In August 1967, "Ode to Billie Joe," a B-side throwaway performed by a total unknown, knocked the Beatles' "All You Need is Love" out of the Billboard chart's top slot. Listeners obsessed over the mysteries ensnarled in the song's haunting refrain: Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Why did Billie Joe kill himself? Is he the narrator's secret lover? Fans also wanted to know: Who is this glamorous young woman who could boil air with just a parlor guitar and voice low as the Mississippi moon? That is a mystery as deep as the Tallahatchie's rushing water. Less than 10 years after bursting onto the world's stage with an album that scored an unprecedented trifecta on the Pop, Country and Black charts, the woman born Roberta Lee Streeter vanished from the spotlight. This much we know: Gentry was an artistic polymath and astute businesswoman. After "Ode," she wrote more music, DJed a radio program, hosted a TV show and started her own publishing company. Disenchanted with the record business, she produced spectacular Las Vegas shows, writing the music, choreographing the routines and designing the costumes. But despite working herself to exhaustion, Gentry was unable to replicate the commercial sales of her debut, and she disappeared. Bobbie Gentry has not been seen in public for over 30 years. With unprecedented access to a treasure trove of Gentry's memorabilia, Murtha excavates the mysteries of "Ode to Billie Joe," in terms of both the record's production and the effect of its success on Gentry. With input from the artist's collaborators and contemporaries, Murtha argues that though Gentry has every right to vanish, her role as a pioneering woman in the music industry should not.

Willie Nelson - award-winning country-music superstar, author, poet, actor and activist - is widely recognized as an American icon. This is the first full-colour book to comprehensively celebrate his life and music. His discography includes 68 studio albums, 10 live albums, 37 compilations, the soundtracks of The Electric Horseman and Honeysuckle Rose, as well as 27 collaborations. His albums have been successful in many countries, especially Ireland, Germany, New Zealand and Australia. Nelson has sold more than 40 million albums in the U.S. alone. His newest album, For theGood Times: A Tribute to Ray Price, was released in September 2016, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard country chart.

In his brief life, Hank Williams created one of the defining bodies of American music. Songs like Your Cheatin' Heart, Hey Good Lookin' and Jambalaya sold millions of records and became the model for virtually all country music that followed. But by the time of his death at age twenty-nine, Williams had drunk and drugged and philandered his way through two messy marriages and out of his headline spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Even though he was country music's top seller, toward the end he was so famously unreliable that he was lucky to get a booking in a beer hall. After his death, Williams' records sold more than ever, and have continued to do so in the half-century since. His oft-covered catalog has produced hits for artists ranging from Fats Domino and John Fogerty's Blue Ridge Rangers to Ray Charles and B.J. Thomas; from Bob Dylan and jazz diva Norah Jones, to crooner Perry Como, R&B star Dinah Washington, and British punk band, The The. In this definitive account Colin Escott vividly details the singer's stunning rise and his spectacular decline, and reveals much that was previously unknown or hidden about the life of this country music legend. Now, over sixty years after his death, a major motion picture starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen brings Hank Williams' tragic story to the screen. I Saw The Light first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be distributed by Sony Picture Classics in the UK.

Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins is the first biography of this legendary country music artist and NASCAR driver who scored sixteen number-one hits and two Grammy awards. Yet even with fame and fortune, Marty Robbins always yearned for more. Drawing from personal interviews and in-depth research, biographer Diane Diekman explains how Robbins saw himself as a drifter, a man always searching for self-fulfillment and inner peace. Born Martin David Robinson to a hardworking mother and an abusive alcoholic father, he never fully escaped the insecurities burned into him by a poverty-stricken nomadic childhood in the Arizona desert. In 1947 he got his first gig as a singer and guitar player. Too nervous to talk, the shy young man walked onstage singing. Soon he changed his name to Marty Robbins, cultivated his magnetic stage presence, and established himself as an entertainer, songwriter, and successful NASCAR driver. For fans of Robbins, NASCAR, and classic country music, Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins is a revealing portrait of this well-loved, restless entertainer, a private man who kept those who loved him at a distance.

(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook). Grammy Award winner for Album of the Year This unique songbook features piano/vocal arrangements of 11 selections from the critically-acclaimed Coen brothers film. The traditional songs for this film were selected by T-Bone Burnett to capture the sound of the early-'30s South, and the movie soundtrack has done much to rekindle interest in the folk/blues/bluegrass/gospel genres. Songs include: Big Rock Candy Mountain (Harry McClintock) * You Are My Sunshine (Norman Blake) * I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow (The Soggy Bottom Boys/Norman Blake) * Keep on the Sunny Side (The Whites) * I'll Fly Away (Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch) * and more. Includes great photos from the film. Also available: 00313182 Guitar Tab/Melody/Lyrics/Chords Edition $14.95

