Although this compilation is designed for scholars of country music, the ten articles that comprise it contain enough anecdotes and odd facts to make the book appealing to all serious fans of the genre. It is uniformly thought-provoking,... Read More

Few people who were dancing and romancing in 1956 to Johnnie Ray’s new hit, “Just Walkin’ in the Rain,” realized that the song had been co-written and first recorded three years earlier by a black man still serving a life... Read More

“The United States does not have a gun problem,” the author asserts, “it has a handgun problem.” So many Americans are killed and wounded by pistols, argues Sugarman, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, that nothing... Read More

Hudson compiled this book from transcripts of interviews she conducted during the past fifteen years with thirty-two songwriters, plus author Larry McMurtry and former football coach Darrell Royal. Some of her subjects—such as Willie... Read More

Currently, country music is synonymous in most people’s minds with Nashville. During its formative years, however, from the 1920s through the 1940s, the music flourished in towns and cities all over America. Talent sprang up everywhere... Read More

Marquart’s prose is so spare, direct, and free of posturing that one wonders at first just what attraction rock music holds for her. As these twenty-one tales play out, it becomes apparent that she is not so much fascinated by the... Read More

Powered by Garth Brooks’ phenomenal success, country music flourished throughout the early 1990s, reaching a younger audience and selling far more records than ever before. (The famed “Class of ’89” yielded not just Brooks, but... Read More

Musical performers are not generally known for their fascination with intellectual property laws. That’s probably why so many run afoul of them. This listenable guide is a shield to protect performers and songwriters from making the... Read More