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.

Many of Scotland's songs were collected by, and first set down by, Robert Burns. His mother used to sing songs to him as a child, and his poetry reflected this rich heritage. This book is a collection of 80 songs, and is organised alphabetically by song title, and contains a glossary to explain many of the Scots words in the songs. The book is now in its third edition and is an inexpensive and essential book for anyone interested in traditional Scottish songs arranged for voice and piano.

Klezmer presents a lively and detailed overview of the folk musical tradition as practiced in Philadelphia's twentieth-century Jewish community. Through interviews, archival research, and recordings, Hankus Netsky constructs an ethnographic portrait of Philadelphia's Jewish musicians, the environment they worked in, and the repertoire they performed at local Jewish lifestyle and communal celebrations. Netsky defines what klezmer music is, how it helped define Jewish immigrant culture in Philadelphia, and how its current revival has changed klezmer's meaning historically. Klezmer also addresses the place of musicians and celebratory music in Jewish society, the nature of klezmer culture, the tensions between sacred and secular in Jewish music, and the development of Philadelphia's distinctive "Russian Sher" medley, a unique and masterfully crafted composition. Including a significant amount of musical transcriptions, Klezmer chronicles this special musical genre from its heyday in the immigrant era, through the mid-century period of its decline through its revitalization from the 1980s to today.

The music lover who is listening to Indian music for the first time is apt to be perplexed by his novel experience. He may protest that "It all sounds alike," that "They only have one tune," and in all seriousness finally ask, "But is it music?" Such honest reactions are not uncommon among the uninitiated. They are normal human responses to the unfamiliar and are not peculiarly related to Indian music. Similar questions have been raised about the art work of our best contemporary composers, artists, writers, and architects by those who are unable to view the new art in its social setting and to see it in its historic relationship with the past. Persons who would know more about the "first Americans," with whom our past three and a half centuries of history is so intimately connected, will find in Indian musical traditions a full, expressive revelation of the inner life of these interesting people. For the Indian, music is a medium of communication and contact with the supernatural, and since all the varied activities of life find their respective places in the Indian's cosmos, there are songs for every occasion. The hard and fast distinction between sacred and secular 'which we are accustomed to make loses its definiteness in the Indian's world. There are songs for the making of rain, Guardian Spirit songs for success in hunting, fishing, and gambling, songs for the protection of the home, the curing of the sick, lullabies, love songs, corn-grinding songs, social dance songs, and songs connected with legends. From this brief, functional listing, it will be noted that music was closely associated with the daily and seasonal activities of living. Though the Indian is not lacking in aesthetic enjoyment of his native music, he rarely regards it as something to listen to apart from its social and ceremonial function. For the open-minded, open-eared listener, Indian music is neither inaccessible nor difficult to enjoy. Patient and repeated hearings of these songs will gradually reveal the subtle, haunting beauty that is enfolded in their carefully modelled forms. Here one will find the same artistic features--color, symmetry and balance of form, bold, striking designs, logical unity and coherence of thought-that distinguish Indian painting, pottery, weaving, and silversmithing, so widely admired and enjoyed. Like the music of the Greeks, and like folk music in its purest, primeval form, Indian music is basically monophonic, single-lined. There are occasional excursions into heterophony whereby one voice or group of voices temporarily deviates from the melodic line of the song while others adhere to the established pattern. Such examples of part singing, however, are relatively rare. The simplicity of this monophonic music may fall strangely on ears that have been conditioned by the thick harmonic and contrapuntal texture, rich orchestration, and massive volume of our Western European music. Just as it becomes necessary to adjust one's aural perspective in turning from symphonic music to the more modest and economical medium of chamber music, so must one adjust one's listening for Indian music.

While music lovers and music historians alike understand that folkmusic played an increasingly pivotal role in American labor and politicsduring the economic and social tumult of the Great Depression, how did thisrelationship come to be? Ronald D. Cohen sheds new light on the complexcultural history of folk music in America, detailing the musicians, governmentagencies, and record companies that had a lasting impact during the1930s and beyond. Covering myriad musical styles and performers, Cohennarrates a singular history that begins in nineteenth-century labor politicsand popular music culture, following the rise of unions and Communismto the subsequent Red Scare and increasing power of the Conservativemovement in American politics-with American folk and vernacular musiccentered throughout. Detailing the influence and achievements of such notablemusicians as Pete Seeger, Big Bill Broonzy, and Woody Guthrie, Cohenexplores the intersections of politics, economics, and race, using the rootsof American folk music to explore one of the United States' most troubledtimes. Becoming entangled with the ascending American left wing, folkmusic became synonymous with protest and sharing the troubles of real peoplethrough song.