From 1940 to 1970, Cincinnati overflowed with musical opportunities. Hank Williams recorded his hit "Lovesick Blues." Andy Williams, Rosemary and Betty Clooney, and Doris Day appeared regularly on WLW Radio, which also broadcast Boone County Jamboree. Then came the network television show Midwestern Hayride and stardom for Kenny Price. Meanwhile, King and Fraternity Records released hundreds of hits for James Brown, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Cowboy Copas, Lonnie Mack, and the Casinos. In the late 1960s, the Lemon Pipers sang "Green Tambourine," and rock bands ruled Coney Island's Moonlite Gardens. It was a wild, incredible ride while it lasted, and it left such an indelible impression that today Cincinnati is remembered as one of America's top music capitals.

Starting with a few songs and a dream in 1943, King Records--a leading American independent--launched musical careers from a shabby brick factory on Brewster Avenue in Cincinnati's Evanston neighborhood. Founder Sydney Nathan recorded country singers Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Wayne Raney, and others and later added black acts such as James Brown and the Famous Flames, Bull Moose Jackson, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Lonnie Johnson, and Freddy King. Meanwhile, King also explored polka, jazz, bluegrass, comedy, gospel, pop, and instrumental music--anything that Nathan could sell. Although King's Cincinnati factory closed in 1971, the company's diverse catalog of roots music had already become a phenomenon. Its legacy lives on in hundreds of classic recordings that are prized by collectors and musicians.

For Matthew Zory, a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra musician and an award-winning photographer, documenting the historic renovation of Cincinnati Music Hall was a revelation.¿I¿ve played in Music Hall for more than 20 years, but photographing the renovation enabled me to explore parts of the building I¿d never seen before,¿ says Zory, assistant principal bass (Trish and Rick Bryan Chair). ¿Watching work crews uncover the `bones¿ of Music Hall gave me a new appreciation for the incredible craftsmanship that went into the building.¿Zory spent hundreds of hours photographing the hall during its 16-month renovation and is publishing a book featuring some of his favorite shots. Through the Lens: The Remaking of Cincinnati¿s Music Hall, a 272-page limited edition coffee-table book was released in 2018 to high praise.¿I never intended to publish a book,¿ he says. ¿As a matter of fact, I never intended to photograph the entire renovation project. I thought I¿d go in a couple of times, take a few pictures and that would be it. But everything they were doing was so interesting and the light was so fantastic, I kept going back. I posted a lot of photos on Facebook, and people kept asking, `When is the book coming out?¿ It made me realize that other people were as captivated by the project as I was.¿For Zory, whose work has appeared in numerous local galleries, including the Taft Museum, Carnegie Center for the Arts and Wash Park Art, creating a book meant winnowing a portfolio of more than 10,000 photos down to a few hundred for publication. ¿There was so much I wanted to share with people about this project and the people who worked on it,¿ he says. ¿The scale of the project and the workmanship that went into renovating it really was extraordinary. I¿ve tried to capture all of that¿

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