(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook). This essential compendium of country tunes includes: Abilene * Always on My Mind * Are You Lonesome Tonight? * Blue Bayou * Breathe * Butterfly Kisses * Can the Circle Be Unbroken * Cold, Cold Heart * Desperado * The Devil Went Down to Georgia * Flowers on the Wall * For the Good Times * Galveston * The Gambler * God Bless the U.S.A. * I Swear * Jolene * The Keeper of the Stars * On the Road Again * Rocky Top * Smoky Mountain Rain * Stand by Your Man * When Will I Be Loved * You Don't Know Me * Your Cheatin' Heart * and scores more 400 pages of music

From humble beginnings in County Donegal in Ireland to worldwide recording success, Daniel O'Donnell recounts the incredible story of his life, charting the ups and downs with remarkable honesty. Through wonderful anecdotes, Daniel recalls his early years and the moment he set his heart on becoming a singer, and gives a personal acount of his speading popularity and subsequent perfomances all over the world. With distinctive charm and modesty, he takes us behind the scenes of his phenomenal professional success, providing unique access to the man behind the hits and headlines. A bestseller when it was first published, Daniel O'Donnell: My Story has been fully revised and updated with a wealth of brand new material. for the first time Danel gives an intimate account of his romance and high-profile wedding to Majella McLennan as well as his deeply personal observations on worldwide success and his recent breathrough to stardom in the USA.

In The Country Music Reader Travis D. Stimeling provides an anthology of primary source readings from newspapers, magazines, and fan ephemera encompassing the history of country music from circa 1900 to the present. Presenting conversations that have shaped historical understandings of country music, it brings the voices of country artists and songwriters, music industry insiders, critics, and fans together in a vibrant conversation about a widely loved yet seldom studied genre of American popular music. Situating each source chronologically within its specific musical or cultural context, Stimeling traces the history of country music from the fiddle contests and ballad collections of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the most recent developments in contemporary country music. Drawing from a vast array of sources including popular magazines, fan newsletters, trade publications, and artist biographies, The Country Music Reader offers firsthand insight into the changing role of country music within both the music industry and American musical culture, and presents a rich resource for university students, popular music scholars, and country music fans alike.

18 of the finest from this superstar country duo: Boot Scootin' Boogie * Brand New Man * Hard Workin' Man * He's Got You * How Long Gone * I Can't Get Over You * Little Miss Honky Tonk * Lost and Found * A Man This Lonely * My Maria * My Next Broken Heart * Neon Moon * She's Not the Cheatin' Kind * You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone * more!

Dolly Parton's success as a performer and pop culture phenomenon has overshadowed her achievements as a songwriter. But she sees herself as a songwriter first, and with good reason. Parton's compositions like "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" have become American standards with an impact far beyond country music. Lydia R. Hamessley's expert analysis and Parton's characteristically straightforward input inform this comprehensive look at the process, influences, and themes that have shaped the superstar's songwriting artistry. Hamessley reveals how Parton's loving, hardscrabble childhood in the Smoky Mountains provided the musical language, rhythms, and memories of old-time music that resonate in so many of her songs. Hamessley further provides an understanding of how Parton combines her cultural and musical heritage with an artisan's sense of craft and design to compose eloquent, painfully honest, and gripping songs about women's lives, poverty, heartbreak, inspiration, and love. Filled with insights on hit songs and less familiar gems, Unlikely Angel covers the full arc of Dolly Parton's career and offers an unprecedented look at the creative force behind the image.

This title offers a superb investigation of what is arguably Johnny Cash's greatest album, focusing on his enduring mythology. When Johnny Cash signed to Rick Rubin's record label in 1993, he was a country music legend who, like his fellow Highwaymen Willie, Waylon and Kris, remained a fondly regarded yet completely marginalized Nashville figure, unheard on the radio and unseen on the charts. Cash's odyssey from oldies act to folk hero pivots on his first American Recordings album, a document of almost unbearable solitude and directness. It is a singular record, an instance in which a musical giant has been granted a kind of midnight reprieve, a chance to regain and renew his legend. Tony Tost illuminates the ways in which American Recordings is the crossroads where cultural, spiritual and mythic archetypes come together in the figure of The Man in Black. Ultimately, this is a guidebook to myth and mystery, a means of apprehending the stark beauty of Cash's greatest record, the sound of a man alone and fighting for his soul, one song at a time. "33 1/3" is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 60 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike. For more information on the series and on individual titles in the series, check out our blog at our associated website.

