Offers a fresh, inclusive, at times provocative way of listening to country music--one that champions innovation and tradition even as it challenges many of the genre's prevailing assumptions.

(Guitar Chord Songbook). A compact collection of chords and lyrics for 80 country standards, including: Abilene * Always on My Mind * Amazed * Blue * Blue Bayou * Boot Scootin' Boogie * Breathe * Chains * Could I Have This Dance * Crazy * Elvira * Folsom Prison Blues * Friends in Low Places * He Stopped Loving Her Today * Hey, Good Lookin' * I Feel Lucky * I Hope You Dance * Jambalaya (On the Bayou) * Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys * Okie from Muskogee * Ring of Fire * Rocky Top * Sixteen Tons * You Are My Sunshine * Your Cheatin' Heart * and more.

(Guitar Collection). 30 all-time country favorites arranged for fingerpicking and flatpicking guitar: Always on My Mind * Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain * Born to Lose * Crazy * Folsom Prison Blues * I Walk the Line * If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time) * King of the Road * Mama Tried * Rocky Top * Your Cheatin' Heart * and more. Includes the stories behind these timeless standards.

This four-volume work provides provocative critical analyses of 160 of the best popular music albums of the past 50 years, from the well-known and mainstream to the quirky and offbeat. The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations contains critical analysis essays on 160 significant pop music albums from 1960 to 2010. The selected albums represent the pop, rock, soul, R&B, hip hop, country, and alternative genres, including artists such as 2Pac, Carole King, James Brown, The Beatles, and Willie Nelson. Each volume contains brief sidebars with biographical information about key performers and producers, as well as descriptions of particular music industry topics pertaining to the development of the album over this 50-year period. Due to its examination of a broad time frame and wide range of musical styles, and its depth of analysis that goes beyond that in other books about essential albums of the past and present, this collection will appeal strongly to music fans of all tastes and interests.

(Fake Book). The latest edition of this fake book is truly the Best Ever! It contains more than 1,000 huge hits, and icludes the melody lines, lyrics and chords for: Against All Odds * Amazed * At the Hop * Autumn Leaves * The Birth of the Blues * Bohemian Rhapsody * Cabaret * California Girls * Candle in the Wind * Centerfold * Chariots of Fire * Colors of the Wind * Crazy * Dust in the Wind * Earth Angel * Eleanor Rigby * Fever * Fire and Rain * From a Distance * Hello, Dolly! * Hey Jude * I Am Woman * Imagine * Joy to the World * Kansas City * The Keeper of the Stars * La Bamba * Lady in Red * Linus and Lucy * Longer * Me and Bobby McGee * Mickey Mouse March * Misty * More * More Than Words * Oye Como Va * Peggy Sue * The Rainbow Connection * Respect * Route 66 * Shout * Spanish Eyes * Stormy Weather * Take Five * Thriller * Time in a Bottle * Unchained Melody * Wave * The Way We Were * Y.M.C.A. * You've Got a Friend * and hundreds more!

At the end of WWII, themes in music shifted from soldiers' experiences at war to coming home, marrying their sweethearts, and returning to civilian life. The music itself also shifted, with crooners such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra replacing the Big Bands of years past. Country music, jazz, and gospel continued to evolve, and rhythm and blues and the new rock and roll were also popular during this time. Music is not created without being influenced by the political events and societal changes of its time, and the Music of the Postwar Era is no exception. *includes combined musical charts for the years 1945-1959 *approximately 20 black and white images of the singers and musicians who represent the era's music

A well-known radio personality surveys popular-music history from 1955 to 1976, calling attention to leading artists and their greatest hits and including annual charts of the top fifty songs.