His blistering guitar playing breathed life back into the blues. Performing night after night - from his early teens to his tragic death at age thirty-five, in tiny pass-the-hat clubs and before thousands in huge arenas - Stevie Ray Vaughan fused blazing technique with deep soul in a manner unrivaled since the days of Jimi Hendrix. The genuineness and passion of his music moved millions. It nearly saved his life. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire is the first biography of this meteoric guitar hero. Emerging from the hotbed of Texas blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan developed his unique style early on, in competition with his older brother, Jimmie Vaughan, founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds - a competition that shaped much of Stevie's life. Fueled by drugs and alcohol through a thousand one-night stands, he lived at a fever pitch that nearly destroyed him. Musically exhausted and close to collapse, in his final years Stevie Ray mustered the courage to overcome his addictions, finding strength and inspiration in a new emotional openness. His death in a freak helicopter crash in 1990 silenced one of the great musical talents of our time. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire reveals Stevie Ray Vaughan's life in all its remarkable, sometimes unsavory detail. It also brings to life the rich world of Texas music out of which he grew, and captures the staggering dimensions of his musical legacy. It will stand as the definitive biographical portrait of Stevie Ray.

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 theatre. 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 humour,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.

Robert Johnson was undoubtedly the most outstanding of the Mississippi Delta blues musicians and also one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but his short life remains steeped in mystery and wrapped in some of the most enduring legends of modern music. "Love in Vain" is Alan Greenberg's remarkable, highly acclaimed, and genre-defying screenplay and 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.

"Contemporary Musicians provides comprehensive information on more than 2,000 musicians and groups from around the world. Entries include a detailed biographical essay, selected discographies, contact information and a list of sources. Features include e-mail addresses and online sources where available.

New Volume Students and other researchers will love this biographical and critical series covering performers and others in a wide variety of musical fields. Each volume covers more than 80 musicians and provides vital statistics, critical essays, photographs and more. Musician and subject indexes facilitate research. Look for:
-- Rap star 2Pac
-- Country sensation Shania Twain
-- Dance hitmakers Soul II Soul
-- Eclectic British rockers Blur
-- Punk-folk artist Ani DiFranco
-- Jazz bassist Christian McBride
-- And many others

New Volume Students and other researchers will love this biographical and critical series covering performers and others in a wide variety of musical fields. Each volume covers more than 80 musicians and provides vital statistics, critical essays, photographs and more. Musician and subject indexes facilitate research. Look for:
-- Rap star 2Pac
-- Country sensation Shania Twain
-- Dance hitmakers Soul II Soul
-- Eclectic British rockers Blur
-- Punk-folk artist Ani DiFranco
-- Jazz bassist Christian McBride
-- And many others

New Volume Students and other researchers will love this biographical and critical series covering performers and others in a wide variety of musical fields. Each volume covers more than 80 musicians and provides vital statistics, critical essays, photographs and more. Musician and subject indexes facilitate research. Look for:
-- Rap star 2Pac
-- Country sensation Shania Twain
-- Dance hitmakers Soul II Soul
-- Eclectic British rockers Blur
-- Punk-folk artist Ani DiFranco
-- Jazz bassist Christian McBride
-- And many others

This is a biographical and critical guide to performers and writers in a wide variety of musical fields, including pop, rock, rap, jazz, rhythm and blues, folk, New Age, country, gospel, and reggae. Each biannual volume covers 80-100 musicians.

Provides jazz scholars, specialists, and both novice and experienced listeners with a detailed, critical commentary on this jazz master's recordings from 1924 to 1974. The guide begins with a brief overview of the artist and the complexity and unending creativity of his music. The chapters follow the chronological sequence covering identifiable stages in output and list essential Ellingtonia. The appendixes include a bibliography, a comprehensive discography listing both LPs and CDs, a list of useful addresses, and a list of Ellington musicians and the date of their membership in the band.