Book Description
The ideal companion to A History of Western Music, Seventh Edition, the two-volume Norton Anthology of Western Music, Fifth Edition, includes 172 historically significant scores, 71 of them new to this edition, with a strengthened emphasis on twentieth-century music. Revised and enlivened commentaries closely examine the scores to clarify their historical significance, and professional recordings of all works in the anthology are included on CDs, many in dynamic new performances.
Customer Reviews:
its a classic.......2007-03-13
this is vol 2 of the 2 classic texts for studying the history of european music. These are a must have for the serious student of music
history.......2006-02-27
I had to buy this new volume for my last history class. I'm a tad bit pist that I had to spend so much but it is indeed alot better and more indept.
Book Description
From Growing Up Country:
“I learned early in life that country is not a place on a map. Country is a place in your heart. In your soul. In the very depth of your being.” —Bill Anderson
“One of the things I like most about country life is that nothing much has really changed . . . My grandchildren and I are still walking and hunting in the same woods and fishing in the same creeks as I did with my father.” —President Jimmy Carter
“Food was at the heart of our home. And, other than those troublesome vegetables, I loved all of it. We fried everything—we’d have even fried water if we could’ve.” —Keith Anderson
“I can’t imagine what my life would have been without peaceful days, mountain streams, homegrown and home-cooked food, country church, and all-day singing with dinner on the grounds with family and friends.” —Dolly Parton
“Growing up country—there’s nothing like it. It’s growing up with your grandmother and granddaddy around . . . it’s a lot of love when you need it, great cooking in the kitchen, and always being real.” —Eddie Montgomery
Blackberry pie on the window ledge. The Grand Ole Opry on the radio. Sunday dinners on the table. Families swinging on the front porch after a hard day’s work. It’s all part of the country way of life.
Here, legendary country music singer Charlie Daniels introduces and edits a collection of heartfelt essays from an all-star cast of contributors on what it means to grow up country.
United by a love of music, these notables show us that country means more than just the twang of a guitar. They share a belief in hard work, integrity, strength of character, and having the courage not to quit. The stories here tell of rustic upbringings and rich spirits, of parents who believed in tough love and old-fashioned common sense, and of a strong sense of community, pride in your country, and a love of the natural world.
You’ll get an intimate glimpse into the lives of:
Country music royalty and all-time greats: such as
Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, Brenda Lee, Dobie Gray, and Lee Greenwood
Southern rock gods: such as
Gary Rossington and Donnie Van Zant
The newest crop of stars: such as
Sara Evans, Toby Keith, and Clint Black
Special guests: such as
former president Jimmy Carter, and seven-time all around rodeo champion Ty Murray
These snapshots show how living country has allowed our favorite singers, songwriters, and stage performers to make a career out of doing what they love while never forgetting that when you’ve grown up country, home isn’t just a place where you live, it’s a state of the heart.
Book Description
Here's an exciting new resource for anyone interested in African music and culture. Songs of West Africa by Dan Gorlin contains over 80 traditional African folk songs and chants in 6 languages along with extensive translations, annotations and performance notes. It may be the most complete collection of African songs ever published.
The book highlights traditional songs from the Anlo-Ewe, Lobi, Ga-Adangbe, Egu, Foh, and related ethnic groups from Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. There are sacred songs from Afa, Agzogbo, Gadzo, and Yewe traditions. Also major secular and historical music including Agbekor, Kinka, Atsia, Gahu, Takada, and more.
Many of the songs are simple to learn, and can be easily taught to grade school students or adapted to other styles of music. But the scope of this book goes far beyond children's songs. Each song is explained in terms of cultural context, and translated in a way that helps you form your own interpretation of its meaning. You'll discover that singing the songs of Africa is a superb way to learn about her people, culture, and history -- and it's fun!
