Product Description
Discover the surprising beginnings and humble origins of the charismatic pioneers who helped shape the country-and-western scene into the influential musical empire it is today.

Included among this collection of legends are Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and more unforgettable people who changed the face of music forever! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

American originals
I was a fan of Warren and Levine's first collaboration, Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Founders of Rock & Roll so I was ever so pleased to see them take up this music. Holly George Warren certainly has the bona fides to write about the subject.

A book like this reminds me of how much fun a school librarian can have with lesson plans. I can imagine using this to teach "Biography" and sharing these musicians' music along with their stories. Kids today sing "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" but have they ever heard of Gene Autry? Shouldn't they experience the musical virtuosity of Bill Monroe?

Warren has a one page biography on each artist with important dates and milestones from their life and career. She begins the book, appropriately, at the beginning, with a profile on the Carter family.

Laura Levine has painted a full page portrait of each musician with their name worked into the art work. Each member of the Carter family is designated along with "The First Family of Country Music." Bill Monroe is titled "The Father of Bluegrass" and Loretta Lynn's "The Coal Miner's Daughter" appears in the smoke plume coming from a small cabin. Each painting is featured in a period frame so you feel as if you are looking at a grouping of family pictures.

All the greats are included: Patsy Cline, Roy Acuff, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubbs, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Tammy Wynette and more.

I think it would be so much fun during Rodeo time here in the Lone Star State, to turn on some Western (we call it Texas) Swing and share the story of Bob Wills.

From rags to rhinestones
I realize there's been some stink about publishers adding extra bells and whistles like CDs, but this book could surely have used it. Some of these quirky country folk just beg to be heard.

In this collection of 14 all-too-brief bios of Country and Western crooners, we meet the pluckers, twangers, pickers, warblers and yodelers who wove not one but several uniquely American sounds out of strands of gospel, folk music and even hobo ballads. They were roustabouts and hucksters, floosies and boozers who managed to turn their hard luck into hard-driving tunes -- if it didn't kill them first.

There's the familiar Man in Black -- Johnny Cash -- whose "Boy Named Sue" was written by Shel Silverstein, or "Blue Yodeler" Jimmie Rodgers and others who swapped out monikers and band names as often as they changed 10-gallon hats. There's the tragic Hank Williams, who died at age 30, and the campy Buck Owens of "Hee Haw" fame, as well as such household names as Loretta Lynn and Gene Autry.

Now, don't you wish you could hear at least a few samples? The closest I have is the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou? with its covers of the Carter Family's "Keep on the Sunny Side" and Rodgers "In the Jailhouse Now," among others.

Not only don't we get to hear them, but the prose is too encyclopedia-sounding, too bare bones official when what we want is more juicy stuff. We get teased with a line here or there about this one's tempestuous marriage or that one's fatal TB, and way too many mentions of back-up bands that broke up and bit players who left or faded into obscurity.

Even so, how could you not love these rags-to-rhinestones tales of true American originals. The self-taught Levine paints in that faux folksy or nouveau naive style I sometimes rail about, but it works fine here, amusingly paired with antique wooden frames. The flat, exaggerated figures and eye-scorching colors may seem childlike, but they slyly capture the wry self-deprecation and anti-snob appeal of folks who named the Grand Ole Opry as a tweak to us cultchah'd types.

An absolute shame I can't sample their talents. And I'm not even a country fan.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A fine reference book
This sizable book (900+ pages) is not the most up to date production in town (no biography of Garth Brooks here), but if you want a book that gives the history of many famous & not so famous country musicians, then I recommend this.

I can't open it to read about one artists without spending an hour in the book as I get absorbed reading about someone I've never heard of or forgot about.

The biographies are complete. Maybe the discographies are a little bit sketchy & in some cases incomplete or even incorrect, but it is my experience of such reference works that they all miss something out or get something wrong.

I'd certainly recommend this for someone who does want a little (a lot!) more than just what is on country radio at present.

