Folk Music: TheBasics gives a brief introduction to British and American folk music. It is an excellent introduction to the players, the music, and the styles that make folk music an enduring and well-loved musical style.

Folk Music: The Basics gives a brief introduction to British and American folk music. Drawing upon the most recent and relevant scholarship, it will focus on comparing and contrasting the historical nature of the three aspects of understanding folk music: traditional, local performers; professional collectors; and the advent of professional performers in the twentieth century during the so-called "folk revival." The two sides of the folk tradition will be examined--both as popular and commercial expressions. Folk Music: The Basics serves as an excellent introduction to the players, the music, and the styles that make folk music an enduring and well-loved musical style. Throughout, sidebars offer studies of key folk performers, record labels, and related issues to place the general discussion in context.

This book presents a history of folk music festivals in the United States, beginning in the 19th century and ending in the early 21st century. The focus is on the proliferation and diversity of festivals in the 20th century.

Focusing on American folk music and roots music since the 1950s, The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance analyzes the intrinsic contradictions of a commercialized folk culture. In recent years, both Rounder Records and the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance have sought to make folk music widely available, while simultaneously respecting its defining traditions and unique community atmosphere. Tracing the histories of these organizations, Michael F. Scully explores the lively debates about the difficulty of making commercially accessible music, honoring tradition, and remaining artistically relevant, all without "selling out." He combines rich interviews of music executives and practicing folk musicians with valuable personal experience to reveal how this American subculture remains in a "never-ending revival" based on fluid definitions of folk and folk music.

For music lovers who've always wanted to play guitar but have been put off by traditional guitar methods, these books get you playing right away without having to pick through heavy theory and music-reading lessons first. Every book in the For Beginners series progresses from the very basics of buying your first instrument through the fundamentals of playing your favorite style of music. 48 pages each with enhanced CD.

Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice contains the basics of music theory with the vocabulary used in harmonic and formal analysis. The book assumes few music reading skills, and progresses to include the basic materials of music from J. S. Bach to the twentieth century. Based on Blatter’s own three decades of teaching music theory, this book is aimed at a one or two year introductory course in music theory, can serve for individual study, or as a review for graduate students returning to school. Drawing examples from well-known classical works, as well as folk and popular music, the book shows how theory is applied to practice. The book is divided into five parts. The first part introduces music notation, reviewing the basics of pitch, time, and dynamics as represented in written music. Part 2 introduces the concept of melody, covering modes, scales, scale degrees, and melodic form. Part 3 introduces harmony, dealing with harmonic progression, rhythm, and chord types. Part 4 addresses part writing and harmonic analysis. Finally, Part 5 addresses musical form, and how form is used to structure a composition. Revisiting Music Theory will be a valuable textbook for students, professors, and professionals.

Many American folk singers have tried to leave their world a better place by writing songs of social protest. Musicians like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez sang with fierce moral voices to transform what they saw as an uncaring society. But the personal tales of these guitar-toting idealists were often more tangled than the comparatively pure vision their art would suggest. Many singers produced work in the midst of personal failure and deeply troubled relationships, and under the influence of radical ideas and organizations. This provocative work examines both the long tradition of folk music in its American political context and the lives of those troubadours who wrote its most enduring songs.