"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." --

Ask an old-timer what life was like in rural upstate New York during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and you will hear about the dances and bees that brought villagers and farmers together. You will hear of favorite fiddlers who held center stage with dance tunes taken from early British and American sources. You will hear of old-time music and its significance to a people making the transition from a rural, agricultural life to an urban, industrial one. Old-Time Music Makers of New York State is the first book published on this rich legacy of traditional Anglo-American music and dance. It traces the development of old-time music beginning with its movement into New York State from New England in the early nineteenth century and to its combination with commercial country music in the twentieth century. Exploring the regional character of the music and its meaning co the people who enjoy it, Bronner introduces memorable figures from the major periods in the development of old-time music, and he places their stories, their lives, and their music in the context of the region's cultural and historical changes. This is much more than a regional study, however. Bronner brings to the fore issues of national scope and interest. He discusses the relationship of old-time music to the commercial country music with which it has been closely aligned, and he challenges the prevailing wisdom that the origins of country music are in the South. Musician, fan, folklorist, and historian alike will benefit from and enjoy this book. The many musical transcriptions, annotations, photographs, and appendixes provide a valuable reference to be used again and again.

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.

During the late 1920s, Ralph Peer and the Victor Recording Company visited the city of Bristol to look for new talent. They stumbled upon Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, two future legends of country music; however, other amazing musicians were unable to make the trip to Bristol for the auditions because of work and family obligations. For the locals, music was more than a way to earn fame and fortune; the music was part of the fabric of life in this rural environment. Some individuals did become famous, including the Stoneman Family, who recorded "The Ship That Didn't Return/ The Titanic," and Henry Whitter, who recorded "The Wreck of Old 97," but that was never the focus. The songs they played and created accompanied an entire generation through the Great Depression and World War II and into the vigorous growth of the 1950s and 1960s. All of these musicians influenced the birth, growth, and continued development of the Galax Fiddlers Convention, which is known around the world by old-time mountain music fans.

Celebrates the lives of two extraordinary musicians who influenced Canadaa s cultural life for more than 50 years.

THe MUSIC MAKERS by Shirley Russak Wachtel, author of the acclaimed memoir, MY MOTHER'S SHOES, is the story of five individuals living in upstate New York: Virginia, a divorcee embarking on a new career as she worries over the demands of her grown daughters; Joshua, a widower haunted by the memories of his lost wife as he faces a rebellious son; Christine, an artist who struggles with a terrible secret; Adam who finds himself in the first throes of love with the wrong person; and David, a Holocaust survivor facing his last days frightened by memory loss as he clings to the tattered images of his past. Their different lives and concerns are suddenly drawn together by the appearance of a mysterious young boy. Ordinary people with life issues from which none of us can escape, they each ultimately overcome struggles, finding a sense of "harmony" as they are inspired by something which none of them ever anticipated. Heartrending and beautiful, THE MUSIC MAKERS is an unforgettable tale of characters full of life and passion so that coming to the last page, the reader will find not only the end of the book but the end of a friendship as well.