The text includes music fundamentals, a pronunciation guide, and useful introductions to West African society, sensibility, and spirituality. Using the companion audio CD (included) you learn by singing along like young Africans do - or just listen and enjoy. The CD was studio-recorded especially for this book, so vocals and harmonies are easily heard over the supporting drums. With insightful perspectives and a wealth of information, this book is a must-have for students, teachers, and libraries.
Customer Reviews:
Songs of West Africa" by Dan Gorlin is perfect for me. .......2006-08-24
I have studied in Ghana and continue to study and teach this music here in Philadelphia, and this book has enough substance to feed a small country of song hungry drummers. Also, it seems the Author also sings and plays the support drums, lead vocal and chorus (overdubbed); which is really incredible because the CD sounds so Ewe~! A must have for anyone who values beauty and hard work!
Shawn Hennessey, Leana Song.
At last - a great way to learn some African music!.......2002-09-10
I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought this, but this book turned out to be really fun to read! Part storytelling, part anthropology, part language lessons, the book introduces not just songs from six different tribal groups but a sense of how they see the world. The songs are translated, plus the pronounciations written out, and you can play the CD and read along with it - a great help if you want to try singing or drumming the music.
Book Description
In Lockhart, Texas, a rural working-class town just south of Austin, country music is a way of life. Conversation slips easily into song, and the songs are full of conversation. Anthropologist and musician Aaron A. Fox spent years in Lockhart making research notes, music, and friends. In Real Country, he provides an intimate, in-depth ethnography of the community and its music. Showing that country music is deeply embedded in the textures of working-class life, Fox argues that it is the cultural and intellectual property of working-class people and not only of the Nashville-based music industry or the stars whose lives figure so prominently in popular and scholarly writing about the genre.
Fox spent hundreds of hours observing, recording, and participating in talk and music-making in homes, beer joints, and garage jam sessions. He renders the everyday life of Lockhart’s working-class community in detail, right down to the ice cold beer, the battered guitars, and the technical skills of such local musical legends as Randy Meyer and Larry âHoppyâ Hopkins. Throughout, Fox focuses on the human voice. His analyses of conversations, interviews, songs, and vocal techniques show how feeling and experience are expressed, and how local understandings of place, memory, musical aesthetics, working-class social history, race, and gender are shared. In Real Country, working-class Texans re-imagine their past and give voice to the struggles and satisfactions of their lives in the present through music.
Customer Reviews:
Buy this book!.......2006-11-02
If you read one book about country music, this is the one you should read. Fox's brilliant analysis sidesteps the whole Nashville-Dollywood-Branson commericial thing to explore how working class people in rural Texas and Illinois use country music to express their senses of self and their aesthetic and cultural values. The way he writes about the singing voice and the way he incorporates the character of the people he studied with into his presentation is about the best I've seen. Why only four stars, you ask? Well.....It can get a little dense sometimes - he has a theoretical point to make about music and culture, and he is after all a scholar (teaches in the music department at Columbia University). But bear with that and you'll be very happy you did. If you love country music, read this book.
Book Description
To millions, Johnny Cash was the rebellious Man in Black, the unabashed patriot, the redeemed Christian--the king of country music. But Johnny Cash was also an uncertain country boy whose dreams were born in the cotton fields of Arkansas and who struggled his entire life with a guilt-ridden childhood, addictions, and self-doubt. A sensitive songwriter with profound powers of musical expression, Cash told America and the world the stories of a nation's heroes and outcasts.
Johnny Cash: The Biography explores in depth many often-overlooked aspects of the legendÂ's life and career. It examines the powerful artistic influence of his older brother, Roy, and chronicles Cash's air force career in the early 1950s, when his songwriting took form...and when he purchased his first guitar. It uncovers the origins of his trademark boom-chicka-boom rhythm and traces his courtship of Bob Dylan in the folk revival era of the 1960s.
