2 comments about Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People.

1. I first starting using this book when I thought I was going to be a folklorist, about 30 years ago. I've been through 2 hardback copies and will probably have to buy the new paperback version. The most striking thing about Hard Hitting Songs..., is that it strips away all the glamor of the Folk Scare days to reveal the essence of these songs and the people who wrote and sang them. The stark black and white photography accompanying the songs is as evocative as the music. The simple presentation of the melody lines with chord symbols boils each song down to its essentials. A few lines of background on each song place it in historical, political and cultural context. And, many of them are pure politics.

   These are the real songs of the people. True, some of them were written by professionals. Some are mere parodies of popular songs of the day. But all of them rise out of the lives of those who often had to make their own music if they were to have any at all.

   The only dispiriting thing about this collection is that too many of the songs remain meaningful to too many modern Americans. On the other hand, it reminds us that even in this New Guilded Age, we have an economic history of which we should be mindful.

   Pete Seeger used this book as his lecture notes when he appeared in 1971 at Cornell University's Willard Straight Hall for a lecture on "The Role of Music in the Labor Movement." It was more of a concert, really, but as always, he delivered the goods by bringing the text and music of the book to life.

   Buy the book




2. This book is, among other things, a "lost writing" of Woody Guthrie's. Woody wrote not one but two "Forewords" and multi-paragraph introductions for nearly all the songs included, and for each of the several subject headings. Alan Lomax gathered together the songs, with help and guidance from his collaborators; Pete Seeger transcribed their melodies & simple guitar tablature ("G," "C7," etc.), and anyone with an elementary musical education can learn to sing and strum these songs from the text. Oh, and Woody wrote a lot of the songs, too - "Union Maid," "66 Highway Blues," and many others.

   These are all topical songs - "protest" songs, labor-organizing songs, contemporary ballads - and many are guaranteed to rile Establishment partisans even today - for instance, "I Hate The Capitalist System" by Sara Ogan Gunning. There are songs by Kokomo Arnold, Big Bill Broonzy, Joe Hill, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Washboard Sam, Sonny Boy Williamson the First... and there are new Afterwords by Lomax and Seeger, plus great Depression-era photographs on every other page. This is an entertaining and valuable text, whether you plan to sing out or just read it in solitude.

No comments about Prophet Singer: The Voice and Vision of Woody Guthrie (American Made Music).

3 comments about Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music (Cultural Studies of the United States).

1. Most books about popular music fall into one of two categories. You have your pretentious rock n' roll critic who writes in impenetrable and cryptic prose (Hello Anthony DeCurtis and Robert Christgau) or you have purely academic writings that miss the heart of what is often music felt at a gut level. Then along comes Benjamin Filene. Filene offers up a brilliant discussion of the ways in which folk music became a part of our American consciousness. Profiling the careers of such artists as Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, "Romancing the Folk" presents an extremely lively, readable and well thought out discussion of the way folk music was presented to the American public and ultimately accepted as a valid art form in its own right. In doing so, Filene breaks from the stale world of traditional popular music writing and gives you a fine read while you listen to "Blood on the Tracks," "Goodnight Irene," "Hoochie Coochie Man" or "Talking Union."



2. This is a historically thorough yet immensely enjoyable work. Filene's take on "roots music" is refreshing--honest and free of gushing hyperbole; just cynical enough without ever becoming acerbic.

   The stories Filene chooses to tell are illuminating and often funny--Leonard Chess faking his way through Blues hitmaking; Leadbelly being marketed as a country bumpkin in overalls when he preferred to wear suits.

   There are so many more stories to be told, though--musicians to discuss, angles of the folk boom to expand, that I wish Filene would write more--perhaps another volume.




3. Benjamin Filene's account of the origins of the category of "American roots music" is inexorably aimed at peeling away discursive layers within that very term itself to reveal the historical continuities and disjunctures at the heart of it. As Filene puts it: "What makes the formation of America's folk canon so fascinating, though, is that just as isolated cultures became harder to define and locate in industrialized America. the notions of musical purity and primitivism took on enhanced value, even in avowedly commercial music. Twentieth-century Americans have been consistently searching for the latest incarnation of 'old-time' and 'authentic' music." And Filene shows deftly how these categories are heavily inflected with racial and class issues.
   
   But Filene's work begins much earlier, with the early 19th century effort in the US and later in the UK to collect and collate British folk song texts and sometimes the tunes that went this them. He demonstrates that this effort was thoroughly infused with romanticism--an attempt to record and preserve a "better" culture before capitalism, greed, irreligion and science came along. This grew from the German philosophical fascination with the 'Kultur des Volkes,' and into an impulse to forge a British national culture based on the English peasantry---even sometimes as found in the American Appalachian population (!)---and of course, an undertone, made explicit here and there--of racial purity.
   
