Inside the Texas State Prison is a surprising story of ingenuity, optimism and musical creativity. During the mid-twentieth century, inmates at the Huntsville unit and neighboring Goree State Farm for Women captured hearts all over Texas during weekly radio broadcasts and live stage performances. WBAP's Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls took listeners inside the penitentiary to hear not only the prisoners? songs but also the stories of those who sang them. Captivating and charismatic, banjo player Reable Childs received thousands of fan letters with the Goree All-Girl String Band during World War II. Hattie Ellis, a young black inmate with a voice that rivaled Billie Holiday's, was immortalized by notable folklorist John Avery Lomax. Cowboys, songsters and champion fiddlers all played a part in one of the most unique prison histories in the nation. Caroline Gnagy presents the decades-long story of the Texas convict bands, informed by prison records, radio show transcripts and the words and music of the inmates themselves.

Inside the Texas State Prison is a surprising story of ingenuity, optimism and musical creativity. During the mid-twentieth century, inmates at the Huntsville unit and neighboring Goree State Farm for Women captured hearts all over Texas during weekly radio broadcasts and live stage performances. WBAP's Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls took listeners inside the penitentiary to hear not only the prisoners? songs but also the stories of those who sang them. Captivating and charismatic, banjo player Reable Childs received thousands of fan letters with the Goree All-Girl String Band during World War II. Hattie Ellis, a young black inmate with a voice that rivaled Billie Holiday's, was immortalized by notable folklorist John Avery Lomax. Cowboys, songsters and champion fiddlers all played a part in one of the most unique prison histories in the nation. Caroline Gnagy presents the decades-long story of the Texas convict bands, informed by prison records, radio show transcripts and the words and music of the inmates themselves.

This Illustrated Limited Edition hardback book provides an insight into the unique journey of one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century Elvis Presley Follow the authoritative text charting the career of the man they call the King of Rock and Roll . We follow Presley from his carefree beginnings at Sun records to global ......

Bill Bay asked me to write a follow up book to my last book, "The Bluegrass Pickers Tune Book (20233). If you like Bluegrass music (232 songs) I'd recommend getting that book to add to your collection. the focus of this book, the Acoustic Source Book is on roots and old-time music. the book is focused on the time period from late 1800's until 1940's. There are a few songs from the Bluegrass Book that were too important to be left out. I decided not to use any patriotic and Christmas songs and came up with a list of about 400 songs which eventually was cut down to over 200. During the late 1800's and early 1900's there was an important evolution in American music; the birth of jazz, ragtime, and blues. This was also the period of the phonograph and early commercial recordings. Music from the Minstrel period as well as traditional songs were used as staple for the roots musicians. In the early 1900's there were rags, blues, gospel, Tin-Pan Alley, jug band, spiritual, old-time country and popular songs. I've tried to include some of the well-known songs from every genre to give you a big slice of Americana. There are some great songs that are popular roots, bluegrass and old-time songs today that have never been published. There are also great songs that are not well known that should be played and enjoyed.Richard Matteson with Kara Pleasants Wildwood Flower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO9Xde2bdwA Paul & Silas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv5Tmaff9HQ Meet Me By the Moonlight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gwzCZfnG64 Scarborough Fair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbxMlz_DlI Water is Wide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-hZkxWs8gs Richard Matteson with Jessica KasterBarbara Allen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX6PE80W4Pw In the Pines http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtOL9Id5TW4 Hop Along Peter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kAzSQ__rU Ain't Gonna Lay my Armor Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsBYRuT2_FU

Country music boasts a long tradition of rich, contradictory gender dynamics, creating a world where Kitty Wells could play the demure housewife and the honky-tonk angel simultaneously, Dolly Parton could move from traditionalist "girl singer" to outspoken trans rights advocate, and current radio playlists can alternate between the reckless masculinity of bro-country and the adolescent girlishness of Taylor Swift. In this follow-up volume to A Boy Named Sue, some of the leading authors in the field of country music studies reexamine the place of gender in country music, considering the ways country artists and listeners have negotiated gender and sexuality through their music and how gender has shaped the way that music is made and heard. In addition to shedding new light on such legends as Wells, Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Charley Pride, it traces more recent shifts in gender politics through the performances of such contemporary luminaries as Swift, Gretchen Wilson, and Blake Shelton. The book also explores the intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality in a host of less expected contexts, including the prisons of WWII-era Texas, where the members of the Goree All-Girl String Band became the unlikeliest of radio stars; the studios and offices of Plantation Records, where Jeannie C. Riley and Linda Martell challenged the social hierarchies of a changing South in the 1960s; and the burgeoning cities of present-day Brazil, where "college country" has become one way of negotiating masculinity in an age of economic and social instability.

Musicians, both fictional and real, have long been subjects of cinema. From biopics of composers Beethoven and Mozart to the rise (and often fall) of imaginary bands in The Commitments and Almost Famous, music of all types has inspired hundreds of films. The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film features the most significant productions from around the world, including straightforward biographies, rockumentaries, and even the occasional mockumentary. The wide-ranging scope of this volume allows for the inclusion of films about fictional singers and bands, with emphasis on a variety of themes: songwriter–band relationships, the rise and fall of a career, music saving the day, the promoter’s point of view, band competitions, the traveling band, and rock-based absurdity. Among the films discussed in this book are Amadeus, The Blues Brothers, The Buddy Holly Story, The Commitments, Dreamgirls, The Glenn Miller Story, A Hard Day’s Night, I’m Not There, Jailhouse Rock, A Mighty Wind, Ray, ’Round Midnight, The Runaways, School of Rock, That Thing You Do!, and Walk the Line.With entries that span the decades and highlight a variety of music genres, The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film is a valuable resource for moviegoers and music lovers alike, as well as scholars of both film and music.

There is sometimes a fine line between history and folklore. This Publication of the Texas Folklore Society features articles that tell stories about real-life characters from the historical past of Texas, as well as offer personal reflections about life from diverse perspectives throughout the last century. These contributors go beyond merely stating facts about dates or locations or names of the events and people that can be found in court documents or genealogical records; several of these authors provide a very intimate connection to the tales they share. These articles are not just about people that we read about as school children, and they do not merely describe how our culture used to be, or how vastly it has changed; rather, they emphasize the ways we keep our culture alive through the retelling of the events and customs and major figures that are important enough to pass on from one generation to the next. The first section covers legendary characters like Davy Crockett, Mody Boatright, Sam Houston, and Cynthia Ann Parker from our state’s past, as well as people who were bigger or bolder than others, yet seem to have been forgotten. Some of those characters came from different countries, while others are connected directly to our Texas Folklore Society family tree. The second section includes works that examine songs of our youth, as well as the customs and social constructs associated with music, whether it’s on a football field or in a prison yard. The works in the final section recall memories of a simpler time, when cars and home appliances lacked modern conveniences we now take for granted, before Facebook and YouTube allowed us to become Internet movie stars, and when it was a treat just to go and “visit” with family and friends.