A No Depression Most Memorable Music Book of 2022 Roland White's long career has taken him from membership in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass to success with his own Roland White Band. A master of the mandolin and acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, White has mentored a host of bluegrass musicians and inspired countless others. Bob Black draws on extensive interviews with White and his peers and friends to provide the first in-depth biography of the pioneering bluegrass figure. Born into a musical family, White found early success with the Kentucky Colonels during the 1960s folk revival. The many stops and collaborations that marked White's subsequent musical journey trace the history of modern bluegrass. But Black also delves into the seldom-told tale of White's life as a working musician, one who endured professional and music industry ups-and-downs to become a legendary artist and beloved teacher. An entertaining merger of memories and music history, Mandolin Man tells the overdue story of a bluegrass icon and his times.

One of the earliest performers on WSM in Nashville, Uncle Dave Macon became the Grand Ole Opry's first superstar. His old-time music and energetic stage shows made him a national sensation and fueled a thirty-year run as one of America's most beloved entertainers. Michael D. Doubler tells the amazing story of the Dixie Dewdrop, a country music icon. Born in 1870, David Harrison Macon learned the banjo from musicians passing through his parents' Nashville hotel. After playing local shows in Middle Tennessee for decades, a big break led Macon to Vaudeville, the earliest of his two hundred-plus recordings and eventually to national stardom. Uncle Dave--clad in his trademark plug hat and gates-ajar collar--soon became the face of the Opry itself with his spirited singing, humor, and array of banjo picking styles. For the rest of his life, he defied age to tour and record prolifically, manage his business affairs, mentor up-and-comers like David "Stringbean" Akeman, and play with the Delmore Brothers, Roy Acuff, and Bill Monroe.

The most atypical of bluegrass artists, Bill Clifton has enjoyed a long career as a recording artist, performer, and champion of old-time music. Bill C. Malone pens the story of Clifton's eclectic life and influential career. Born into a prominent Maryland family, Clifton connected with old-time music as a boy. Clifton made records around earning a Master's degree, fifteen years in the British folk scene, and stints in the Peace Corps and Marines. Yet that was just the beginning. Closely allied with the Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Mike Seeger, and others, Clifton altered our very perceptions of the music--organizing one of the first outdoor bluegrass festivals, publishing a book of folk and gospel standards that became a cornerstone of the folk revival, and introducing both traditional and progressive bluegrass around the world. As Malone shows, Clifton clothed the music of working-class people in the vestments of romance, celebrating the log cabin as a refuge from modernism that rang with the timeless music of Appalachia. An entertaining account by an eminent music historian, Bill Clifton clarifies the myths and illuminates the paradoxes of an amazing musical life.

Graced by more than 200 illustrations, many of them seldom seen and some never before published, this sparkling volume offers vivid portraits of the men and women who created country music, the artists whose lives and songs formed the rich tradition from which so many others have drawn inspiration. Included here are not only such major figures as Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Fiddlin' John Carson, Charlie Poole, and Gene Autry, who put country music on America's cultural map, but many fascinating lesser-known figures as well, such as Carson Robison, Otto Gray, Chris Bouchillon, Emry Arthur and dozens more, many of whose stories are told here for the first time. To map some of the winding, untraveled roads that connect today's music to its ancestors, Tony Russell draws upon new research and rare source material, such as contemporary newspaper reports and magazine articles, internet genealogy sites, and his own interviews with the musicians or their families. The result is a lively mix of colorful tales and anecdotes, priceless contemporary accounts of performances, illuminating social and historical context, and well-grounded critical judgment. The illustrations include artist photographs, record labels, song sheets, newspaper clippings, cartoons, and magazine covers, recreating the look and feel of the entire culture of country music. Each essay includes as well a playlist of recommended and currently available recordings for each artist. Finally, the paperback edition now features an extensive index.

The richness of Detroit's music history has by now been well established. We know all about Motown, the MC5, and Iggy and the Stooges. We also know about the important part the Motor City has played in the history of jazz. But there are stories about the music of Detroit that remain untold. One of the lesser known but nonetheless fascinating histories is contained within Detroit's country music roots. At last, Craig Maki and Keith Cady bring to light Detroit's most important country and western and bluegrass stars, such as Chief Redbird, the York Brothers, and Roy Hall. Beyond the individuals, Maki and Cady also map out the labels, radio programs, and performance venues that sustained Detroit's vibrant country and bluegrass music scene. In the process, "Detroit Country Music" examines how and why the city's growth in the early twentieth century, particularly the southern migration tied to the auto industry, led to this vibrant roots music scene.

This is the first book--the first resource of any kind--to tell the story of Detroit's contributions to country music. Craig Maki and Keith Cady have spent two decades collecting music and images, and visiting veteran musicians to amass more than seventy interviews about country music in Detroit. Just as astounding as the book's revelations are the photographs, most of which have never been published before. "Detroit Country Music" will be essential reading for music historians, record collectors, roots music fans, and Detroit music aficionados.