Johnny Cash also delves into the details of Cash's personal life, including his drug dependency, which dogged him long after many thought he had beaten it. It unflinchingly recounts his relationships with his first wife, Vivian Liberto, his second wife, June Carter Cash, and his children. And it follows Cash as man and musician from his early years of success through the commercially desolate years of the 1980s to his reemergence under the influence of producer Rick Rubin--and association that revitalized his career yet raised contradictions about Cash's values and craft. Scrupulously researched, passionately told, Johnny Cash: The Biography is the unforgettable portrait of an enduring American icon.
Customer Reviews:
Hero With a Tragic Flaw.......2007-10-14
In classical literature, it was the Greeks who first expounded the tale of the hero with a tragic flaw. Aristotle wrote, that "[a] man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." In Michael Streissguth's "Johnny Cash: The Biography," we examine the life of a man, not a myth, who exemplified the Aristotelian morality play.
Michael Streissguth is obviously a fan of Johnny Cash, the author of "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece" and, like Marshall Grants, I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash" he seeks to praise while still giving an unvarnished account of the folk legend's struggles with addiction and the vagaries of a music career.
In fact, Marshall Grant's book is quoted extensively. Where Grant is abrupt, even harsh, in his description of Johnny Cash's addictions, Streissguth is gentle. Where Grant describes Johnny Cash as a stumbling addict, chemically prevented from seeing the impact of his weaknesses on his family and friends, Streissguth portrays a man all too aware of "the root of his own downfall."
Still, Streissguth does his best to soften the harsh realities of Cash's lifestyle and dependencies. It's not until page 217 that we learn of affairs Cash had in the 70's and 80's. And, even then, only in the most oblique of references.
Streissguth is even forced to admit that the saintly June Carter-Cash is not above struggling with demons of her own; on page 218 he talks about "June's demands for the spotlight and her sensational spending that had become legendary..." Streissguth refuses to go the whole way and describe June's own struggles with addiction. Streissguth gingerly describes an entire Cash clan that fought addiction in one form or another.
Despite all of these negatives, Streissguth gives the best illustrations of the true artist that Johnny Cash was. His descriptions of Cash's relationship with Rick Rubin are the finest I've ever read. They show how Johnny Cash's music rang true with an audience outside of the Nashville circuit. When you get to this phase of Cash's career, you would do well to read it while listening to "The Legend of Johnny Cash" - especially "Rusty Cage" and "I've Been Everywhere."
Johnny Cash was simply an honest man among ordinary men. Who among us doesn't have a tragic flaw? For the vast majority of us simply struggling to get by day-to-day, Cash provides the anthem for our lives.
GREAT BOOK MICHAEL.......2007-10-02
Michael is an excellent writer. He leaves no stone unturned. I personally know how much research, time and many many miles went into this book.
I have met with Michael a few times, and am amazed at how much he does know about Dad. He actualy told me about many things I DIDN'T KNOW!!
This book is excellent. Thanks again Michael.
xoxox Kathy
The life and times of a genuine American icon........2007-04-19
While he was never one of my favorite recording artists I simply could not resist the lure of "Johnny Cash: The Biography". Certainly anyone with an interest in the history of American popular music cannot deny that Johnny Cash would have to rank as one of the most fascinating figures of the past fifty years. He was the real deal who sang about life experiences that just about all of us could relate to. Author Michael Streissguth, who had previously penned "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of A Masterpiece" offers up an intimate portrait of this highly enigmatic artist who was beloved by generations of Americans. Americans had come to admire the man who had seemingly seen and done it all!