   This is especially significant in that popular interest in anything like folk song appears to have begun for African-American forms before Anglo ones--but was apparently stopped by the mythic valorization of whites as true folk. It seems that Anglo songs edged out other types as the basis of this new mythic canon that was forming, even as the Fisk singers and blackface minstrelsy became more popular in the 1870's. In fact, Filene argues convincingly that the way in which Black folk songs (spirituals) were collated preserved an idea of Black passivity and the exotic gaze in whites. Of course blackface minstrel performances reinforced this. The only other challenge was Lomax's collection of cowboy ballads, which he unsuccessfully tried to peg to the spirit of English rural culture. In the 1920's attempts at using a more racially and geographically inclusive cultural building with rural songs, white, black, and latino, were undertaken by poet Carl Sandburg.
   
   Most of the book deals with the legacy of the cult of authenticity created and shaped by the Lomaxes from their field recordings and artist promotion. Their zeal for collecting and promoting their ideas of "true folk singers" cannot be underestimated, and in doing so, they shifted the canon away from whiteness, or so it seemed. Filene's account of The Lomaxes and Lead Belly perhaps best demonstrates the role of exoticism in producing authentic "American"ness at that particular time. The tours undertaken by the Lomaxes emphasize Lead Belly's virtuosity and expansive knowledge, but simultaneously construct him as a primitive, exotic "Heart of Darkness" figure that lay at the core of authentic American folk-song, and by extension lay at the periphery of contemporary, decadent, urban white Modernist America. When they started to get not only recording techonology, but official government and Library of Congress support, that added an entire new dimension of national culture building, as well as "documentary"-style authoritativeness to their work--as they literally began constructing a usable musical past for the United States.
   
   In fact, Filene's analysis fits perfectly with Jacques Attali's theories on music, insofar as Lead Belly's music could be said to be a constructed and promoted by Lomax as a sublimated form of `animal nature' (ancestor) and racialized `primitive violence' (demon), exhibited in spectacle for the consumption of middle-brow and high-brow white audiences. Filene connects this racialized legacy of "authenticity" with the commonly found ideology that "roots" musicians even today are expected to be overly emotive, premodern, and non-commercial. In other words, they must perform "Otherness" for their predominantly white, bourgeois audiences in order to be authentic. To be fair, this impulse waxed strong in 1930's American. James Agee and Walker Evans. Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath," a number of popular magazines--, all played into this impulse. To be popular though, you couldn't be too successful, or you might compromise your authenticity. Sound familiar? The paradox of Roots music and Leftist politics, in the 1930's, both together in the Popular Front.
   
   Moreover, it is perhaps speculative, but nonetheless provocative, to note that Lead Belly's popularity took place in the wane of the Harlem Renaissance (and into the 1940's), and quite possibly signaled for white consumption a sign of (or the `return' of) a more racialized `authentic n*ggerness' inscribed in black bodies, in contrast to the earlier "New Negro" and the later post-WWII racial agitators. For future artists, like Muddy Waters, the legacy of transformation took more commercial, but similar sets of turns. As Waters grew in popularity, his music shifted from Mississippi delta through country inflection--from acoustic to electric, in an attempt to adopt to urban styles...and then pressure to go back again to his more "primitive" beginnings for sales purposes. From the influence of Lomax to the commercial propagation of Leonard Chess and Willie Dixon, Filene follows Waters through his career to see the larger effect of "roots" discourse upon him and perceptions of him. We get an especially big eyeful when Filene takes extra time out to analyze Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", just one of many popular songs invoking pagan, magical, feral and occult tropes to signify both danger and desire for the listening subject. Waters influence on the Rolling Stones and The Beatles is noted, and we begin to see how folk constructions of authenticity gain a larger influence in Rock and Roll, even as black artists in that genre fail to catch fire with white youth as strongly as later white rock musicians did--or as even strongly as white folk artists like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger.
   
