"The Best of the Music Makers does what no other book has done before. It projects, through warmly written and fact-packed articles, the lives, careers, and personalities of almost 300 of the most important performers to light up the popular music scene during the past fifty years. While delineating the contributions of each of these artists, this book of more than 500 fact-packed pages and over 300 powerful photos (some never seen before), zooms in on its subjects via anecdotal materials and their own direct quotes as well as those from close associates, so that each emerges as a vital human being as well as a world-renowned performer. The Best of the Music Makers runs the entire gamut of popular music: jazz, rock, folk, country, rhythm and blues, middle-of-the-road, motion pictures, musical comedies, night clubs, and the like." --

America tells its stories through song. Consolation to the lovelorn, courage to the oppressed, warning to the naive, or a ticket to the Promised Land, a great song can deliver the wisdom of ages directly to our souls. We Are the Music Makers! presents black-and-white portraits of artists who carry these songs from past to present: fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, daughters and sons, grandparents and neighbors, who continue to lovingly stir the South's musical stew and feed American culture outside the realm of conventional fame and fortune. Newly available in paperback, this book features intimate photographs that will make you look more closely at the unrecognized greatness that surrounds us all.

Introducing the development of West African popular music, this text begins with a discussion of the early Highlife bands. It then traces the growth and diversification of various popular musical styles, including comic opera, Dagomba Simpa folk, and the current Afro-beat and Juju.

A rhyming introduction to the instruments of the symphony orchestra.

When he was in graduate school in the late 1980s, Timothy Duffy began documenting the "roots" music styles of largely forgotten southern musicians in a series of field recordings. Recognizing that too many artists working in these traditions--blues, R&B, hillbilly music, and other now increasingly popular forms--had been either ignored or taken advantage of by mainstream record labels and music media and were living in poverty as a result, Duffy established the Music Maker Relief Foundation to help these forgotten pioneers meet their basic needs and nourish their souls by committing their gifts to archival recordings and reviving performance careers. This book, available for the first time in paperback, features photographs, biographies, interviews, and lyrics from sixty-six real and rooted originals such as Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Cootie Stark, Mudcat, Macavine Hayes, and Drink Small. The music of America exists in these largely forgotten artists who link us back to our earliest history.

The virtual renaissance of all things Cajun and Creole has captivated enthusiasts throughout America and invigorated the culture back home. Who, just fifteen years ago, could have predicted that this regional music would become so astonishingly popular throughout the nation and the world? This new edition of a book first published in 1984 celebrates the music makers in the generation most responsible for the survival of Cajun music and zydeco and showcases many of the young performers who have emerged since them to give the music new spark. More than 100 color photographs, show them in their homes, on their front porches, and in their fields, as well as in performance at local clubs and dance halls and on festival stages. In interviews they speak directly about their lives, their music, and the vital tradition from which their rollicking music springs. Many of the legendary performers featured here--Dewey Balfa, Clifton Chenier, Nathan Abshire, Dennis McGee, Canray Fontenot, Varise Connor, Octa Clark, Lula Landry, and Inez Catalon--are no longer alive. Others from the early days continue to perform--Bois-sec Ardoin, Michael Doucet, D. L. Menard, and Zachary Richard. Their grandeur, humor, and humility are precisely the qualities this book captures. Featured too are young musicians who are taking their place in the dance halls, on festival stages, and on the folk music circuit. Cajun and Creole music makers, both young and old, still play in the old ways, but as young musicians--such as Geno Delafose and the French Rockin' Boogie, and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys-- experiment and enrich the tradition with new sounds of rock, country, rap, and funk, the music evolves and enlivens a whole new audience. Barry Jean Ancelet, a native French-speaking Cajun, is chair of the Department of Modern Languages and director of the Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Among his many books are Cajun Country and Cajun and Creole Folk Tales (both from the University Press of Mississippi). Elemore Morgan, Jr., is an artist and retired professor of visual art at University of Southwestern Louisiana.