I enjoyed "Johnny Cash: The Biography" for a couple of reasons. First of all, I had never read about Johnny's childhood nor was I aware of the circumstances that led him to Sam Phillip's Memphis Recording Service back in 1955. As a student of American popular music this book certainly helped to fill some missing pieces of the puzzle for me. Likewise, I appreciated learning more about Johnny Cash's entire recording career including his move to Columbia records in 1958 as well as his somewhat improbable but ultimately successful tenure at Rick Rubin's American Recordings label towards the end of his life. Understanding the kinds of material Johnny Cash was interested in recording helped to give me some real insight into the soul of this legendary performer. But "Johnny Cash: The Biography" covers so much more ground than simply his recording career. Michael Streissguth delves into much of Cash's personal life as well. His was a life of peaks and valleys, success and failure, personal torture and remarkable success. You will learn about his first marriage to Vivian and about his 40 year marriage to legendary country music pioneer June Carter. Pulling no punches, the auther presents heartbreaking accounts of Johnny's lifelong addiction to pills and the ramifications this had for both his family life and for his career as well. On a much more positive note, Streissguth also recalls the deeply religious and tender side of Johnny Cash that most folks rarely saw as presented through the eyes of his children and those who worked alongside him over the years. Indeed, it is hard to deny that Johnny Cash was an extremely complex individual.
"Johnny Cash: The Biography" is an entertaining and well-written book that most readers will certainly enjoy. Those who are interested in the history of country music in particular or in the history of American popular music in general are sure to garner lots of new information from this one. This is a book that managed to hold my interest from cover to cover. Highly recommended!
GREAT BIOGRAPHY OF THE MAN IN BLACK!.......2007-03-11
This book is outstanding and a great addition to my
JR Cash collection.
Thank you!
The interviews make this book.......2006-10-03
Streissguth's journalistic approach is a refreshing contrast to the psychological blather of many biographical writers. There is a healthy balance of respect for Johnny Cash and a straightforward look at his extramarital relationships, substance abuse, and devotion to Christianity. Both the complex and simple sides of Cash are revealed through detail-rich interviews with those who knew him well. Indeed, the extensive interviews with band members, friends and family are what make this book so compelling and fresh. For instance, the interview with Rosanne Cash, his eldest daughter, helps us understand Cash's drug addition, his role as a father and the insecurities he experienced as a performer. The Man in Black has never been revealed in such color and light.
While Streissguth doesn't attempt to retell every story or dispel every fable about Cash, the book is well researched and rich with detail, including investigations that delve into the roots of well-known myths. Even life-long fans of Johnny Cash will come away with a new understanding of what pushed, pulled and propelled the singer through his life and career. If there was room on a bookshelf for only one book on Johnny Cash, this would be my pick.
Book Description
Praise for Johnny Bush and
Whiskey River (Take My Mind):
"Johnny Bush and I started out together... The story contained in this book is gospel."
—Charley Pride
"From the crown of his western hat down to the tips of his needle-nosed James Leddy cowboy boots, Johnny Bush is pure-D Texas from the get-go. His telling reads like a honky-tonk song, only real; you can hear the hurtin', heartache, cheatin', and pain in every word and feel the boot-scootin' shuffle with every turn of the page."
—Joe Nick Patoski, author of
Selena: Como La Flor and
Stevie Ray Vaughn: Caught in the Crossfire and writer for
Rolling Stone and
No Depression
"Through his talents Johnny Bush has made a significant contribution to country music, and has given to his many fans the joy of magnificent music. You will enjoy meeting this creative man through this book."
—Ralph Emery
"I am as proud of Johnny Bush as I am of Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, and Johnny Paycheck—all Cherokee Cowboys alumni. I am especially proud of his triumph over his debilitating voice problem. This is the real story, told in his own voice."
—Ray Price
"From hard-time hungry Houston childhood to Nashville hit-making, from scuffling honky-tonk sideman to king of the Texas dancehalls, from victim of a strange career-killing illness to comeback kid, Johnny Bush has a Texas-sized story to tell about his life and times in country music. He tells it honestly, with humor and humility. Listen up when he speaks."
—John Morthland, contributing editor,
Texas Monthly, and former associate editor of
Rolling Stone,
Creem, and
Country Music
"Johnny Bush is one of my oldest and dearest friends. He and I started out together in music, and we're still together. Everything that's been said about me in this book, good or bad, is pretty accurate."
—Willie Nelson
"I love Johnny Bush. He is classic Texas honky-tonk, one of our state's treasures. Every honky-tonker out there has tried to sing like him, myself included. Thanks, Johnny, for being a true Texas original, and for your friendship."