Old-fashioned, but good guide to hick music
A massive book which has in many ways been superceded by other, later works.It's a bit bulky, with a layoutwhich is a bit flat.Still, it includes entries on some artists which other guides may omit; the discographies are a bit suspect, though, particularly when it comes to little things like getting the titles right.You could opt for the newer, sexier country guides, but this one still has something to offer, particularly the longer, more narrative biographical entries. ... Read more

Product Description
The Ray Charles performing genius has traveled in many directions-rhythm and blues, jazz, pop-and another facet is added to his repertoire as Ray explores Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music. INCLUDES: Bye, Bye Love; You Don't Know Me; Half As Much; I Love You So Much It Hurts; Just a Little Lovin'; Born to Lose; Worried Mind; It Makes No Difference Now; You Win Again; Careless Love; I Can't Stop Loving You; Hey, Good Lookin'. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

ONE OF HIS BEST
The heart and soul in this album brings tears to your eyes. "I can't stop loving you", "You don't love me"..both breaks your heart.
Ray Charles' voice is not what you would typically think of as "country". But he brings these songs alive! You listen mesmerized and wish you were there with him to testify to his greatness.
If ever you think you have the greatest Ray Charles in your collection.....think again. This is it! ... Read more

Product Description
Presents biographies of western performers in the field of country music: Harry McClintock, Goebel Reeves, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Bob Wills, Patsy Montana, Hank Thompson, and Judy Lynn. ... Read more

Product Description
Commentary (music and lyrics not included).Chapters: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Memories, Toto Iv, Ella Sings Broadway, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two, Anne Murray / Glen Campbell, Ella Swings Lightly, Art Pepper + Eleven - Modern Jazz Classics, the Last Time I Saw Her, Summer Breeze, Whisper Not, Houston, Softly, as I Leave You, Oh Happy Day, Bass Hit!, Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dektette - Reunion, Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dektette - in Concert Tokyo, Gershwin Live!, as Long as She Needs Me, Anita Sings the Winners, Songs of the Beatles, Stones, the Wham of Sam!, Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings the Complete 'dr. Dolittle', Rosemary Clooney Sings Country Hits From the Heart, Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings Mel Tormé's "California Suite". Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 105. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles, released in April 1962 on ABC-Paramount Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in early to mid-February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Production was handled entirely by Charles and renown conductor Sid Feller. A departure from Charles's previous work, the album features country, folk, and Western music standards covered and redone by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz. As his fifth LP release for ABC-Paramount, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music became a rapid critical and commercial success as it brought Ray Charles further mainstream notice, following his tenure for Atlantic Records. With the help of the album's four charting singles, Charles earned recognition in the pop market, as well as airplay on both R&B and coun...http://booksllc.net/?id=1497461 ... Read more

Product Description
Commentary (music and lyrics not included).Chapters: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Ray Charles Discography, Genius Loves Company, Ray Charles in Concert, the Genius Sings the Blues, the Genius of Ray Charles, the Genius Hits the Road, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two, Ray Charles and Betty Carter, Yes Indeed!, the Birth of Soul, Ray Sings, Basie Swings, Ray Charles Anthology, the Best of Ray Charles, a Man and His Soul, the Great Ray Charles, Live in Concert, What'd I Say, Soul Brothers, Soul Meeting, Ray Charles in Person, Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul, Ray Charles at Newport, Sweet & Sour Tears, Genius + Soul = Jazz, the Genius After Hours, Dedicated to You, Have a Smile With Me, Ray Charles (Or, Hallelujah I Love Her So), Genius & Friends, Together Again, Ray Charles Greatest Hits, Do the Twist! With Ray Charles, True to Life, Strong Love Affair. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 146. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles, released in April 1962 on ABC-Paramount Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in early to mid-February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Production was handled entirely by Charles and renown conductor Sid Feller. A departure from Charles's previous work, the album features country, folk, and Western music standards covered and redone by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz. As his fifth LP release for ABC-Paramount, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music became a rapid critical and commercial success as it brought Ray Charles further mainstream notice, following his tenure for Atlantic Records. With the help of...http://booksllc.net/?id=1497461 ... Read more

Product Description
First Edition 256 pages with text ... Read more