voice. It is a technique that has empowered me with the knowledge and skills to bring a text to life and to be able to negotiate all of the sounds of the language with the least amount of effort. I have found her clever and extremely creative use of substitute consonants or combinations of c...

First in the award-winning soul music trilogy—featuring Motown artists Diana Ross & the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and others.Detroit 67 is "a dramatic account of twelve remarkable months in the Motor City" during the year that changed everything ( Sunday Mail). It takes you on a turbulent journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967 and tore it apart in personal, political, and interracial disputes. It is ...

From 1987 to 1995, Bristol, England's Sarah Records was a modest underground success and, for the most part, a critical laughingstock in its native country-sneeringly dismissed as the sad, final repository for a fringe style of music (variously referred to as “indie-pop,” “C86,” “cutie” and “twee”) whose moment had passed. Yet now, more than 20 years after its founders symbolically “destroyed” it, Sarah is among the most passionately fetishized record labels of all time. Its rare releases ...

Second in the award-winning soul music trilogy following Detroit 67—featuring Memphis artists Isaac Hayes, Mahalia Jackson, Otis Redding, and others.In the 1950s and 1960s, Memphis, Tennessee, was the launchpad for musical pioneers such as Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Al Green, and Isaac Hayes, and by 1968, it was a city synonymous with soul music. It was a deeply segregated city, ill at ease with the modern world and yet to adjust to the e...

Country music of late 1960s and early 1970s was a powerful symbol of staunch conservative resistance to the flowering hippie counterculture. But in 1972, the city of Austin, Texas became host to a growing community of musicians, entrepreneurs, journalists, and fans who saw country music as a part of their collective heritage and sought to reclaim it for their own progressive scene. These children of the Cold War, post-World War II suburban migration, and the Baby Boom escaped the socially ...

With its steel guitars, Opry stars, and honky-tonk bars, country music is an American original. The most popular music in America today, it’s also big business. Amazing, then, that country music has been so little studied by critics, given its predominance in American culture. Reading Country Music acknowledges the significance of country music as part of an authentic American heritage and turns a loving, critical eye toward understanding the sweep of this peculiarly American phen...