—George Strait
When it comes to Texas honky-tonk, nobody knows the music or the scene better than Johnny Bush. Author of Willie Nelson's classic concert anthem "Whiskey River," and singer of hits such as "You Gave Me a Mountain," "Undo the Right," "Jim, Jack and Rose," and "I'll Be There," Johnny Bush is a legend in country music, a singer-songwriter who has lived the cheatin', hurtin', hard-drinkin' life and recorded some of the most heart-wrenching songs about it. He has one of the purest honky-tonk voices ever to come out of Texas. And Bush's career has been just as dramatic as his songs—on the verge of achieving superstardom in the early 1970s, he was sidelined by a rare vocal disorder that he combated for thirty years. But, survivor that he is, Bush is once again filling dance halls across Texas and inspiring a new generation of musicians who crave the authenticity—the "pure D" country—that Johnny Bush has always had and that Nashville country music has lost.
In
Whiskey River (Take My Mind), Johnny Bush tells the twin stories of his life and of Texas honky-tonk music. He recalls growing up poor in Houston's Kashmere Gardens neighborhood and learning his chops in honky-tonks around Houston and San Antonio—places where chicken wire protected the bandstand and deadly fights broke out regularly. Bush vividly describes life on the road in the 1960s as a band member for Ray Price and Willie Nelson, including the booze, drugs, and one-night stands that fueled his songs but destroyed his first three marriages. He remembers the time in the early 1970s when he was hotter than Willie and on the fast track to superstardom—until spasmodic dysphonia forced his career into the slow lane. Bush describes his agonizing, but ultimately successful struggle to keep performing and rebuild his fan base, as well as the hard-won happiness he has found in his personal life.
Woven throughout Bush's autobiography is the never-before-told story of Texas honky-tonk music, from Bob Wills and Floyd Tillman to Junior Brown and Pat Green. Johnny Bush has known almost all the great musicians, past and present, and he has wonderful stories to tell. Likewise, he offers shrewd observations on how the music business has changed since he started performing in the 1950s—and pulls no punches in saying how Nashville music has lost its country soul. For everyone who loves genuine country music, Johnny Bush, Willie Nelson, and stories of triumph against all odds,
Whiskey River (Take My Mind) is a must-read.
Customer Reviews:
Country Music Veteran .......2007-03-29
Not everybody can be Garth Brooks, and thank the Good Lord for that. Johnny Bush is the real deal in country music, he's been laying down good music for years both as a songwriter and singer, primarily on that Texas circuit where the fans demand high quality and will go to the wall for you if they love you. But you have to earn that respect and Bush did. He cut his teeth playing in small time Texas bands like that led by uncle, minor honky tonk legend Jerry Jericho. He then moved up to Ray Price's glorious Cherokee Cowboys. Frustrated in Nashville, he headed back to Texas and built a career based around strong songwriting (he wrote Whiskey River, made famous by Willie Nelson) and solid performance. He tells most in this open, honest autobiography. The text is engagingly written and the stories well told. There is no better insider look at the world of honky tonk music.
Book Description
"In this remarkable reflection on the culture of the sixties, Mike Marqusee restores the forgotten moral and political contexts of Dylan's supernova years. In doing so, he rescues one of the most urgent poetic voices in American history from the condescension of his own later cynicism."-Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz
Bob Dylan's abrupt abandonment of overtly political songwriting in the mid-1960s caused an uproar among critics and fans. In Wicked Messenger, acclaimed cultural-political commentator Mike Marqusee describes the rise of Dylan's artistic ambition at the expense of his activism. Marqusee advances the new thesis that Dylan did not drop politics from his songs but changed the manner of his critique to address the changing political and cultural climate and, more importantly, his own evolving aesthetic.
