Chosen by The Wall Street Journal as one of the Top Ten Non-Fiction books of 2011 Chosen by The Boston Globe as one of Top Non-Fiction books of 2011 An NPR Best Music Book of 2011 An Onion AV Club Best Book of 2011 The first history of the network of black juke joints that spawned rock 'n' roll through an unholy alliance between vice and entertainment. A definitive account of the birth of rock 'n' roll in black America, this book establishes the Chitlin' Circuit as a major force in American musical history. Combining terrific firsthand reporting with deep historical research, Preston Lauterbach uncovers characters like Chicago Defender columnist Walter Barnes, who pioneered the circuit in the 1930s, and larger-than-life promoters such as Denver Ferguson, the Indianapolis gambling chieftain who consolidated it in the 1940s. Charging from Memphis to Houston and now-obscure points in between, The Chitlin' Circuit brings us into the sweaty back rooms where such stars as James Brown, B. B. King, and Little Richard got their start. With his unforgettable portraits of unsung heroes including King Kolax, Sax Kari, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Lauterbach writes of a world of clubs and con men that has managed to avoid much examination despite its wealth of brash characters, intriguing plotlines, and vulgar glory, and gives us an excavation of an underground musical America. 34 black-and-white illustrations

A history of hip-hop and R&B places the musical genres against a broader cultural perspective while offering insight into their major artists and contributors, in an accessible tribute by the creators of the popular Rap-Up magazine that also cites infamous rivalries, influential songs, and noteworthy rap films. Original.

Drawn from in-depth research and detailed interviews, an authoritative biography of the father of modern blues details his turbulent life, from the cotton fields of rural Mississippi to his extraordinary rise to success, forever changing the music industry. Reprint. 18,000 first printing. (view table of contents)

Product Description: First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Product Description: Brian Ward is Lecturer in American History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne .; This book is intended for american studies, American history postwar social and cultural history, political history, Black history, Race and Ethnic studies and Cultural studies together with the general trade music...read more

Walk the halls of the famous studio that produced hits for Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Booker T. and the MGs. Provides the first history of the groundbreaking label.

A member of the Rolling Stones and author of Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock and Roll Band embarks on an evocative personal musical odyssey that pays tribute to the musicians who inspired him throughout his career, celebrating the lives and careers of some of the great American blues musicians. (view table of contents)

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Profiles six rhythm and blues pioneers, providing the social and historical context for the lives of such greats as Ruth Brown, Little Jimmy Scott, and Floyd Dixon.

Chronicles the early years of music that became rock 'n' roll, featuring the stories of artists Frankie Lymon, Julia Lee, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins (view table of contents)

Product Description: Mose Allison, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker: these and other rhythm and blues artists created the style, the riffs, and the attitude that rock 'n' rollers just couldn't resist. But what exactly is R&B, and how does it differ from the blues, or from soul? Go back to the roots of this powerfully influential music, and see how it synthesized gospel, blues, and jazz to create a brand-new sound; how stage showmanship became crucial to its success; and how it crossed over from an exclusively black to an integrated audience...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

A soul music great chronicles her career and offers a backstage glimpse of the tensions, passions, triumphs, and tragedies behind the legend of Motown

Product Description: xii, 212p. Wrapper. 22cm.

Product Description: Book by Allan, Tony, Treadwell, Faye

Chronicles the early years of music that became rock 'n' roll, featuring the stories of artists Frankie Lymon, Julia Lee, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins (view table of contents)

Writing deliberately in a nontechnical style so as to make his book accessible to readers who are not professional philosophers, Michael Gelven here offers an extended meditative essay on the nature and meaning of truth. He approaches this subject directly, rather than through a critique of what others have said about it, and takes off from the realization that truth has a wider meaning than that which can be found in the analysis of true sentences, which is the focus of traditional epistemology.Pursuing philosophical inquiry as a voyage of discovery, the book begins with ordinary questions about the worth and meaning of truth. A fundamental distinction is drawn between the "true" (as in a true proposition) and "truth" as essence, that which we confront as the ultimate terminus of our questioning—for example, between the true definition of mother as a female parent and truth as what we understand being a mother to mean, as one who sacrifices her own interests and safety for her child. The analysis then proceeds to examine the four ways in which we confront truth—through affirmation, acceptance, acknowledgment, and submission—and the existential modes of experience in which these confrontations are embodied: pleasure, fate, guilt, and beauty. Each of these four confrontations has consequences for how we understand the world in which we dwell. Thus the book concludes with interpretation of the world as our home, our history, our tribunal, and ultimately that which lures or beckons us to confront ourselves.Plato, Kant, and Heidegger are the primary sources of philosophical inspiration for Gelven, but he eschews textual exegesis and academic debate in favor of engaging the reader as co-explorer in the discovery of what it means for each of us to be in truth. (view table of contents)

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