   Later parts of the work demonstrate the emergence of folk institutionalism in Washington, from the Federal Writers Project, the Resettlement Administration, and the Library of Congress all contributing to this effort within the framework of New Deal politics, and the growing idea that folklore always has a functional element to play in a given society. Rather then "vestigial," folklore becomes "germinal." The search for musical folklore takes these institutions to the city for perhaps the first time in "roots" discourse. And also to war, as government agencies came under increasing pressure to turn all aspects of policy towards the effort in WWII. At the same time, a push to professionalize folklore in academia gained ground as well--graduate programs in folklore were established, thus created a contentious political history for every field of culture impacted by contemporary folklore studies, no less than in American Studies. Richard M. Dorson, an early Americanist, was also an early "Folklore" specialist, and worked tirelessly to construct methodologies for subsequent use. Lomax, too, became an academic--an early methodologist in 1960's ethnomusicology. And with the establishment of Folklore in the Academy of Letters, the annual Folk Festival is born, largely again, through the aegis of the Smithsonian---yet another example of government sponsorship and cultivation of Kulturvolk as national basis, continuing to the present day. The modern day so-called "folk revival" is born as well through the efforts of Pete Seeger, who carried on the functionalist tradition of the Lomaxes in his efforts. Folk cultures have literally become American cultures--in the sense that they may even suck all the air out of that category, leaving little for other than these constructed myths.
   
   
   I appreciate the way that Filene goes about his project, using a combination of comparative visual analysis of photographs, and album covers, as well as musical and lyrical analysis. His willingness to take into account close readings of song collections (like 'American Ballads', 'Our Singing Country', and 'American Songbag'), and productions of early government/corporate partnerships in radio programming (such as "We Hold These Truths") speak to the power of his interdisciplinary method. And in uncovering more than just two periods of attention to folk music (the 1930s and the 1960s) he demonstrates a longer, more resilient undercurrent of American modernity and its self-renewal.

2 comments about Early Dylan, Photographs and Introductions by Barry Feinstein, Daniel Kramer and Jim Marshall.

1. A great book freaturing many great photos of Dylan during his first "prime". The photographs by Marshall and Kramer have been in print since the dawn of time, a big disappionment from those two photographers. Barry Fienstein was along for most of the 5/66 tour and his pictures are mostly brand new and very very exiting. I was a little disappionted by the lack of preformance pictures included, but that's a minor gripe. Overall an essential picture book for any Dylan fan, new or old.

   Note: Barry Feinstein's pictures graced the booklet that went with the CD "Bob Dylan, Live 1966". He could have easily made a much, much more exiting book if all the "standard" pictures from Kramer and Marshall were replaced by more of Feinstein's unseen amazing photographs.




2. I agree with the other reviewer about this book. I've seen most of the work by Marshall & Kramer. Not to take away from them but the work by Feinstein was primarally new to me(except for the Live 66 photography) and i only wish there was more of his work. All and all, though, a great book of photographs of a true artist.

1 comments about Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop (Music of the African Diaspora).

1. Race Music is a wonderful example of music scholarship. Ramsey's work provides a rigourous, fresh, and inciteful look into African American Music. Unlike many music scholars who unsuccessfully negotiate the academic and popualar terrains simultaneously, Ramsey presents an unflinchingly academic book in a way that allows the lay public access into his wonderful world of idas. A must read!!!!

1 comments about Best of Woody Guthrie (Strum It (Guitar)).

1. Please do not buy from merchants who do not list the complete table of contents of songbooks. This only encourages them to do a sloppy job of marketing. If I went to a music store I could see the entire table of contents. Why shouldn't I expect that here?

No comments about Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California (American Crossroads).

2 comments about Woody Guthrie Songbook.

1. Guthrie wrote songs of people and for people, which I want from the present-day songs.



2. This is a decent songbook with some great Guthrie titles. It has a handsome cover and includes a biography and some other extras, at a very reasonalbe price. However, BUYER BE WARNED - "The Dying Miner" is listed as one of the titles in this book - It is also listed in the table of contents of the book itself, with a page number that it is supposed to be on. IT DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE BOOK AT ALL!!! I couldn't believe it... not only did the writers/producer miss such a huge mistake, but obviously so did Hal Leonard, the distributor. Some of the other titles in the table of contents have incorrect page numbers as well. Rarely do you see such a big mistake in a Hal Leonard distributed book. What really irked me was I purchased this book mainly based on the fact that Dying Miner was one of the songs that was supposed to be in it; so I was quite upset when I received it - you can imagine my frustration when I went through the whole book over and over again in disbelief and disappointment.
   [...]So, with the exception of that pretty huge error, the book is great. As long as the absence of Dying Miner doesn't bother you (and you can go to the above link to get it), I reccommend this title.

5 comments about Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.

1. I loved Steve Goodman and his music. He seemed to me to be modest, low-key, kind, and generous. I'm not sure his memory is best served with the near deification Eals attempts in this book. In-depth interviews with elementary school acquaintances, a line--by-line account on one of Steve's concerts, and endless conjecture about what Steve might have been thinking or feeling at any given time are not the makings of a good biography. After about three chapters, the author's obvious hero-worship and obsessive fascination with details began to seem quite creepy. Steve Goodman had a life; it was too short, but full and rich. Maybe the author should consider getting one as well.