Wicked Messenger is also a riveting political history of the United States in the 1960s. Beginning with the march on Washington in the summer of 1964, Marqusee traces the formation of the Southern voter registration movement and the rise of the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weathermen. The twists and turns of political and cultural dissent movements, Marqusee says, were anticipated in the poetic aesthetic-anarchic, unaccountable, contradictory, punk-of Dylan's mid-1960s albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde.
Dylan's anguished, self-obsessed, prickly artistic evolution, Marqusee asserts, was not what everyone thinks it was: a movement away from politics. It was a movement away from protest and from activism, it was a movement away from the front lines, it was a deeply creative response to a deeply disturbing situation. "He can no longer tell the story straight," Marqusee concludes, "because any story told straight is a false one."
Mike Marqusee is the author of a number of groundbreaking books on politics and popular culture, including Anyone But England, War Minus the Shooting, and Redemption Song. Born and raised in the United States, he has lived in London since the 1970s.
Customer Reviews:
Where have all the 60's gone?.......2007-01-15
Have you ever wondered where Bob Dylan got some of his inspiration?
Have you ever wondered what went on behind the scenes when the politically active youth culture was born in the 60's?
Starting with stories about Bob's relationships with the "Dust Bowl Balladeers" and wandering along with the concert tours and digging deep into the history of SNCC (Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and SDS ( Students for a Democratic Society), and everywhere else that was relevant this book masterfully chronicles the connection between the songs and times of the 60's and beyond.
The reader is treated to a deep view of what was going on as many of Bob's most beloved songs were written. You are given a clear picture of why Bob was such an honest and faithful reflection of our times and has become America's favorite balladeer.
I have to say that I think the title is unfortunate, there is nothing "Wicked" about this messenger. The things he protests are outrageous things and he finds exactly the right words and the courage to sing them out with songs that can not be ignored. He also has made some of the most touching and romantic love songs that I have ever heard. I'm very glad to have been able to see some of the background behind his inspiration.
Finally, I understand why Bob was not at Woodstock, why he "went electric", what went on during the London tours, who was the "girl on that album cover", and many other things.
This is clearly a fascinating book that has helped me to better understand the times that I lived through even better.
More 1960's Left Wing Politics than Dylan Biography.......2006-07-22
I purchased this book without knowing that the author's focus was at least as much on politics as Bob Dylan. I thought I was buying a Dylan biography but was greatly disappointed. In case others may be misled by the packaging please know that the author is so devoted to adulation of socialist/communist/left wing politics that Bob Dylan the person, songwriter, musician and performer is definitely secondary. Although the book was reasonably well-written and appears to have been researched the author's unwavering obsession with politics and his overt political bias is quite annoying. If you are a political partisan you might like the book. If you think you are buying a biography of Bob Dylan you may be disappointed.
Draws some important connections between Dylan's musical approach, its message, and how and why it affected his times.......2006-03-05
Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan And The 1960s represents a revised, expanded edition of the 2003 hardcover Chimes Of Freedom, and is a recommended pick for Dylan fans and especially newcomers who missed Chimes and here will enjoy the benefit of a new chapter on his 2004 memoir and his 2003 film. Wicked Messenger shows that Dylan didn't turn away from his famous political music but instead changed the style of his message to address changing politics. In providing a concurrent social survey of the atmosphere of the U.S. during the 1960s, Wicked Messenger draws some important connections between Dylan's musical approach, its message, and how and why it affected his times.
Interesting book.......2006-02-28
This book is very interesting!!!! It provides a wonderful background of the period of time that influenced Bob Dylan's life and music. The book describes the history behind his songs and the history of what was going on in America during that era. It was more than I expected and I could hardly put the book down.
