Elderly Instruments Latest - Books - Folklore & Music History http://elderly.com/list/new.rss?catlist=900 en-us copyright 2013 Elderly Instruments Wed, 22 May 2013 01:14:45 -0400 Wed, 22 May 2013 01:14:45 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 720 webmaster@elderly.com Thu, 16 May 2013 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-63.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-63.htm An acclaimed artist visualizes the best blues artists and their music with 100 stunning portraits. Hardcover. ($19.95) ]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-400.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-400.htm Tracking the evolution of popular regional genres such as blues, country, folk, and rockabilly in relation to the growth of industry and consumer culture. Comentale shows how this music became a vital means of exploring the new and often overwhelming feelings brought on by modern life. He examines these rural genres as they translated the traumas of local experience - the racial violence of the Delta, the mass exodus from the South, The Dust Bowl of the Texas panhandle - into sonic form. He asserts the value of music as a source of progressive cultural investment, linking poor, rural performers and audiences to an increasingly vast network of commerce, transportation, and technology. 281 pp. ($28.00) ]]> Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-396.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-396.htm A comprehensive history of King Records, one of the most influential independent record companies in the history of American music. Active in virtually all genres of vernacular American music, their roster included The Stanley Brothers, James Brown, Lonnie Johnson, Freddie King, Bill Doggett, more. Label founder Syd Nathan, a brusque, cigar-chomping record man with a knack for spotting recording talent, built King to provide music by and for the "little people" the majors ignored. An early pioneer in racial integration, King was characterized by a "do it yourself" aesthetic, and the book captures a sense of the inspired mayhem that permeated King Records. Hardcover, 239 pp. ($29.95) ]]> Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-69.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-69.htm The author shares his decades-long efforts to record and promote the music of a backwoods Kentucky singer and banjo player, in a multimedia presentation that includes text, photos, film and musical recordings. ($58.00) ]]> Sat, 06 Apr 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-355.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-355.htm Greenberg's remarkable, highly acclaimed, and genre-defying screenplay is widely considered to be one of the foremost books on Robert Johnson's life and legacy and an extraordinary exercise in American mythmaking. Newly revised and complete with extensive historical notes on Johnson's life and the culture of the Mississippi Delta and blues music during the 1930s, "Love in Vain" is at once a classic of music writing and a screenplay whose reputation lies firmly in the realm of great American literature. Lauded by Peter Guralnick, David Lynch, Bob Dylan, Werner Herzog, Greil Marcus, more. Second edition. 214 pp. ($17.95) ]]> Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-390.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-390.htm The book revolves around the interviews of a dozen women who appeared in the Gibson Guitar Companys 1944 workforce photograph. Gibson had claimed in Wartime advertisements and in a 1973 company history authored by its WWII personnel director that it ceased producing guitars during the War; the younger members of its workforce had left to serve the military effort; the remaining seasoned craftsmen repaired some instruments but, because of their limited numbers and wartime restrictions on the use of raw materials, were unable to construct new musical instruments. The author, however, has discovered that the female workforce produced nearly 25,000 instruments during the war. ($21.95) ]]> Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-389.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-389.htm Covers, as a textbook, the diverse strains of American folk music - Latin, Native American, African, French-Canadian, British, and Cajun - offering a chronology of the development of folk music in the United States. Twelve chapters cover topics like sacred harp singing, conjunto music, the folk revival, blues, and ballad singing. With a new chapter on urban folk music. Introduces the reader to Bob Wills, Lydia Mendoza, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and other music icons. Suggestions for listening, reading, and viewing. 386 pp. ($30.00) ]]> Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/701-7.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/701-7.htm Prior to the long presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, black Americans largely voted Republican. To ascertain the impact on the black community of the depression, the New Deal and World War II, van Rijn analyzes the content of blues and gospel titles of the period, placing them in historical, social and political contexts. Sometimes in anger or frustration, often with irony or scepticism, and always with simplicity and economy of expression, the music transcribed and explained in this important book opens windows on the inner lives and emotions of African-Americans, giving human dimensions to the raw statistical data of 1930s sociological surveys. Lyrics, record labels, and historical photographs. Appendix includes extensive notes, a bibliography, a song index, and a discography. 292 pp. ($22.00) ]]> Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/701-6.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/701-6.htm Explores the phenomenon of American fiddle contests, which have now replaced dances as the main public event where American fiddlers get together. What does this change mean for audiences, musicians, traditions, and the future of southern fiddle music? Goertzen traces fiddling and fiddle contests from mid-eighteenth-century Scotland to modern America. He takes you to large contests: Hallettville, Texas; Galax, Virginia; Weiser, Idaho, others. He focuses on what happens on AND off-stage - camping, jamming, socializing (which some fiddlers consider more important than the competition). He also, through many interviews, reveals the fiddlers' lives as told in their own words. 163 pp. ($30.00) ]]> Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-387.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-387.htm Offers a history of the instrument from America's late Victorian period to the jazz age. The opening chapter traces the guitar's use in this country from the Colonial era up to the 1880s. The narrative continues with America's BMG (banjo, mandolin, and guitar) community, a late nineteenth-century musical and commercial movement dedicated to introducing these instruments into America's elite musical establishments. Using surviving BMG magazines, the author details an almost unknown history of the guitar during the movement's heyday, tracing the guitar's transformation from a refined parlor instrument to a mainstay in jazz and popular music. In the process, he not only introduces musicians (including numerous women guitarists) who led the movement, but also examines new techniques and instruments. Chapters consider the BMG movement's impact on jazz and popular music, the use of the guitar to promote attitudes towards women and minorities, and the challenges foreign guitarists such as Miguel Llobet and Andres Segovia presented to America's musicians. 