I Hear a Symphony opens new territory in the study of Motown's legacy, arguing that the music of Motown was indelibly shaped by the ideals of Detroit's postwar black middle class; that Motown's creative personnel participated in an African-American tradition of dialogism in rhythm and blues while developing the famous "Motown Sound." Throughout the book, Flory focuses on the central importance of "crossover" to the Motown story; first as a key concept in the company's efforts to reach across American commercial markets, then as a means to extend influence internationally, and finally as a way to expand the brand beyond strictly musical products. Flory's work reveals the richness of the Motown sound, and equally rich and complex cultural influence Motown still exerts.

Living the Life I Sing: Gospel Music from the Dorsey Era to the Millennium discusses the foundations of gospel music and how the form has developed across time to create a genre that reaches far beyond its geographical borders. In addition, it addresses the future of the genre and considers its place in the general music industry. Section One explores the development of Gospel music, including its transition from the secular path of the blues to a path of sacred spirituality. Section Two focuses on the rise and role of the Black church in spreading Gospel music. Topics include the development of a Gospel methodology, the resistance of the Black press to "swinging" spirituals, the promise of and challenges to contemporary Gospel , and the value of live recording. Living the Life I Sing compiles an outstanding selection of resources to chronicle Gospel music from its blues-based foundation to its role in the lives of a post-millennial generation. The book is well-suited to courses on African-American music, those on the music business, religious music, and African-American history. It can also be used in music workshops.

'The main reason I have written this book is because I want people to know the process behind making my second album. I fight every day to show people what I see inside my head, my vision and what I want to create.'Revolve is a first-person account from the platinum-selling singer-songwriter John Newman, documenting the creative process involved in writing his second album.In the book, John explores the influences of his Yorkshire upbringing, where Northern Soul and Motown moulded his musical ear. From Settle to London, this unique behind-the-scenes narrative charts the build-up to the release of his break-out single 'Love Me Again', his No.1 album 'Tribute' and his first world tour.Revolve then details the making of his much anticipated second album, from creating and sketching the concept, writing the lyrics and recording in LA. Exclusive photography captures John's experiences, alongside songs scrawled on envelopes, early gig posters and his own personal drawings. Revolve provides the in-depth story of John's musical and personal evolution so far.'My first encounter with John Newman was on my daily afternoon break from a studio session to buy a Tesco's flapjack. I found him outside my studio complex with Mr Hudson, who he was making a record with. They were making fun of my car, as it had been shat on that day by an army of gulls. We've both come a long way since then; I had my car cleaned, and he has become one of the most exciting performers and songwriters of his generation.' - Calvin Harris

Barry Vincent was both a Love Child of the 1960s & a Soul Brother. In this colorful book you get plenty of the idealism of the flower-power love generation, and also the self-rightous indignation of proud black nationalism. There are many feelings that can't be expressed in words but music is the perfect medium to get the listener involved. This is a reason that there are so many performance instructions which are actually moods and attitudes. Music allows you to capture a feeling, document a time and place, paint a picture - sometimes better than the visual arts. Music is a language that sometimes says things that words simply can't communicate. Make your experience eternal by writing it down. Let us thank those that have upheld traditions, carried on culture, language, forms and feelings that would have otherwise been neglected, and sometimes even sadly lost forever. Barry shares the optimism of the Flower Power era and the consciousness of the Civil Rights movement in beautiful songs and positive stories and sounds.

Many studies of African-American gospel music spotlight history and style. This one, however, is focused mainly on grassroots makers and singers. Most of those included here are not stars. A few have received national recognition, but most are known only in their own home areas. Yet their collective stories presented in this book indicate that black gospel music is one of the most prevalent forms of contemporary American song. Its author Alan Young is a New Zealander who came to the South seeking authentic blues music. Instead, he found gospel to be the most pervasive, fundamental music in the contemporary African-American South. Blues, he concludes, has largely lost touch with its roots, while gospel continues to express authentic resources. Conducting interviews with singers and others in the gospel world of Tennessee and Mississippi, Young ascertains that gospel is firmly rooted in community life. " Woke Me Up This Morning " includes his candid, widely varied conversations with a capella groups, with radio personalities, with preachers, and with soloists whose performances reveal the diversity of gospel styles. Major figures interviewed include the Spirit of Memphis Quartet and the Reverend Willie Morganfield, author and singer of the million-selling "What Is This?" who turned his back on fame in order to pastor a church in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. All speak freely in oral-history style here, telling how they became involved in gospel music and religion, how it enriches their lives, how it is connected to secular music (especially blues), and how the spiritual and the practical are united in their performances. Their accounts reveal the essential grassroots force and spirit of gospel music and demonstrate that if blues springs from America's soul, then gospel arises from its heart.

At its most intimate level, music heals our emotional wounds and inspires us. At its most public, it unites people across cultural boundaries. But can it rebuild a city? That's the central question posed in New Atlantis, journalist John Swenson's beautifully detailed account of the musical artists working to save America's most colorful and troubled metropolis: New Orleans. The city has been threatened with extinction many times during its three-hundred-plus-year history by fire, pestilence, crime, flood, and oil spills. Working for little money and in spite of having lost their own homes and possessions to Katrina, New Orleans's most gifted musicians-including such figures as Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, "Trombone Shorty," and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux-are fighting back against a tidal wave of problems: the depletion of the wetlands south of the city (which are disappearing at the rate of one acre every hour), the violence that has made New Orleans the murder capitol of the U.S., the waning tourism industry, and above all the continuing calamity in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (or, as it is known in New Orleans, the "Federal Flood"). Indeed, most of the neighborhoods that nurtured the indigenous music of New Orleans were destroyed in the flood, and many of the elder statesmen have died or been incapacitated since then, but the musicians profiled here have stepped up to fill their roles. New Atlantis is their story. Packed with indelible portraits of individual artists, informed by Swenson's encyclopedic knowledge of the city's unique and varied music scene-which includes jazz, R&B, brass band, rock, and hip hop-New Atlantis is a stirring chronicle of the valiant efforts to preserve the culture that gives New Orleans its grace and magic.