| Contents |
Part 1: Back to the beginning. Routes and roots -- The instrumental essentials -- Mississippi and the birth of the Blues -- Bluegrass breaks out -- Talking with a legend: Dr. Ralph Stanley -- The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band completes the circle -- Part 2: Byrds, Burritos, and changing times. David Crosby: a Byrd's timeless flight -- Chris Hillman: the Byrds and beyond -- Richie Furay remembers: seminal member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and Souther-Hillman-and Furay shares his story -- Poco primes country rock -- Timothy B. Schmit: from Poco to the Eagles, still flying high -- The Eagles' one time wingman Don Felder shares his story -- Graham Nash: past but present -- Dwight Yoakam goes back to Bakersfield -- Holly Williams: heir to a legend -- Sam Bush: from bluegrass to nu-grass, and stopping in Nashville in between -- Kinky Friedman: an irascible icon speaks out -- Guy Clark's melancholy musings -- Billy Joe Shaver: a rebel with a cause -- Ray Wylie Hubbard's past perfect -- David Bromberg: sideman as superstar -- Delbert McClinton peruses the past, while contemplating the present -- Part 3: The transition is complete : Americana today. John Oates takes a rural route off the mainstream mile -- Steve Forbert and the art of compromise -- A lot to Lovett -- No baggage for Bela -- Jay Farrar talks about a prodigal Son Volt -- Chris Isaak aims for arcane Americana -- Shawn Colvin: Covers Girl -- The Mavericks: renegade rockers -- The Steep Canyon Rangers: bluegrass boosters on a steady ascent -- The Punch Brothers get punchy -- Yonder Mountain String Band: a testament to Telluride -- Greensky Bluegrass: breaking down barriers -- The Avett Brothers redefine the template -- Amanda Shires emerges on her own -- Donna the Buffalo and the populist stampede -- A Rose by any other name -- Derek Trucks talks multitasking, working with his wife, and lessons learned from the past -- Dave Rawlings: man as machine -- The Dawes pause: looking forward with a nod to the past -- Ruthie keeps it real -- Mekons blur the line between past and present -- Band of Heathens as a band of brothers -- Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band go back to the roots -- Part 4: Americana abroad -- Julian Dawson: despite English origins, he's found his Nashville niche -- The Dreaming Spires share their search for the "Supertruth" -- The Sadies look south -- The Falls: love, life, and life on the road -- Ireland's Arborist details his circumspect -- Jenn Grant channels her mother's inspiration and her own determination -- The Henrys' unlikely exposition -- Appendix. Essential albums that trace the transition. |
| Abstract |
With roots in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans, the Piedmont, Memphis, and the parties of Texas and the American West, the musical genre called American can prove difficult to define. It encompasses a style so broad and yet so special and significant that it is ultimately subject to interpretation. Nevertheless, the burgeoning trend in Americana popular music continues to expand and develop, winning new audiences and engendering fresh, innovative artists at an exponential rate. As the author illustrates, Americana coves a gamut of sounds and styles. In its strictest sense, it is a blanket term for bluegrass, country, mountain music, rockabilly, and the blues. By a broader definition, it can encompass roots rock, country rock, singer/songwriters, R&B, and their various combinations. Bob Dylan, Hanks Williams, Carl Perkins, and Tom Petty can all lay valid claims as purveyors of Americana, but so can Elvis Costello, Solomon Burke, and Jason Isbell. Americana is new and old, classic and contemporary, trendy and traditional. As the author says, it's a sound that reflects its traditions, its dichotomy, the sound of people sharing their hopes, their dreams, their values. Mining the firsthand insights of those whose stories help shape the sound--such as Ralph Stanley, John McEuen (Nitty Griitty Dirt Band), Christ Hillman (Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers), Paul Cotton and Rusty Young (Poco), Shawn Colvin, Kinky Friedman, David Bromberg, The Avett Brothers, Amanda Shires, Ruthier Foster, and many more[this book] provides a history of how Americana originated, how it reached a broader audience in the 60s and 70s with the merging of rock and country, and how it evolved its overwhelmingly populist appeal as it entered the new millennium. Along the way, this book fosters an appreciation for how these sounds continue to shape and influence the vast sphere of popular music, both in the United States and abroad. |