Average customer rating:
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The Voices That are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song
Jon W. Finson
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Voice
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| Music
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| Musical Genres
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ASIN: 0195057503 |
Book Description
In this unique and readable study, Jon Finson views the mores and values of nineteenth-century Americans as they appear in their popular songs. The author sets forth lyricists' and composers' notions of courtship, technology, death, African Americans, Native Americans, and European ethnicity
by grouping songs topically. He goes on to explore the interaction between musical style and lyrics within each topic. The lyrics and changing musical styles present a vivid portrait of nineteenth-century America. The composers discussed in the book range from Henry Russell ("Woodman, Spare That
Tree"), Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna"), and Dan Emmett ("I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land"), to George M. Cohan and Maude Nugent ("Sweet Rosie O'Grady"), and Gussie Lord Davis ("In the Baggage Coach Ahead"). Readers will recognize songs like "Pop Goes the Weasel," "The Yellow Rose of Texas," "The
Fountain in the Park," "After the Ball," "A Bicycle Built for Two," and many others which gain significance by being placed in the larger context of American history.
Amazon.com
Rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins once described his brand of music as "a country man's song with a black man's rhythm." This may be simplifying matters a bit, but you can decide for yourself after reading Craig Morrison's rockabilly bible, whose title also tips its hat to Perkins. All the major figures are here, including Elvis, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and Jerry Lee Lewis. But rockabilly is a field particularly rich with obscurities and one-trick ponies, and Morrison makes room for them all. If you want to know about the genesis of Malcolm Yelvington's "Drinkin'Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," or about Sonny Burgess's taste in clothes (all red, to match his guitar and dyed hair), this is the book for you.
Customer Reviews:
A Disappointment.......2006-11-02
This might have been a pretty good article, but there is just not enough interesting material for a book on the subject. Most of these guys were working class amateurs who made a couple of records. I have listened to a number of compilations that include many of the people that the author mentions. Believe me, there are no lost "masters" among them. The author cannot even really define "rockabilly" in any coherent fashion, and many of his judgments appear quite arbitrary. A short-lived, transitional phenomenon. Not worth the price unless you are a fanatic fan of the music.
Almost everything you wanted to know about rockabilly!.......2002-10-10
This is an interesting dip into the world of rock n' roll and rockabilly. It would have been more interesting had the copy that I purchased, not gone inexplicably from page 76 to 19!! Thus I shall never know the finer points about Carl Perkins that I was about to read!
Certainly though this book is worth getting...although a properly ordered copy might be an advantage! Deserves to be on every rocker's bookshelf!
Good Cats Good!!!.......2002-05-06
This book is without any doubt the best out there. Besides good biographical stories about bands and artists, you get to know a whole lot about the MUSIC rockabilly. This book also covers the cultural and sociological aspects of rockabilly. I've just finnished my major essay at the University in Trondheim (Norway) - studying music - and Morrison's book has helped me a lot. From the 50s, to the revival, and up to the present. Morrison's book covers it all!!!
A Good Place to Start..........2002-03-02
I enjoyed reading this book and finished it within the week. It's mostly an expanded-overview of the major figures of rockabilly from the 50's through the 70's. This isn't a comprehensive book but that's not its intent. The outline is structured by either region or eras. It also explains when and how they started, and where they are now (if they're still around). There's also a chapter devoted to the semi-recent revival (up through the early 90's, thereby missing most of the bands that sprung up after the BSO struck it big). Also includes a recommended listening chapter.
All about it.......2001-03-16
I am researching about rock'n'roll, rockabilly and other rhythms of the '50s and '60s. I am enjoying this book very much and it has been very helpful to me, not only because of the loads of info about history, bands, etc. that it contains but also for the suggested reading & listening lists it gives. I strongly recommend it.
Book Description
While many have heard the music of Johnny Cash, few know the whole story behind his extraordinary career and the stories of those who helped him attain his success. Marshall Grant, Cash's long-time bassist and one of the founding members of Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, chronicles their rise to fame from humble beginnings to world renown.
The genesis for I Was There When It Happened was a rousing speech by Grant during the nationally televised memorial service for Johnny Cash. After receiving multiple standing ovations, Grant was approached by several people, including former Vice President Albert Gore Jr., to consider writing a book. The result is a touching, revealing, and inspiring memoir about the Man in Black.
