Brian Ward

Patrick Huber

Association for Recorded Sound Collections Certificate of Merit for the Best Historical Research in Recorded Roots or World Music, 2019 A&R Pioneers offers the first comprehensive account of the diverse group of men and women who pioneered artists-and-repertoire (A&R) work in the early US recording industry. In the process, they helped create much of what we now think of as American roots music. Resourceful, innovative, and, at times, shockingly unscrupulous, they scouted and signed many of the singers and musicians who came to define American roots music between the two world wars. They also shaped the repertoires and musical styles of their discoveries, supervised recording sessions, and then devised marketing campaigns to sell the resulting records. By World War II, they had helped redefine the canons of American popular music and established the basic structure and practices of the modern recording industry. Moreover, though their musical interests, talents, and sensibilities varied enormously, these A&R pioneers created the template for the job that would subsequently become known as "record producer." Without Ralph Peer, Art Satherley, Frank Walker, Polk C. Brockman, Eli Oberstein, Don Law, Lester Melrose, J. Mayo Williams, John Hammond, Helen Oakley Dance, and a whole army of lesser known but often hugely influential A&R representatives, the music of Bessie Smith and Bob Wills, of the Carter Family and Count Basie, of Robert Johnson and Jimmie Rodgers may never have found its way onto commercial records and into the heart of America's musical heritage. This is their story.

Architects of American Roots Music on Record

A&R Pioneers

An exploration of the origins and development of American country music in the Piedmont's mill villages celebrates the colorful cast of musicians and considers the impact that urban living, industrial music, and mass culture had on their lives and music.

The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South

Linthead Stomp

David Anderson

Steve Goodson

When Hank Williams died on New Year's Day 1953 at the age of twenty-nine, his passing appeared to bring an abrupt end to a saga of rags-to-riches success and anguished self-destruction. As it turned out, however, an equally gripping story was only just beginning, as Williams's meteoric rise to stardom, extraordinary musical achievements, turbulent personal life, and mysterious death all combined to make him an endlessly intriguing historical figure. For more than sixty years, an ever-lengthening parade of journalists, family and friends, musical contemporaries, biographers, historians and scholars, ordinary fans, and novelists have attempted to capture in words the man, the artist, and the legend. The Hank Williams Reader, the first book of its kind devoted to this giant of American music, collects more than sixty of the most compelling, insightful, and historically significant of these writings. Among them are many pieces that have never been reprinted or that are published here for the first time. The selections cover a broad assortment of themes and perspectives, ranging from heartfelt reminiscences by Williams's relatives and shocking tabloid exposés to thoughtful meditations by fellow artists and penetrating essays by prominent scholars and critics. Over time, writers have sought to explain Williams in a variety of ways, and in tracing these shifting interpretations, this anthology chronicles his cultural transfiguration from star-crossed hillbilly singer-songwriter to enduring American icon. The Hank Williams Reader also features a lengthy interpretive introduction and the most extensive bibliography of Williams-related writings ever published.

The Hank Williams Reader

Dieser Sammelband enthält die ersten zehn Bände einer Reihe von Kurzgeschichten rund um die Runenkrieger, die Elitekämpfer der Zwerge. Sie sind Krieger, Gelehrte und Magier in einem. Oft nimmt ein Teil Bezug auf die Handlung, oder die Personen aus einem anderen Teil und doch gibt es keinen roten Faden; kein Motiv, das sich konsequent durch alle Bände auf ein gemeinsames Ziel zu bewegt. Dieser Sammelband gleicht einem Fotoalbum, mit unterschiedlichen Schnappschüssen aus dem Alltag der Zwerge. Jedes Buch entspricht einem Aspekt der Welt, in der die Runenkrieger leben. So begleitet der Leser tollpatschige Lehrlinge, griesgrämige, alte Meister, talentierte Schmiede, tapfere Krieger und geheimnisvolle Spione auf ihren Abenteuern im Dienste des Königreiches unter dem Berg. Sie treten gegen Goblins, Untote, Druiden und Verräter aus den eigenen Reihen an, die allesamt das große und wohlhabende Zwergenreich ins Chaos stürzen wollen.

Sammelband 1

Meister der Runen - Der Chronik erster Teil

Featuring more than sixty essential writings about country music's great singer and songwriter Hank Williams, this book reveals interpretations of his life over the last six decades and chronicles his transformation from star-crossed hillbilly singer to enduring American icon.

Kathleen Morgan Drowne

Associate Professor of History Patrick Huber, Dr

Examines American cultural life and its influences during the nineteen twenties, covering youth culture, entertainment, food, fashion, advertising, architecture, leisure activities, and the arts.

Patrick Huber

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