In the vast, sparsely populated area of West Texas known as the Big Bend, life takes place on a different scale. The nearest neighbor can be forty miles away, perhaps located not just in another town but another country, the border historically less obvious than it is today. In the small-town, bicultural atmosphere of the Big Bend, musicians from both sides of the Rio Grande come together, creating music that spans genre, culture, and international borders.From Ojinaga, Mexico, to Alpine, Texas, and most points in between, writer Marcia Hatfield Daudistel and photographer Bill Wright have gathered, through hours of interviews, a trove of anecdotes, images, and personal recollections that explore what makes music - and musicians - in the Big Bend slightly different from anything found elsewhere. Playing big band music one night for a dance at Marfa Army Air Field and border polkas the next evening at a quinceaNera; playing a traditional norteNo and conjunto but throwing in the saxophone to change the dynamic; making a living with their music or keeping their day jobs and playing when they can: these are the stories that demonstrate the cultural and musical versatility required for musicians in the Big Bend. From the porch at Terlingua's Starlight Theatre to the jukebox at Lajitas, Across the Border and Back: Music in the Big Bend features the people, the history, the local color, the venues, and, above all, the distinctive attitude that have defined music-making in this place, at once one of the most remote and most unique in the country.

In this day of digital delivery, more and more popular music arrives to its listeners in downloadable bits, giving away very little about where the songs come from or who is behind them. At the same time contemporary popular culture, with its ancestry-excavating Web sites and television shows, reveals that people are craving answers to those very same questions about themselves. Right by Her Roots is a book for this moment, a thorough and thoughtful exploration of the bodies of work of eight groundbreaking artists who acknowledge, in their songs and in their lives, their relationships to their roots--both musical and personal. Jewly Hight, a highly regarded and spiritually-savvy music writer, delves into the journeys and styles of eight of the most distinctive voices in Americana music: Lucinda Williams, Julie Miller, Victoria Williams, Michelle Shocked, Mary Gauthier, Ruthie Foster, Elizabeth Cook, and Abigail Washburn. Hight proves there is much to be gained from digging into the oeuvres of singers and songwriters who put something of themselves and their pursuits of meaning into their music. What she unearths, through vivid original interviews and perceptive analysis of their spirits, sounds, and styles--not just their lyrics--is rich insight into what animates their work and how they view and experience the world. Giving music-making women the serious attention they deserve but rarely receive, Right by Her Roots is an especially important and engaging account.

Sure to elicit an "aw shucks" from fans of old country legends and new tabloid faves, this whimsical book moseys through a variety of classic activities, such as connect-the-dots, coloring, and simple puzzles. Cowboys and girls with a loaded six-shooter of crayons can help Willie Nelson escape the taxman's maze, outline Billy Ray Cyrus's mullet, insert a hat on Dwight Yoakam's head, and draw Dolly Parton's notorious curves.

A musical genre forever outside the lines With a claim on artists from Jimmie Rodgers to Jason Isbell, Americana can be hard to define, but you know it when you hear it. John Milward's Americanaland is filled with the enduring performers and vivid stories that are at the heart of Americana. At base a hybrid of rock and country, Americana is also infused with folk, blues, R&B, bluegrass, and other types of roots music. Performers like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and Gram Parsons used these ingredients to create influential music that took well-established genres down exciting new roads. The name Americana was coined in the 1990s to describe similarly inclined artists like Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and Wilco. Today, Brandi Carlile and I'm With Her are among the musicians carrying the genre into the twenty-first century. Essential and engaging, Americanaland chronicles the evolution and resonance of this ever-changing amalgam of American music. Margie Greve's hand-embroidered color portraits offer a portfolio of the pioneers and contemporary practitioners of Americana.

Inspired by the Hank Williams and Leadbelly recordings he heard as a teenager growing up outside of Boston, Jim Rooney began a musical journey that intersected with some of the biggest names in American music including Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Bill Monroe, Muddy Waters, and Alison Krauss. "In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey" is Rooney's kaleidoscopic first-hand account of more than five decades of success as a performer, concert promoter, songwriter, music publisher, engineer, and record producer.
As witness to and participant in over a half century of music history, Rooney provides a sophisticated window into American vernacular music. Following his stint as a "Hayloft Jamboree" hillbilly singer in the mid-1950s, Rooney managed Cambridge's Club 47, a catalyst of the '60's folk music boom. He soon moved to the Newport Folk Festival as talent coordinator and director where he had a front row seat to Dylan "going electric."
In the 1970s Rooney's odyssey continued in Nashville where he began engineering and producing records. His work helped alternative country music gain a foothold in Music City and culminated in Grammy nominations for singer-songwriters John Prine, Iris Dement, and Nanci Griffith. Later in his career he was a key link connecting Nashville to Ireland's folk music scene.
Writing songs or writing his memoir, Jim Rooney is the consummate storyteller. "In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey" is his singular chronicle from the heart of Americana.