From the front man and lead singer/songwriter of Alabama--the biggest country music group of all time--comes an inspiring memoir of faith, family, and living the American dream.

National Bestseller * Named one of Rolling Stone's Best Music Books of 2018 * One of Newsweek's 50 Best Books of 2018 * A Billboard Best of 2018 * A New York Times Book Review "New and Noteworthy" selection The author of the critically acclaimed Your Favorite Band is Killing Me offers an eye-opening exploration of the state of classic rock, its past and future, the impact it has had, and what its loss would mean to an industry, a culture, and a way of life. Since the late 1960s, a legendary cadre of artists—including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Black Sabbath, and the Who—has revolutionized popular culture and the sounds of our lives. While their songs still get airtime and some of these bands continue to tour, its idols are leaving the stage permanently. Can classic rock remain relevant as these legends die off, or will this major musical subculture fade away as many have before, Steven Hyden asks. In this mix of personal memoir, criticism, and journalism, Hyden stands witness as classic rock reaches the precipice. Traveling to the eclectic places where geriatric rockers are still making music, he talks to the artists and fans who have aged with them, explores the ways that classic rock has changed the culture, investigates the rise and fall of classic rock radio, and turns to live bootlegs, tell-all rock biographies, and even the liner notes of rock’s greatest masterpieces to tell the story of what this music meant, and how it will be remembered, for fans like himself. Twilight of the Gods is also Hyden’s story. Celebrating his love of this incredible music that has taken him from adolescence to fatherhood, he ponders two essential questions: Is it time to give up on his childhood heroes, or can this music teach him about growing old with his hopes and dreams intact? And what can we all learn from rock gods and their music—are they ephemeral or eternal?

Celebrates those who make a difference in our lives.

A groundbreaking contribution to the history of the "long Civil Rights movement," Hammer and Hoe tells the story of how, during the 1930s and 40s, Communists took on Alabama's repressive, racist police state to fight for economic justice, civil and political rights, and racial equality. The Alabama Communist Party was made up of working people without a Euro-American radical political tradition: devoutly religious and semiliterate black laborers and sharecroppers, and a handful of whites, including unemployed industrial workers, housewives, youth, and renegade liberals. In this book, Robin D. G. Kelley reveals how the experiences and identities of these people from Alabama's farms, factories, mines, kitchens, and city streets shaped the Party's tactics and unique political culture. The result was a remarkably resilient movement forged in a racist world that had little tolerance for radicals. After discussing the book's origins and impact in a new preface written for this twenty-fifth-anniversary edition, Kelley reflects on what a militantly antiracist, radical movement in the heart of Dixie might teach contemporary social movements confronting rampant inequality, police violence, mass incarceration, and neoliberalism.

Describes the struggles of the country band, Alabama, to achieve success and profiles the members of the band.

W. C. Handy's blues—“Memphis Blues," "Beale Street Blues," "St. Louis Blues"—changed America's music forever. In Father of the Blues, Handy presents his own story: a vivid picture of American life now vanished. W. C. Handy (1873–1958) was a sensitive child who loved nature and music; but not until he had won a reputation did his father, a preacher of stern Calvinist faith, forgive him for following the "devilish" calling of black music and theater. Here Handy tells of this and other struggles: the lot of a black musician with entertainment groups in the turn-of-the-century South; his days in minstrel shows, and then in his own band; how he made his first 100 from "Memphis Blues"; how his orchestra came to grief with the First World War; his successful career in New York as publisher and song writer; his association with the literati of the Harlem Renaissance.Handy's remarkable tale—pervaded with his unique personality and humor—reveals not only the career of the man who brought the blues to the world's attention, but the whole scope of American music, from the days of the old popular songs of the South, through ragtime to the great era of jazz.

Primitive Baptist singing traditions in the South. "This collection of essays, best described as an extended set of liner notes to its accompanying compact disc, frames its topic with deceptive modesty. Benjamin Lloyd (1804-60) was a Primitive Baptist preacher, who in 1841 published some 535 hymn texts under the title Primitive Hymns. Lloyd's Hymnal (as it is often called now) has been a small but consistent seller ever since, finding wide use among Primitive Baptists throughout the South. The CD [as well as the book appropriately uses Lloyd's as a point of reference from which to navigate the varied landscape of folk worship in the South. Those who find beauty in the music and worship of the southern folk will be overwhelmed by the sounds and the spiritual intensity; those who grapple with the tangled biracial culture of the South will find a key to understanding the devotion of southerners, black and white, to this small book." -- The Alabama Review

Featuring new techniques and a collection of sewing projects. This is a craft and lifestyle book all in one. Detailed instructions for the hand-sewing, quilting, embroidery, beading and stencilling techniques required to create the featured projects. Over 20 extraordinary couture fashion and home projects.

The titles in this popular series includes a variety of features that will help students learn about the state of Alabama. This comprehensive book outlines the geography, history, people, government, and economy of the state. Lists of key people, events, cities, plants and animals, and political figures, plus fact boxes and quotes, provide easily accessible information that is supplemented by activities such as crafts, recipes, and a map quiz. Historic photos, artwork, and other images enhance the text. All books in the It's My State! ® series are the definitive research tool for readers looking to know the ins and outs of a specific state, including comprehensive coverage of its history, people, culture, geography, economy and government.