239 pp. ($25.00) ]]> Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/701-5.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/701-5.htm Book/CD set. Explores the heritage of traditional fiddle music in Missouri. Marshall considers the place of homemade music in people's lives across social and ethnic communities from the late 1700s to the World War I years and into the early 1920s. This complex period provided the foundations in history for the evolution of today's old-time fiddling. Hardcover, 400 pp. CD (Voyager Records) includes 39 tunes. ($29.95) ]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-58.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-58.htm Reclaims the politically radical profile of America's greatest balladeer. Kaufman traces Guthrie's political awakening and activism throughout the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Civil Rights struggle, and the poison of McCarthyism. He examines Guthrie's role in the development of a workers' culture in the context of radical activism spearheaded by the Communist Party of the USA, the Popular Front, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. He also establishes Guthrie's significance in the perpetuation of cultural front objectives into the era of the "New Left" and beyond, particularly through his influence on the American and international protest song movement. Kaufman utilizes a wealth of new archival materials. Hardcover, 270 pp. ($29.95) ]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-61.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-61.htm Focusing on folk music since the 1950s, Scully 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. By tracing the history of these organizations, 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." 259 pp. ($28.00) ]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-62.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-62.htm Mamie Smith's 1920 recording of "Crazy Blues" is commonly thought to signify the beginning of commercial attention to blues music and culture, but by that year more than 450 other blues titles had already appeared in sheet music and on recordings. In this examination of early popular blues, Muir traces the genre's early history and the highly creative interplay between folk and popular forms, focusing especially on the roles W.C. Handy played in both blues music and the music business. Closely analyzes sheet music and other print sources that have previously gone unexamined. Musicological study, focusing on the structure of the music. 259 pp. ($35.00) ]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-65.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-65.htm Book/CD set. What a great collection! Presents photos taken of folk musicians in the southern backcountry by the renowned ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax; both legendary and anonymous musicians honing their crafts at home, at church and in the field. Includes essays on Lomax's life by disciple William Ferris, and Grammy-Award winning music writer Tom Piazza. Fascinating notes on each of the 12 songs on the CD. Recommended! Hardcover. 135 pp. ($35.00) ]]> Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-376.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-376.htm Originally published in 1979, this book was immediately recognized as the most ambitious ever written about Hawaiian music. After Dr. Kanahele's death it took John Berger a dozen years to complete this new ediiton. The book is now more than doubled in length and almost every entry has been revised and updated, with the addition of 87 new entries, a 64 page photo insert, more. Entries are arranged alphabetically, from the roots of Hawaiian music in ancient chants to the flowering of Hawaii's musical renaissance. It describes leading personalities and groups, organizations, songs and publications, and discusses the extraordinary popularity of Hawaiian music round the world. There are biographies of musicians from every period of Hawaiian musical history - from Henry Berger, David Kalakaua, Queen Lili'uokalani, and others of their time, to the great names of the 20th century. There are major articles on chant, slack key, steel guitar, 'ukulele, himeni, falsetto, Hawaiian orchestras, humor in Hawaiian music, radio, television, the recording industry, more. Definitive essays tell the story of all the ancient and modern musical instruments, and the most loved and important songs of the last 150 years. 6" x 9" 1040 pp. ($35.00) ]]> Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/769-1.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/769-1.htm The story of a bunch of musical desparados fighting the business, fighting audience indifference and fighting musical prejudice as they played a new kind of country. Part Kerouac, part Tom Robbins, it's a transcendental road trip down a lost highway that leads to the roots of the Americana music movement. The events of the mid-sixties crackle off the page. Examines Parsons' 1965 - 1968 road trip across America as he tried to establish country music in an era of rock. 310 pp. ($19.95) ]]> Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:00:00 -0500 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-358.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-358.htm With more than 40 rare photos from the Woody Guthrie archives, removable poster and original interviews with many music icons, an account of the creation of America's most celebrated folk song also details Guthrie's journey for Oklahoma to New York City in 1940. Hardcover, 221 pp. ($24.00) ]]> Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/542-356.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/542-356.htm Book/CD set. Takes as its starting point thirteen iconic performances captured on Library of Congress field recordings between 1934 and 1942, in locations reaching from Southern Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta and onto the Great Plains. Through decades of research Wade tracked down surviving performers and their families, fellow musicians, and community members. Weaving together loving and expert profiles of these performers with the histories of these songs and tunes, Stephen brings to life largely unheralded individuals: farm laborers, state prisoners, school children, cowboys, housewives, miners - whose music has become part of the wider American musical soundscape. By exploring how these singers and instrumentalists exerted their own creativity on inherited forms, "amplifying tradition's gifts," Stephen shows how a single artist can make a difference within a democracy. Hardcover. 504 pp. ($24.95) ]]> Sat, 18 Aug 2012 20:00:00 -0400 http://elderly.com/books/items/75-57.htm http://elderly.com/books/items/75-57.htm