Annie Leibovitz: American Music (Hardcover)

~ (Photographer), Patti Smith (Contributor), Rosanne Cash (Contributor), Steve Earle (Contributor), Ryan Adams (Contributor), Beck (Contributor), Mos Def (Contributor) "When I was a child, I longed to play my grandmother's spinet..." (more)
Key Phrases: first album, New York City, Rolling Stone, Bill Monroe

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It looks like a gorgeous nostalgia trip to judge by the cover image alone. The photo is of an old school record player that lies unplugged, a white label test-pressing waiting on the turntable, while a band of paper wrapped around the cover announces the title in ye olde woodblock-looking type, American Music. A reading of the small type on the back cover reveals the image to be the very record and turntable left in Elvis Presley’s bedroom the day he died, and the mind reels, thinking about whether the King listened to this record on that day or not, and who are the Stamps, anyway? An excellent selection of musician portraits interspersed with crumbly wooden jook joints and wide open fields in the South, American Music covers a wide gamut of jazz, blues, punk, country, hip-hop, rock and roll, folk and gospel musicians. And while most of the pictures were shot between 1999 and 2002, some go back to the early 1970s, when Leibovitz first became Rolling Stone magazine's chief photographer. Some of the artists are very well-known (Michael Stipe, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan) and some of them are not (Jessie Mae Hemphill, Other Turner, Carlos Coy). Leibovitz really has a way of relaxing her performers, and this is a great part of her gift. Even when the pictures are so posed as to be ridiculous (like, what's Michael Stipe doing on that bedbug-ridden mattress—-the guy's a billionaire?), she catches her subjects at their most "real." They are lost in their music, or just doing some "real person" thing (look, there is Beck in his car—does Beck really drive his own car?). The presentation may be a little hokey, but this book is sure to please most any music fan. --Mike McGonigal

Review

Praise for American Music

“[Leibovitz] explores more deeply than ever the landscape of America’s sound, from a New Orleans funeral to a Baptist church to an empty juke joint.”
–Vanity Fair

“Leibovitz’s approach to both celebrity and non-celebrity musicians is remarkably consistent . . . [Her] conception of glamour is anything but aloof. She situates her subjects right there in front of you.”
–The New York Times


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (October 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375505075
• ISBN-13: 978-0375505072
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #138,281 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't know what these other folks are talking about., December 19, 2003

By	"mlm2627" (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews

Gee. I've never heard that poor aesthetic quality is an essential element of art. I'm not even sure what "poor aesthetic quality" means. But if it describes the heartbreaking, iconic portrait of Johnny Cash and June Carter, then I surely want more of it. These are beautiful, sometimes funny and often emotionally moving pictures in which the subjects collaborate with the artist to present a certain face to the world. Maybe not all the faces are completely honest ones, but they're interesting and beautifully photographed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intimate collection, August 7, 2005

By	S. Rasco (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just saw this exhibit at our MoMA, and the work is outstanding. Some of the images are color, some black and white. There are a number of styles and artists, ranging from the very famous to those unknown outside of their small communities. The point is that these are images of musicians--it's that simple.

Sometimes, Liebovitz's work is witty, sometimes it is unflinching in its honest portrayal. There is vulnerability in the subjects of her black and whites because they are so close, often just the face of the subject. To term them "ugly" is simply wrong. It is rare to see behind the artifice of celebrity images and see performers without makeup and with their skin texture and pores visible. Some of the photos are taken in people's homes, or backstage rather than on a set. This lends considerably to the intimacy and honesty that she is trying to convey.

If you want shots of your favorite singer looking oh so pretty, go to their PR person. This is a serious body of work from a renowned photographer. It blends both her celebrity work with her own private interests in portrait photography for non-commercial audiences.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for fans of Photography and Music, January 28, 2007

By	Casey A. Prout (Anchorage Alaska, Alaska United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you love the blues, or love photography this is a great book. While not specific to just Blues musicians this book just makes me think of good old delta blues. The prints in this book shine like they were hand printed by Annie herself. Theres a heart and soul driving this book from begining to end.
This is a more personal project for Annie Leibovitz and so doenst allway have her studio style inside.
That does not mean that each photograph is not amazing for they are, but some are a smaller more
candid world that Annie Leibotiz is capturing.