Music in the Air is a study on fiddle music and folk traditions. It is also a look into the broad influences that folk music has on fiddlers? compositions and their practices. By exploring the oral histories of seven, life-long musicians, Erynn Marshall illuminates the diversity of these music traditions and the culmination of the fiddle song genres. Through the studies of the musicians lives, oral transmissions, social contexts, and analysis of various genres within the contexts, Marshall expresses how the instrumental and vocal tradition have merged and transformed over time, blurring the preset boundaries and perceptions of the art. Included with this intense survey of Appalachian tradition is a CD of Marshall's field and archival recordings of West Virginia musicians.

A collection of the best music writing and cultural criticism from one of the most influential music journalists of his day The co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, Ralph J. Gleason was among the most respected journalists, interviewers, and critics writing about popular music in the latter half of the twentieth century. As a longtime contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, Down Beat, and Ramparts, his expertise and insights about music, musicians, and cultural trends were unparalleled, whether his subject was jazz, folk, pop, or rock and roll. He was the only music journalist included on President Richard Nixon's infamous "Enemies List," which Gleason himself considered "the highest honor a man's country can bestow upon him." This sterling anthology, edited by Gleason's son Toby, himself a forty-year veteran of the music business, spans Ralph J. Gleason's four decades as popular music's preeminent commentator. Drawing from a rich variety of sources, including Gleason's books, essays, interviews, and LP record album liner notes, it is essential reading for writers, historians, scholars, and music lovers of every stripe.

The old gospel song invited listeners to turn their radios on and hear the . . . music in the air. Now return to the eventful days when Americans could “turn the lights down low and listen to the Master’s radio” through this colorful and inspiring history of Christian music and ministry during the golden age of gospel radio. Learn the stories behind such legendary groups as Blackwood Brothers, Statesmen, Gaithers, Back to the Bible Quartet, Old Fashioned Revival Hour Quartet, Haven of Rest Quartet, and Stamps Quartet. Follow the careers of the great songwriters of the radio days, men such as Albert Brumley, Merrill Dunlop, John W. Peterson, and Stuart Hamblen. Read about the evangelists who pioneered Christian broadcasting, such as Billy Graham, Charles Fuller, Jack Wyrtzen, Percy Crawford, Paul Myers, Torrey Johnson, Walter Maier, Theodore App, and Paul Vader. And learn the stores behind the greatest gospel songs of the country, from “Some Golden Daybreak” to “Beyond the Sunset,” plus more than 100 others!

From the author of the critically acclaimed The Imaginary comes a powerful story about friendship in the vein of Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman. A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 Frank thought her summer couldn't get any worse--until big, weird, smelly Nick Underbridge rescues her from a bully, and she winds up at his house. Frank quickly realizes there's more to Nick than meets the eye. When she's at his house, she hears the strangest, most beautiful music, music which leads her to a mysterious, hidden door. Beyond the door are amazing creatures that she never even dreamed could be real. For the first time in forever, Frank feels happy . . . and she and Nick start to become friends. But Nick's incredible secrets are also accompanied by great danger. Frank must figure out how to help her new friend, the same way that he has helped her. Paired with gorgeous black-and-white illustrations from Levi Pinfold, acclaimed author A. F. Harrold weaves a powerful story about unlikely friendship, strange magic, and keeping the shadows at bay.

"Giovanni tells the story of Africans in America through the words of 46 spirituals."--From source other than the Library of Congress

From his birth in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1947, to his 2020 album featuring the music of Lee Hammons, Wayne Howard has lived an exceptionally creative life. He seemed to be eternally present at fiddle festivals, involved in the creative forces working to preserve Southern Mountain music. In 1969, he relocated to West Virginia and was introduced to the Hammons family by Dwight Diller. Howard then recorded Lee, Sherman, Burl, and Maggie Hammons playing music and telling stories. Howard then became a professional computer programmer, a vintage book collector, and a woodworker, before turning to writing about the Hammons family, and producing CDs of their stories and music. This biography follows the threads of music and folklore through Howard's life, celebrating his profound knowledge that does much to sustain the interest of those who seek out Appalachian tunes, songs, and stories.

A comprehensive book on Bob Dylan's song lyrics, this volume arranges the more than 300 songs by the date they were actually written rather than when they appeared on albums.