The Bluegrass Reader (Music in American Life) [Hardcover]

Thomas Goldsmith (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2004 | Series: Music in American Life

Like rock n' roll, bluegrass exploded out of a post-World War II atmosphere in which more Americans opened their ears to more different kinds of music than ever before. All around the country, musicians were searching for new sounds and approaches: country blues went fully electric in Chicago, bebop boiled over as jazz hit the hippest notes yet and country music followed Hank Williams into new, sexier, harder-hitting territory.The developments in bluegrass proved every bit as galvanic. In "The Bluegrass Reader", Thomas Goldsmith joins his insights as a journalist with a lifetime of experience in bluegrass to capture the full story of this dynamic and beloved music. Inspired by the question 'What articles about bluegrass would you want to have with you on a desert island?' he assembled a delicious, fun-to-read collection that brings together a wide range of the very best in bluegrass writing. Goldsmith's judicious selections include a fascinating combination of older, more obscure, and previously unavailable publications with pieces that are classics in the history of writing about bluegrass: Alan Lomax in "Esquire", Mayne Smith's groundbreaking dissertation, Ralph Rinzler's "Sing Out" piece on Bill Monroe, and Mike Seeger's "Folkways" liner notes."The Bluegrass Reader" also features writers as disparate as Marty Stuart, David Gates, and Hunter Thompson writing for magazines like "The New Yorker", the "Atlantic Monthly", and the "Muleskinner News". In an age where musical trends flit by like models on a runway, bluegrass has endured changes while faithfully checking its advances against the formative years. Goldsmith follows its history through three roughly twenty-year periods: From 1939 to 1959, from 1959 to 1979, and from 1979 through the present. Goldsmith's substantial introduction describes and traces the development of the music from its origins in Anglo-American folk tradition, overlaid with African American influences, to the breakout popularity of Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, and the O Brother, "Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. He introduces each selection offering a wealth of additional information, making "The Bluegrass Reader" both enjoyable and invaluable for new fans of the music as well as for its lifetime devotees.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With its strong selection of articles from a wide range of sources, The Bluegrass Reader makes a significant and much-needed contribution to the literature on bluegrass. Anyone with an interest in the music is bound to find it both enjoyable and indispensable." -- Jon Weisberger, contributing editor to No Depression and the International Bluegrass Music Association's Print Media Person of the Year, 2000

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (April 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252029143
• ISBN-13: 978-0252029141
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Purty entertainin', even without no pictures, November 13, 2004

By 

Kevin Cook "Darlin' Boy" (McDonough, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bluegrass Reader (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

A few years ago, a certain tenacious fan (yours truly), trying to get an interview with Mitch Jayne of The Dillards, managed to irritate him to the point that he stormed, "Bluegrass people are not readers!" This comprehensive anthology, compiled from a surprising variety of sources by journalist Thomas Goldsmith (the International Bluegrass Music Association's 2004 Print Media Personality of the Year), would seem to prove otherwise. Collecting "particularly strong, influential, and representative writing about bluegrass" from books, magazines and liner notes, "The Bluegrass Reader," like Neil V. Rosenberg's definitive "Bluegrass - A History," is a book with limitless appeal for the growing legion of hard-core bluegrass aficionados who revel in dissecting and debating every facet of the music, no matter how trivial. (For those eggheads, the totally frivolous article "Is There a Link between Bluegrass Musicianship and Sexuality?" is recommended.) There is scholarly fodder aplenty, but the book is more fun when it captures bluegrass stars behaving badly. For instance, in "So You Don't Like the Way We Do It (or Damn Your Tape Recorder)" from a 1967 issue of "Bluegrass Unlimited," John Duffey of the Country Gentlemen seems to have a bug up his bum as he burns more bridges than Sherman defending his playing style. Then there's the guilty pleasure of Jimmy Martin's wildly profane attack on Ricky Skaggs at the Grand Ole Opry in a controversial piece originally from "The Oxford American" (and later expanded into a skimpy book) by Tom Piazza. And in "Rolling Stone," bluegrass darling Alison Krauss indelicately declares she "just about crapped myself" after hearing a really good Merle Haggard tune. Browsers of "The Bluegrass Reader" will be rewarded by a treasure trove of facts and opinionated insights, some of which may sting. David Gates, for example, profiling Ralph Stanley in "The New Yorker," observes, "Good bluegrass...is sweet and sad, wild and sexy. Mediocre bluegrass...is among the most wearisome music on the planet." Ouch!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Highly Enjoyable Romp Through Bluegrass` Past, March 18, 2011

By 

J. W. Huey (Ellicott City, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Bluegrass Reader (Music in American Life) (Paperback)

I`ve never much enjoyed reading about music; far more fun to play or listen to it. Lately, though, I`ve become addicted to Amazon`s "cheap reads" covering a variety of subjects and after checking out a few pages of this one on line, ordered it and can highly recommend the book for anyone interested in bluegrass or old time string band music.
Bluegrass slammed me in the back of the head from out of nowhere back in the early 1950s when I happened across Don Reno`s "Dixie Breakdown" courtesy of Ray Davis` broadcast on WBMD AM from Johnnie`s Used Car Lot in Baltimore. I hadn`t a clue what the instrument was, called Ray who gave me a brief education about the 5-string banjo. That same day I rented a banjo for $2.00 monthly "applicable to purchase price" from Ted Martini`s amazing music store on Center Street in Baltimore. (My two criticisms of the book are, by the way, are that there is no mention of Ray Davis, who has probably done more for the music than anyone else in the Baltimore area, and that Walter Hensley, the most underrated banjo player alive, is also overlooked.)
There are interviews with just about all the original bluegrass musicians one can name; Monroe, Reno, Wiseman and many more, as well as accounts of various events, one of which is the late great Mike Seeger`s account of the "Banjo Pickers Contest" at Sunset Park back in 1958. After reading that one I came to the sobering realization I had been performing "Home Sweet Home" in contests, and far more often than not losing, for at least fifty two years.
A great little book!