Beginning with Grant and guitarist Luther Perkins's initial introductions to Johnny Cash and the jam sessions that followed, readers will marvel at how their musical inabilities drove these three men to musical greatness. From Grant's humorous story of placing adhesive tape on his upright bass to learn the notes prior to landing their Sun Records recording contract and witnessing Johnny write "I Walk the Line," to his experience of playing with Cash at Folsom Prison, readers are taken backstage into Cash's inner circle.
"Johnny Cash was the greatest human being to ever walk the face of the earth," states Marshall Grant. While Grant and Cash experienced remarkable success in their careers, the most profound success was their enduring friendship until Cash's dying day. Through the good and the bad—and there was plenty of both—Marshall Grant shares how John and he "walked the line" for each other and those around them. I Was There When It Happened is a testimony to friendship and to the unique qualities behind one of the most respected and beloved entertainers of all time.
Customer Reviews:
Fun read.......2007-10-02
Not great literature, and definitely the author writes probably a bit too much about himself, especially his contributions to making J. Cash the success he was, but a fun read. A lot of inside kind of info. Johnny Cash fans will really enjoy the book. Marshall Grant will be at the Johnny Cash Flower Picking Festival in Starkville, Mississippi on November 3 to discuss his book.
HUH?.......2007-10-02
I've known Marshall all my life.
I love him and Etta very much.
I enjoyed part of the book. I do think he should have stuck with what he KNEW though.
After he "left" Dad's organization, the story should have picked up after he and Dad started speaking again.
The second hand information from "other employees and people close to Dad" was not fact. It was gossip, and I was very surprised at the "information" he was fed from people that were working for Dad at the time!
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...
I was not only working for Dad at the time, but around him all the time. I found myself shocked at some of the
things Marshall was told. I'm sad that people Dad trusted in his office, home and on the road were so back stabbing.
I always knew it, but this book made me cry at the traitors he paid very well.
Love to Marshall and Etta though...Kathy
He WAS there when it happened!.......2007-09-28
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The account of the Sun Records era and the origin of the Johnny Cash sound was well written and, despite what other reviewers have stated, consistent with other written accounts.
Johnny Cash's drug use during the 1960s was well documented. There is no question in my mind that Marshall Grant, June Carter, and Vivian Cash all loved Cash and wanted to free him from the drug demons that threatened to destroy him.
For most of the 1960s, the drug use transcended Cash's recording and performing career. Cash cleaned up his life (with, apparently, a few relapses), and his career underwent a resurgence. Sadly, in the early 1980's the drugs seemed to re-emerge as an issue and strain a lot of key relationships in his life. Marshall Grant was one of the casualties of that era.
To his credit, Grant chose not to write a tell-all book as retribution while Cash was alive. It was also good to hear that Cash and Grant were able to reconcile and resume their friendship in the end.
I did not consider the book self-serving, as other reviewers have stated. It seemed to me to be a series of anecdotes from a friend. It was an easy read and I would recommend it highly as a biography of Cash.
From the inside.......2007-08-17
For all Cash fans. We forget that we all have human faults when someone dies. Grant has exposed Johnny's demons that exist in all of us. This, in no way, makes Cash less a great human being but shows the world and Johnny's fans that he had many of the same weaknesses we all do. You will not regreat reading. I attended a show in 1964 when Cash did not appear and Tex Ritter played for over an hour vs. his 20 minute set and then announced that Cash was "ill" and would not be appearing. Johnny came back a month later and our original tickets were honored for a second show that was terrific!
An insiders look at the touring Johnny Cash.......2007-07-30
While many reviewers note that Marshall Grant's writing may not be as scintillating as they had hoped, it is important the reader take this book for what it is - an insider's look at touring with Johnny Cash written by the bass player in the Tennessee Two. I found this book very insightful and easy to digest. If you are not a big Cash fan, you may not be able to get through some of the writers' stylistic nuances. However, if you are a true Cash fan, buy this book. It will be well worth your dollars and time. Thanks to Marshall for providing this for us.
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