Martha's Vineyard has a rich musical legacy. Vineyarders embrace all things musical, from choral and string ensembles to singers and songwriters. This book tells a melodious history from the early twentieth-century up to the present, exploring the homegrown music scene and the summer stars who keep islanders and visitors moving to the beat

Martha's Vineyard has a rich musical legacy that stretches back to the earliest drumbeats of the Wampanoags and the whaling chanteys of the nineteenth century. Returning Civil War veterans formed the island's oldest continuous music ensemble, the Vineyard Haven Band. Vineyarders embrace all things musical, from choral and string ensembles to singers and songwriters. Discover this melodious history from the early twentieth-century dance bands at the Tivoli ballroom, through the war years, the piano bars and the nascent folk music scene at the Mooncusser Cafe, where Carly Simon and James Taylor played their first licks. Authors Thomas Dresser and Jerry Muskin explore the homegrown music scene and the summer stars who keep islanders and visitors moving to the beat.

A transporting love story of music, stardom, heartbreak, and a gifted young singer-songwriter who must find her own voice: “In the vein of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, [this] is an intoxicating chronicle of the music industry, inspired largely by the love affair between artists Joni Mitchell and James Taylor” (Elle)." The year is 1969, and the Bayleen Island Folk Fest is abuzz with one name: Jesse Reid. Tall and soft-spoken, with eyes blue as stone-washed denim, Jesse Reid’s intricate guitar riffs and supple baritone are poised to tip from fame to legend with this one headlining performance. That is, until his motorcycle crashes on the way to the show. Jane Quinn is a Bayleen Island local whose music flows as naturally as her long blond hair. When she and her bandmates are asked to play in Jesse Reid’s place at the festival, it almost doesn’t seem real. But Jane plants her bare feet on the Main Stage and delivers the performance of a lifetime, stopping Jesse’s disappointed fans in their tracks: A star is born. Jesse stays on the island to recover from his near-fatal accident and he strikes up a friendship with Jane, coaching her through the production of her first record. As Jane contends with the music industry’s sexism, Jesse becomes her advocate, and what starts as a shared calling soon becomes a passionate love affair. On tour with Jesse, Jane is so captivated by the giant stadiums, the late nights, the wild parties, and the media attention, that she is blind-sided when she stumbles on the dark secret beneath Jesse’s music. With nowhere to turn, Jane must reckon with the shadows of her own past; what follows is the birth of one of most iconic albums of all time. Shot through with the lyrics, the icons, the lore, the adrenaline of the early 70s music scene, Songs in Ursa Major pulses with romantic longing and asks the question so many female artists must face: What are we willing to sacrifice for our dreams?

Martha's Vineyard became an integral part of the whaling industry at the beginning of the eighteenth century and inspired a lasting romantic enthusiasm for life on the open ocean. From shorewhaling to daring voyages into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the insular whaling community offered a tempting path for many young Vineyarders to rise from cabin boy to captain. Local businesses were enticed by the potential profit from whaling voyages, and many reaped generous rewards from successful whale oil harvests. Through memoirs, music and memorabilia, author Thomas Dresser recounts this dramatic history of the bygone era of whaling on Martha's Vineyard.

Generations of women have traveled to Martha's Vineyard to find solace in its calming waves and varied shoreline. Many prominent and capable women set down roots, contributing to the fabric of the community on the island. Learn of the brilliant poet Nancy Luce, who lived in isolation with her chickens. Emily Post, whose name is synonymous with good manners, sought respite from her personal struggles on the Vineyard. Famed horticulturalist Polly Hill left a perennial legacy for islanders with her tranquil arboretum. In the twentieth century, novelist Dorothy West captured the beauty of Martha's Vineyard with her work. Historian Thomas Dresser provides a series of biographical sketches of these extraordinary women who were bound by their love of the island.

Della makes cakes, not judgment calls – those she leaves to her husband, Tim. But when the girl she helped raise comes back home to North Carolina to get married, and the fiancé is actually a fiancée, Della’s life gets turned upside down. She can’t really make a cake for such a wedding, can she? For the first time in her life, Della has to think for herself.

(Piano Solo Songbook). Ace arranger David Pearl presents 20 contemporary pop classics as if they had been composed by the classical masters. This fun yet challenging collection includes piano solo arrangements of hits such as "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder presented as if Bach had composed it; "Somebody to Love" by Queen in the style of Beethoven; Meat Loaf's "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" presented in Mozart's inimitable style; The Beatles' "Michelle" a la Ravel; and many more!

A juicy look at the Australian music scene in the nineties: the decade when indie became mainstream.

Celebrated local historian Thomas Dresser unearths the little-known stories that laid the foundations for the community of Martha's Vineyard. Behind the mansions and presidential vacations of Martha's Vineyard hide the lost stories and forgotten events of small-town America. What was the island's role in the Underground Railroad? Why do chickens festoon Nancy Luce's grave? And how did the people of the Vineyard react in 1923 when the rum running ship John Dwight sank with the island's supply of liquor aboard? Delve deep below the surface of history to discover the origin and meaning of local place names and the significance of beloved landmarks.

Two brothers join a fantastical nighttime musical celebration by the plants and animals on their farm on Martha's Vineyard.