(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook). In 2003, Country Music Television compiled a panel of experts to discuss, debate and then finally rank the 100 greatest country songs of all time. The list was presented in a six-hour special that ran on the cable network in conjunction with a concert featuring some of country music's brightest stars performing the top 12 songs. This folio presents all 100 songs, arranged for piano/vocal/guitar, in what could be the greatest country collection ever! Songs include: Amarillo by Morning (#12) * Behind Closed Doors (#9) * Blue Moon of Kentucky (#11) * Coal Miner's Daughter (#13) * Crazy (#3) * The Dance (#14) * Forever and Ever, Amen (#15) * Friends in Low Places (#6) * Galveston (#8) * He Stopped Loving Her Today (#2) * Hello Darlin' (#17) * I Fall to Pieces (#7) * I Will Always Love You (#16) * Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys (#10) * Ring of Fire (#4) * Stand by Your Man (#1) * Take Me Home, Country Roads (#16) * Your Cheatin' Heart (#5) * and many more of all your all-time favorites. Includes an interesting history of country music by Chet Flippo, Editorial Director of CMT and CMT.com, and former Nashville bureau chief for Billboard .

From John Philip Sousa to Green Day, from Scott Joplin to Kanye West, from Stephen Foster to Coldplay, The Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volumes 1 and 2 covers the vast scope of its subject with virtually unprecedented breadth and depth. Approximately 1,000 key song recordings from 1889 to the present are explored in full, unveiling the stories behind the songs, the recordings, the performers, and the songwriters. Beginning the journey in the era of Victorian parlor balladry, brass bands, and ragtime with the advent of the record industry, readers witness the birth of the blues and the dawn of jazz in the 1910s and the emergence of country music on record and the shift from acoustic to electrical recording in the 1920s. The odyssey continues through the Swing Era of the 1930s; rhythm & blues, bluegrass, and bebop in the 1940s; the rock & roll revolution of the 1950s; modern soul, the British invasion, and the folk-rock movement of the 1960s; and finally into the modern era through the musical streams of disco, punk, grunge, hip-hop, and contemporary dance-pop. Sullivan, however, also takes critical detours by extending the coverage to genres neglected in pop music histories, from ethnic and world music, the gospel recording of both black and white artists, and lesser-known traditional folk tunes that reach back hundreds of years. This book is ideal for anyone who truly loves popular music in all of its glorious variety, and anyone wishing to learn more about the roots of virtually all the music we hear today. Popular music fans, as well as scholars of recording history and technology and students of the intersections between music and cultural history will all find this book to be informative and interesting.

This one-of-a-kind reference investigates the music and the musicians that set the popular trends of the last half century in America. Many rock fans have, at one time or another, ranked their favorite artists in order of talent, charisma, and musical influence on the world as they see it. In this same spirit, author and music historian David V. Moskowitz expands on the concept of "top ten" lists to provide a lineup of the best 100 musical groups from the past 60 years. Since the chosen bands are based on the author's personal taste, this two-volume set provokes discussion of which performers are included and why, offering insights into the surprising influences behind them. From the Everly Brothers, to the Ramones, to Public Enemy, the work covers a wide variety of styles and genres, clearly illustrating the connections between them. Entries focus on the group's history, touring, membership, major releases, selected discography, bibliography, and influence. Contributions from leading scholars in popular music shed light on derivative artists and underscore the overall impact of the performers on the music industry.

This is a complete revision of the author's 1993 McFarland book Television Specials that not only updates entries contained within that edition, but adds numerous programs not previously covered, including beauty pageants, parades, awards programs, Broadway and opera adaptations, musicals produced especially for television, holiday specials (e.g., Christmas and New Year's Eve), the early 1936-1947 experimental specials, honors specials. In short, this is a reference work to 5,336 programs--the most complete source for television specials ever published.

A guide to music provides recommendations on one thousand recordings that represent the best in such genres as classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, and opera, with listening notes, commentary, and anecdotes about performers.