2. I saw him at Cafe Lena and in concert with Bonnie Raitt. Loved him and now loved the story of his life.



3. If you love Steve Goodman or any of the great singer songwriters of the 60's and 70's including Goodman's close friend, John Prine, then you have to have this book!. Exhaustive history not only of Steve but of the times with many anecdotes, stories, and characters. Good times. Sure miss them.



4. Steve's music was great, but unfortunately he'll more than likely only be remembered for "City of New Orleans". The book is good, but it was on the overkill side. Outside of his immediate family and close friends, I'm not too sure that the rest of us are much interested in his day-to-day activities. I can think of a lot of great talent who never got a large-format, small type, 700 page book so in that light, Steve's family has something to be proud of. All in all a great book, but very time consuming to read.



5. Everything you wanted to know about Steve Goodman and then some. The author really did his homework....over 700 pages detailing Steve's life. Peoples' recollections of events 40 years ago seem like they happened yesterday. I guess that was the effect Steve had on people. A talented musician and song writer and even a better human being. It was fun reading about his interactions with the famous musicians/entertainers of the time: John Prine, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Arlo, Dylan, Kristofferson, Carly Simon, the Chapin brothers, Pete Seeger, Bob Seger, Steve Martin, Tom Rush, Johnny Cash, et al. He packed a lifetime into those 36 years. You left us to soon Steve.
   Well done, Clay Eals!

5 comments about Creative Guitar 2: Advanced Techniques.

1. Extensive picking exercises really get your fingers doing the stuff that's tough to do. Lot's of insight from the master. Really a large number of variations on each topic so there is bound to be something that will highlight a weakness of yours. Then it's up to you to spend the time practicing them. The CD is great for improving over as well. A steal when you consider what lessons covering this material would cost.



2. Tear their faces off with blazing virtuousity is what you'll do when you master the techniques in this book! I have quite a few other technique books by Troy Stetina, Satriani, and Musicians Institute I believe. They are alright and have some decent and some useful information in them but have not made the impact on my guitar playing I was hoping.
   
   Particularly useful in this book is that exercises and ideas are written in both standard notation and tablature. Sometimes its easier to see patterns in standard notation than it is in tab form; notation also helps a lot in learning the fretboard. I was worried this book would skimp on the technical side of playing and be geared more to standard scale exercises like other books I own. This is not the case. Two handed tapping, eight finger tapping even, legato picking, strange sequences similiar to those found on Vai's Passion and Warfare album, odd rhythm grouping patterns, double stops, and even how to make your guitar sound like a Hammond organ and other intruments are included.
   
   This is a fantastic book geared to highly technical guitar playing. References to other great guitar albums are also sprinkled throughout to expand your listening library. I would highly recommend this book to anyone serious about mastering the guitar and wish I had it years ago myself. I've been playing for almost 15 years now.



3. This guitar book is great for people who kind of know a good amount about the guitar. It has many helpful tips and it contains a lot of good examples to practice.



4. I have been a great fan of Guthrie Govan (the author of this book) since I read his articles in the pages of Guitar Techniques magazine (also a great resource):)
   I really liked the way the author summarized and verbalized the techniques that are involved in playing. For me, it was a great way to explain how each technique should look like and feel like which for this part, I believe is the sign of a good teaching technique.
   This book is great for people who have played for a while and think are pretty familiar with the majority of concepts the instrument has to offer and Guthrie here throws a monkey wrench into the system. As guitarists we realize that the comibations and scale patterns are virtually endless but he offers combinations and ideas that sound melodious and musical.
   I particularly liked the sections on picking (a great simple explanation of a big topic), the immitation of other instruments on the guitar (now I don't need that mandolin) and the two handed techniques deserve hours and hours of expirementation.
   If you have been playing for several years and if you feel like you in a bit of a rut this one is for you.



5. Hi,
   I'm happy with the book, fast shipping to my home.
   
   First, 2 pages about how to hold your pick in your hands. Than: work on scale exercises!
   
   It's well written, but it's still up to you: lots of practice!
   Some things are less explained, but it's for the advanced player, you have to know already some basics about what scales are, how they are formed. In fact you don't need it, but it's nice to know it beforehand.
   But maybe there are things explained in Creative Guitar 1 (wich i don't have), but you can follow without that book if you already can play.
   
   I'm still at the first chapter and playing slowly, but I'm looking forward to work it out. Finally good exercises for stretching fingers and playing scales. I'm looking forward for the sweep picking and tapping exercises.